We booked a hotel room for one night on our way down the west coast and upon arrival were offered a more spacious option of an exterior room (motel style), but on looking at that we decided to check the hotel room and then decide - we opted for the hotel room, much nicer and more modern, although the bathroom could perhaps be updated. Staff were friendly.

Downside - no lifts and no porters to get heavy cases upstairs.

There is nothing special about this hotel. A clean place to sleep and shower.

We weren't too sure what to expect (sorry Greymouth) but this place was fantastic. The unit was a great size, with a good kitchen and bedding, the front desk staff were helpful and pleasant and best of all there was a nice little bar and a fantastic restaurant. We were thinking the best we would probaby get would be takeaways somewhere in town. The food was delicious and the service was great. If we ever went back to Greymouth, this is where we'd stay.

We stopped at Ashely hotel for a night on our way down the West Coast - the posh exterior and reception area looked delightful, but unfortunately that seems to be the best part of the hotel.

Reception staff seemed to be very bored with their jobs, and without being outright rude their way of communicating with us was very off putting, condecending and haughty. The same mannerisim came from all of the staff we dealt with. Upon being asked what are the nice places to have dinner in town (a question we ask anyhwere we go) we were only offered the hotel's own restaurant as a 'good option'.

The room was quite small, very dark and hardly what I would describe as cosy. Bathroom was a drap and in a sore need of refurbishment - it very much looked like the only area of the hotel that had received any TLC lately was the reception area and exterior. The heater in the room worked reasonably well, but was so loud upon restarting that it woke us up every single time during the night.

We also had the misfortune of sharing a corridor with very loud rugby team who kept 'entertaining' us with general loudness to the wee hours of the morning.

All in all, I can't say I would recommend Ashley Hotel to anyone but those in a desperate need to have a place to stay in Graymouth when all other options are unavailable. Out of all of the hotels we stayed in our trip to New Zealand, Ashely Hotel was by far the worst experience.