My friend and I took an incredible 3 1/2 week trip to Australia and New Zealand. The Abel Tasman was the worst hotel on the trip and for the price we paid, it was so NOT worth it. We were there on November 12-14th. First the hotel is VERY OLD and in need of great renovations. It's smells musty in the hallway and rooms. The beds are lopsided and lumpy. There is no central heat. The car park is connected, so that each time people move their cars up and down the ramp, you feel it and hear it. On the evening we arrived, I called the travel agent to complain. We couldn't change to another hotel because we were in Wellington only 3 days and everything else was booked. It was not worth the price of $120 NZ per night. It was a good location. That's about it. We took a LOTR tour and even the tour guide knew how bad the hotel was and suggested that the Museum hotel or the IBIS would have been cheaper and have much better accomodations. The travel agent suggested we speak with the hotel manager. We did and what a character she was. She complained how all you Brits and Yanks always give us trouble. She was willing to give us a room "upgrade" at an extra $20NZ per night. I told her to forget about it that she should be giving us a discount for staying here. The only upgrade was the 2nd room would have a utility sink and was on a different floor. The beds were the same lumpy nonsense and it still smelled. I took photos of the room and hallway. I will post later.

not bad digs, had probs when we left not the same price we agreed when we checked in.
there is a beter hotel across the street nicer staff beter parking.
happy travels the fogs

When we looked for a hotel in Wellington, we wanted to be able to walk to the restaurants on Cuba Street and to Te Papa. Also, off-street parking had to be available. It seemed that most downtown hotels were quite pricey, and the cheaper motels were not close enough to walk easily to town.

I found this hotel on the website [-]. They were offering a rate of $99 (nz) with parking an extra $15 per night. I didn't want to book the hotel without checking the location and the accomodations. When I checked the room being offered, it was spacious with a king bed some kitchen facilities (fridge, tea kettle, etc.) and a good bathroom. Unfortunately, the hotel refused to match the web price. So, I had to go back to the internet cafe to book the room.

When we returned to check in, there was no problem. The hotel honored the wotif reservation, and even cut us a break on the parking--$10 (nz) per day. WARNING: The parking lot is VERY tight. We had a Toyota Carolla, and had a hard time parking. I can't imagine an SUV or big car would fit.

Overall, our stay was mostly fine. There were some loud people on our floor, but it wasn't terribly distracting. Also, one day we had to wait a several minutes for hot water. We called the front desk; they explained that they had fixed the hot water heater so to be patient and the water would heat up. They were right.

If you are interested in staying in town, I would highly recommend this hotel. Also, there is a great place for breakfast down the street--Cafe Neo has terrific coffee and yummy muesli.