I was not happy with this hotel and when I complained I was sent a really offensive email back. They don't care about customer satisfaction and if I were you I would pay the extra money to stay somewhere nice. If you are not happy here you either like it or lump it. the hotel room stinks, the fridge is noisy, the walls are paper thin, the blanket was dirty, there were no amenities such as soap, shampoo etc, the service was shocking and in the future I will be staying anywhere else! even if it is on the beach in a cardboard box! majorly unimpressed! The hotel is falling apart at the seams and after I stayed there for a night some locals told me it had a really bad reputation! proceed with caution!

We had booked a cottage here, but when we arrived and were allocated our cottage we found someone else's car in the only parking for this cottage - after a bit a woman came out of a nearby cottage and moved it into another empty cottage's park - there was a lot of loud music coming from the cottage she went back into and loads of people hanging around outside - looked like a party in the making which didn't bode well for a peaceful night. We went inside and found the place to be very below standard - dirty shower, uncomfortable furnishings - really budget. The window in the bathroom wouldn't close and could easily be opened from outside and as was low to the ground posed a serious security threat - given the types hanging around we weren't happy with that at all. The bed, when I sat on it, was a mattress about 6 inches thick and really soft like foam and would have been a killer to my sore back. We loaded our bags back into the car and drove off to find alternative accommodation as we were disgusted by the standard. It looks nice from the outside - nice gardens etc but the reality is so different. They are advertising themselves as 4 star - ridiculous - our cottage would be 2 star at best - and have photo's on their site that were nothing like the interior of our cottage so beware if booking here. We thought it to be a complete dive and not particularly safe.

We didn't stay here in the end. We arrived around 2:30pm, rang the bell, walked around the office, tooted the horn and finally someone came out... Totally drunk and they had been relaxing in the pool! We got our key and drove round the corner to our cottage to find our neighbours getting ready for a party and all wearing gang patches. We went in with our little boys, sat on the seat for a few minutes wondering what to do then got everyone back into the car and drove away.
We felt totally unsafe seeing the 'owners' were drunk and having a party with the local gang members.
So we found another place place to stay and my husband returned the key to be told by the manager that "it was his first day off in 7 days" Sorry NOT our problem, you don't greet new customers drunk and expect them to stay in a unit when the local gang is having a get-together in the next door unit.
I realise it in under new management and I would say the change is NOT a good one. I do NOT recommend you stay here, especially at the prices they charge.

While our room was perfectly fine there were many things that could be improved.

Reading the hotels information booklet just highlights even more that they don't have the time. We are not interested that you have teenage kids, it's no excuse and as a guest I simply are don't care.

For example we bought food to use on the gas BBQ, the booklet says it's chargeable as some previous guests set it alight and how on earth can that happen. Simple fact that if you don't bother to clean the tray where the BBQ drips fat it will set alight, looking at the tray it what has clearly happened and no fault of the guests.

Pool was available but was too dirty to use. Wifi was extra but didn't work from our room as signal was too poor, just managed to use with door open. Buy a antenna!

Hotel is over a hill from paihia, 5 min drive, 20 min walk.