On our recent trip to New Zealand in Nov '11 our last two nights were booked in this hotel. We arrived on a Wed evening to discover that the car park was heaving with customers of the Ale House situated on the same site. I checked in while my husband trailed about waiting for a parking space. Finally we went to our room, a v shabby, dated and dirty room - so much so you didn't want to sit down. We quickly decided we couldn't end our holiday in this place and a quick internet search brought up a couple of B&Bs with availability. It was a bit pricey but we secured a room in the Onuku B&B and were so glad we did, despite having paid for the hotel in advance. We quickly checked out and 10 minutes later were in probably the best B&B we've ever stayed in. Accommodation is in short supply in Christchurch following the earthquakes, but there's no excuse for such a poor standard. We didn't stay long enough to rate the services but the lady on reception was friendly enough. If you like being next to a noisy pub, were strapped for cash and don't mind dirt - might be for you.

When we were checking in, the lady at the front desk was making a personal call and we had to wait several minutes to receive our key (she continued to talk on the phone throughout). We also paid for wireless internet, which did not work initially- when we went to the front desk to try and get it sorted the same lady was on the phone again and she said "I don't have time for this, give them their money back" to another staff member. We asked about places nearby to eat and were not helped at all- although we had already eaten one meal in the restaurant they did not want to give us other options. The room was clean (unlike other recent reviews) but was very dated.

Room was filthy, found crumbs in one of the beds, heaps of vehicles driving around early in the morning making alot of noise. Rooms aren't sound proof AT ALL. Bugs crawling all over benches around kitchen area and climbing up the walls. Doesn't look anything like the pictures and certainley didn't reach my expectations!

I don't want to say bad things about places in Christchurch given what they've been through recently but I really have to make an exception for this place. I wouldn't mind the dated decor, including the sludge brown colour of the walls, if they at least made some kind of effort with the cleaning. I'm not one to go looking for dirt but you couldn't avoid seeing the thick layer of dust around the edge of the room and the disgusting state of the corners. The drain of our shower was clogged up with hair and soap scum - it really made me retch. Nothing would induce me to stay here again - when we passed back through Christchurch we stayed at the Bella Vista motel just up the road which was many many times better.

The service was also generally rude and unhelpful and there were many other annoyances such as the fact that there is no sound-proofing whatsoever so we could hear the entire drunken conversation of the people next door when they got back at 3am, the plumbing would randomly gurgle and the toilet randomly flush itself, half the buttons on the tv remote didn't work and the "cleaners" always turned off all the heating so that we would get back in the evening to a freezing room. I couldn't wait to get out of there.