The first cottage we visited, Merewood Cottage in the Lake District, was very fine.. The second one, Mercat, was a disappointment. It was not well cleaned, the kitchen hardly deserves the description, WiFi (needed nowadays) was very bad. I was lucky that I decided not to work during my stay (which I usually do a little with the help of email etc.), otherwise it would have been a disaster.
People were friendly and I think that they are proud of their community achievement for which the commercialization of the cottage is a part of, but Sykes should not connect its service to it untill they reach a certain level.