We stayed here and enjoyed a good meal in the restaurant with others and could continue our dining experience to very late. Best part was only had to walk up the stairs to bed. Serves a very good breakfast.

We stayed here two nights on our trip in New Zealand. When we arrived, we were briefly greeted by a staff coming out of the kitchen, who gave us the key, told us where the room was and disappeared again.

We had a very spacious and very comfortable room. The only point of improvement was that the noisy fridge would better have been placed in the living, rather than in the bedroom. We had free internet access both wireless and wired.

The hotel is located at a major road in town, making that even at night (we stayed in a weekend) there is a considerable amount of noise coming from the street.


The owner was out of town and we were served breakfast by his son. Twice burned to black on the underside. The son did not care my remarks about this. Some of the food had been on the table the whole night (we had to wake the son, that's how we know)

The restaurant for dinner was actually a very good place to eat. The staff was friendly and helpfull.

So we have mixed feelings aobut this one. Great place to stay, but the hotel has accommodation for the night without the extra services that one should expect from thiis kind of place. Things might have been different with the owner present, but that's a guess.

I was in New Plymouth on business and did not pay for this b&B so can't comment on the price but New Plymouth is a sweet town and coming to home and waking up at the Nice Hotel has the qualities of coming home. The food is good, the rooms quirky and interesting and library full of books that are worth browsing. It is across from a lovely church with wonderful old trees. New Plymouth is a walking city with good museums. I loved coming home to the Nice Hotel and had a room with a tiny but lovely porch. Terri is your instant knowledgeable pal. My husband played golf that Terri arranged and that worked very well indeed.

We had so been looking forward to our Easter break at the Nice Hotel. The hotel and its owner Terry had been highly recommended to us. We were also looking for somewhere to hold a special private function later in the year and hoped that the Bistro (Table restaurant) at the Nice Hotel would fit the bill.

To start with the positives: the hotel is well situated and the rooms (although small) are well appointed with lovely decor, good quality beds, towels, pillows etc and the bathrooms are fabulous. The staff were welcoming and friendly. Sparky the hotel dog was a real treasure and we also enjoyed the library with complimentary port.

However, the experience was disappointing for a number of reasons. Firstly, at $230 per night, we would have expected breakfast to be included but it was not. Secondly, service was quite variable. The milk and coffee in the fridges were not topped up and neither were the bathroom essentials. When I asked for some bath/shower gel, I was given some half used tubes of body moisturiser which I thought was quite odd. Wi-fi was also charged for, albeit a small fee. The other problem was road noise. The hotel is on the corner of Brougham and Vivan Streets and the latter is a triple carriageway thoroughfare so even at night is very noisy indeed (and I usually sleep through most things). I know there is little the hotel can do about this but it is the one factor that would prevent me returning to the Nice.

The most disappointing experience was our dinner at the Bistro on the final evening. My partner is vegetarian. There was choice for the starters but only one main which at $35 for some beetroot jelly and chick pea salad was very poor value for money (and as someone above has said, this would be expensive even in Auckland). In fact, the order was mixed up and my partner did not receive his main meal at the same time as mine and so he was offered a complimentary dessert. This consisted of rhubarb which was so tough and uncooked a chainsaw would not have helped. This was then swapped for another dessert. In all, we were just so disappointed as we had been very much looking forward to the experience and it did not deliver. On the other hand, the decor and ambience in the Bistro is lovely and there is an impressive wine list. The lamb that I had was very tasty even if a bit small.

So, the low down is that the hotel is lovely but not worth the money. I would think about going back for a return visit as long as Terry was in town (he was away) as I do wonder if service standards had slipped in his absence.