I stayed at the Pipi Patch for 3 nights in January 2007 in a double room. This was in a separate building to the dormitories, where the majority of travellers were staying. In my building, there were 3 double rooms, with a shared bathroom, separate WC and a kitchen.

My room contained a double bed with duvet and pillows (it was quite comfy), armchair, built-in wardrobe and a long wide ledge against one wall which was perfect for stashing my bags. One unexpected surprise was that towels were provided with the room, and these were changed daily! Everything was very clean. The shower always had hot water, though the water pressure was not that great.

Other reviewers have mentioned the nightly NZ$10 BBQ, which was good fun and a great way to meet fellow travellers or the people that were on the same backpacker bus but you never got the chance to speak to en route. There's an onsite hot tub, but I never got round to using it. The reception staff were always extremely helpful and willing to answer all questions. The only small drawback was that it closed early evening, but I'm sure that it would have been possible to find someone to help if anything had gone wrong. This is definitely not somewhere to stay if you like to get an early night's sleep - the bar is open until around midnight, and it's pretty noisy until then!

Some other useful info - the beach is right at the bottom of the road, and on the same street are a couple of good cafes, a mini mart and an internet cafe (though there is also internet access at the hostel). Most of the other hostels are on the same road. It's less than 10 minutes to walk to the waterfront where all the ferries and boat trips depart from.

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This was a pretty cool hostel to stay though their hot tub was never exactly hot. They had fun BBQ's every night when a new bus rolled in with tons of food for only $10NZD per person. The rooms were nice and clean though on the small side but it did give us a great chance to getting to know our fellow Kiwi Bus travellers.

Also next door to an amazing Cafe with what my travel buddy would say have the best BLT's in the world....

Pipi Patch is a real cutie with friendly staff and this cool BBQ every night (for $10 you get a great feed, steak, sausies, salad and a beer).
They have a spa pool and a swimming pool, after a big day out in the bay the spa is the perfect way to warm up!
The Pipi Patch Bar is the nicest place for a relaxed beer in Paihia (some are ot so nice)... anyway long story short went up for 2 days, ended up staying a week and had a great time, what a gorgeous town!