Amazing experience with excellent, flexible service

Australia | Oct 12 - Nov 1, 2024

Over the top accommodation on the waterfront docks of Auckland. Amazing pool and the best spa I've ever been in a hotel. The cafe/bar was nice and relaxing, with a really wonderful local musician playing soulful R&B. The breakfast spread was spectacular and offered many healthy options.

Great location with fantastic lap swim-able pool and good sized gym. The room was clean and modern.

Perfect location just a block from the gorgeous 4-mile beach and a few blocks from downtown restaurants and shops. Easy walk to the pier to catch the boat for the Great Barrier Reef tour. The fans and AC worked well. The only feedback would be to change out the lighting from stark, overly bright LED overhead to softer white light and/or optional lamps. We turned the lights off most of the time. A night light would have also been good.

Very nice accommodation with great location near restaurants, lake and parks. The breakfast was wonderful and offered a variety of healthy options with fresh fruit, pastries, breads, chia pudding and gluten free muesli. We liked the convenience of renting e-bikes right from the hotel lobby, however it did take a long time for the staff to get us registered and set up. Still, they were super friendly, accommodating and flexible. One tip: The hand soap dispenser is very highly mounted to the far right of the sink, so I had to literally reach over and get on my toes to reach it every day. I would recommend making it lower, putting it on the sink or swapping the soap and the lotion (which is used less).

This accommodation had nice views of the lake and gondola ridge, however was right on the main road so was quite noisy. The temperature was quite cold when we arrived and the room was very cool, as if not used for some time. The main wall heater did not put out much heat so took a long time to warm the room and keep it warm. The bathroom and bedroom heaters worked much better. The windows are not well insulated, so the heat was not retained especially at night. Thankfully it warmed up and the sun warmed the room in the afternoons. If it was raining or snowing, we would have been uncomfortable in the room. The breakfast spread was very good with lots of variety and healthy choices.

Beautiful hotel in a perfect location near the Rocks. Just 2 blocks from my company's office which was a pleasant bonus as I was meeting friends there while visiting. Everything about the hotel was wonderful. Gorgeous pool area (albeit not a lap pool unfortunately). The hot tub and sauna could have been hotter. The gym was very small for a hotel this size. Breakfast was very good and a lot of food. Good strong coffee drinks.

I didn't know before the tour what the penguin parade was all about, and this ended up to be one of the highlights of my entire 21-day vacation! The boxes beach was interesting. The wildlife park was ok, nothing special. However, once we got out to Philip Island everything changed. The views are spectacular. We saw dozens of wild wallabees and sea birds. Our tour guide was fun and informative. Even getting in late after 11pm, it was worth it. I would have only preferred more time at the penguin information center/shops as we only had maybe 10-15 mins to look around including using the restroom. There were some nice exhibits I would have liked to read through in more detail.

Wished the glowworm cave experience was longer and the Hobbiton experience was shorter. Ideally, Hobbiton as a self-guided tour would have been much better. Our guide had over 30! people in the group so we had wait for everyone to take photos and selfies (ugh) before moving on to the next attraction. I would suggest smaller groups and a self-guided option. We had to suffer through a long time before getting to the restrooms and something to drink at the end.

Gorgeous rainforest with a very informative and personable guide who knew every tree, fern, bird and bit of the ecosystem. Very interesting Maori center. A little more time at the center would have been nice. Nice light hike. Spectacular black sand beach walk without shoes and to see the magnetic essence of the sand. Not too much bus time so all in all a good trip. There was one trail I would have preferred to go down farther, but the guides cut it short due to warm weather. That was a disappointment.