Aotearoa Lodge

Nice location, off the beach. Nice layout of the accommodation and conference facilities. Family running the Lodge were lovely, I think they are fairly new to this accommodation. The beds in the rooms had no consistency - I had a conversation at breakfast with a conference colleague (we were both bemoaning the beds). I thought she must have had the same very soft bed as me, but it turned out hers was hard as rock whereas mine was soft as clay. Catering was interesting to say the least. The continental breakfast option was good and wide selection available. The cooked option was a little 'odd' - no selection - everyone got the same on every plate - a fried egg on top of a hash brown, next to a few beans, one rasher bacon alongside a side salad with a soy sauce drizzle. No mushrooms, choice of how your egg done, no sausage etc. A bit odd. Conference delegates not staying at the accommodation had a bit of a weird time accessing a loo - because those of us staying on site had our own loos in their room. The other thing that was really odd - the TV had a notice saying do not change channels, $50 fee if you change the channels which I took a photo of - but there were only 3 channels working in my room! Would I stay here again - I think the rooms were 'on par' with any rooms available in the area, and the young couple who run the place were really nice, but on balance I think I would try somewhere else.

We booked a suite which came with a small kitchen and two beds. Beds were kind of soft/uncomfortable but did the job. Internet was horribly slow, but I guess it's expected in such a small town. We had to kill about 4 bugs (3 small flies, 1 mosquito) flying around our room/bathroom. There were random $50 surcharges if you messed with the TV settings or if you failed to wash any dishes. Water pressure was also kind of mediocre, if you are picky about that.

We staying here for 2 nights on our short holiday trip and I will give an honest review of our experience Location: very handy and a short drive to the city, beaches and restaurants Room: very clean and tidy with large bathroom, however we experienced having rat above our bed scratching and making noise all of our first night which make us stay awake most of the night and the hall way have kids running around at 7 in the morning which added to our tiredness. The room have AC that’s works really well and keep us comfortable. We told the reception team about our experience of rat and they are very apologetic and action it on the next morning by going up the ceiling and try their best to eliminate the rats but unfortunately they still there on our second night. It is unfortunate that we experience that but PLEASE DO NOT let our experience stop you from staying here as the room itself isn’t that bad and we talk to other people around us they couldn’t hear the scratch noise as it was just above our room only. If it wasn’t the rats issue I would be more than happy to give this place a 5 stars rating for sure.

Wir hatten in der Aotearoa Lodge eine Übernachtung in einem Superior Studio (etwa 90 € pro Nacht), weil wir den Hot Water Beach besuchen wollten. Aotearoa Lodge liegt etwas abseits von Zentrum von Whitianga, zur Uferpromenade fährt man am besten mit dem Auto. Der Check-in war sehr professionell, wir wurden sehr freundlich empfangen. Unser Zimmer war einfach eingerichtet, aber außerordentlich sauber, wir haben uns sehr wohl gefühlt (siehe Fotos). Das Zimmer hat zwei Ausgänge: einer über die Holzveranda (siehe Foto), die hintere Tür führt in einen Korridor, welcher entlang anderer Zimmer geht. Was uns nicht so gut gefallen hat, war ein sehr schwacher Wasserdruck in der Dusche. Außerdem waren die Zimmer etwas hellhörig. Das WiFi war kostenlos (10 GB pro Gutscheincode) und hatte eine gute Verbindung. Das Frühstück war sehr einfach (ohne Käse und Wurst), aber ausreichend. Für einen kleinen Aufpreis haben wir uns ein Spiegelei extra bestellt. In der Lodge kann man sich Strandtücher für eine kleine Gebühr sowie kostenlos die Spaten für den Hot Water Beach ausleihen.

Buiten het centrum gelegen mooi motel; wij kregen een heel ruime appartement, grote keuken, grote kamer met zit- en eethoek. Het appartement is van alle gemakken voorzien. Ruim terras voorkant van het appartement en we hadden nog een afgeschermde tuin. Vriendelijke beheerder en erg zorgzaam. Alles is erg netjes en schoon. We hebben in het centrum ontbeten (was ook het advies van de beheerder). Je moet wel met de auto naar het centrum (ongeveer 3 km). Whitianga heeft een gezellig centrum met veel eetgelegenheden en winkels en een heel mooie omgeving. Wij verbleven hier 2 nachten.