Great place to stay in Taupo. The hotel is right on the lake. The owners or caretakers are very nice. They gave us good suggestions and discounts for the places in Taupo. They were kind enough to let us extend our check out.
The hotel has wifi so thumbs up for that. Rooms were nice too.spacious and clean.

We arrived at Sails at 8.00am - way before the official check-in time of 2.00pm, and fully expected a very long wait after our 5 hour journey. But the very accommodating relieving manager re-arranged some scheduled bookings to give us instant access to a room. A very good start to a very pleasant stay.

We had just the room we had asked for, a lakefront king-bed upper floor unit with stunning views across Lake Taupo to the mountains of the Tongoriro National Park. A few stairs from the car park led to our rear entrance, then with bathroom on the left and the kitchen ammenities on our right we were into a fairly spacious area with the bed on the left with an adjoining sofa-bed, storage drawers and cupboards on the right, plus a small dining table and chairs and the wall mounted TV. Through the double-glazed full width ranch-sliders a small triangular balcony.

Lighting was a mix of incandescent and plasma - not the best combination for TV viewing, but we eventually found a switching that suited. Not that television is particularly important on a holiday.

But comfort is an important factor. The bed was a little firm, but endowed with a good selection of pillows. As a sofa, the sofa-bed was not the last word in comfort at all and needed liberal helpings of pillows from the bed. I guess the same could be applied to sofa-beds the world over. More comfortable were the straight-backed dining chairs.

At the kitchen end of things there was the obligatory microwave and a two-ring ceramic hotplate, plus a wide selection of crockery, utensils and gadgets suitable for gourmet cooking. However, the motel handbook asked guests not to cook 'odiferous' foods (which would seem to rule out everything apart from boiled eggs). It seemed a little strange that such a well equiped facility lacked an exhaust hood.

The bathroom lacked no such convenience, with a noisy fan operating every time the light was switched on. This room was equiped with a two-person blown-air spa, plus all the usual fittings. Hot-water supply is from individual instantaneous gas heaters, and set a little low for comfort - I would say about 48C. The spa is an obvious draw-card that we used once. My first thinking was that it desperately needed some grab-rails, especially for those of our age group. My second thought was why heat about 1500 litres of water, then flush it away?. For a motel that promotes recycling and reducing its 'carbon footprint' it seemed a little incongruous. Maybe better to lose the spas and install heat-pumps? Costly though.

As in all accommodation there were a few irritations. The power-saving 'key-in-the-slot' seemed to do nothing. The wierdly-designed toilet roll holders deposited the rolls on the floor at the slightest touch, but on the plus side the delightfully friendly cleaning staff kept the place immaculate. The double glazing was a boon (as was the 50kmh speed limit on Lake Terrace). The lovely clean town of Taupo was a pleasant 20 minute walk, or 3 minutes leaving a carbon footprint. All in all, a very pleasant 7 night stay, and I would say that Sails deserves its 4 star rating.

Two couples shared a 2 bed apartment and we were very happy with the late choice. Views of the lake are to die for, beds are huge and comfortable, owners and staff very helpful and the apartment was fully serviced each day which we didn't expect. The apartment was very well appointed with quality fixtures, fittings and utensils. Hope to return next time in NZ

Quality Inn Sails is situated just by Lake Taupo, no problem with any traffic noise (none in fact). Room was very clean and and well appointed. We came from a tropical country and appreciated the bed warmer for cold November very much! Karen, one of the owners, was really helpful with information and around town; she recommended Pimentos which serve great pasta and lamb shanks. We enjoyed our stay with them.