I really enjoyed the three days i spent at the Grand chancellor in early January 2012. It has several things to recommend it. It is about 5 km from the international airport with a free shuttle taking you there. The ambience is really great, far from the hustle and bustle of the city. I was particularly impressed with the service, especially at the front desk. They really did go out of their way to help. For me in particular, the chance to take a long walk in surroundings that resemble the countryside was a real treat.

I recommend the Grand chancellor without any reservations whatsoever.
Rajeev Anantaram
(from New Delhi, India)

My husband and I booked this last minute and we were happy enough as the price was good. The hotel is handy to the airport with free parking. Room was good size with a small desk, clean, bed comfortable, bathroom adequate. No bell boy to help with the luggage which we hauled up stairs didn't see any sign of a lift so not sure how others manage. The staff were friendly. Ideal if you just want somewhere to rest for the night before your flight. We wandered next door to the local Indian restaurant for dinner.
This hotel is older now and could do with a revamp if you are staying in Auckland longer I would probably go for something a little better.

I booked the GCH as a last minute booking. I hadn't researched the hotel and was happy with the cost of the booking. Upon looking at reviews the day prior to arriving at the hotel I was horrified at what I read. Awful, horrendous and that was the positive reviews! You can imagine the thoughts running through my mind. As we were in the bus driving to the hotel I was on tender hooks expecting the worst but to my pleasant surprise my family and I were greeted with a big smile and more than acceptable service. Tick for the first box. Moving along, the room did not smell (as a lot of the reviews protested) but it smelt of crisp clean sheets and the room was spotless. Another big tick.

The gym is average and in need of improvement but was satisfactory for my husband and children's needs.

Breakfast is as what you would expect from a hotel - typical hotel fare but it is a big hotel so ok for what one would expect. $25 for each person - adult and child - not much of an alternative choice in the area I'm afraid.

I highly recommend for a dinner meal the Indian restaurant about a 3 min walk from the hotel. Lovely food but the rice is a disappointment. $4 for a tiny serve per person - a rip off. There was 4 of us and at $16 for rice for the 4 of us - it barely fed 2 people. My suggestion would be to ark up about the rice and ask for more than you get for no charge. Other than that a great meal!

Overall the hotel was very acceptable and for an overnight stay the room was tip top and the service was lovely. I am very happy to recommend the GCH.

The great thing was that the staff members were very friendly and the after- hour kitchen staff and service were great. The shuttle service were every half an hour which was fantastic.

The room was huge ( i am sure they will upgrade that horrible old tv's one day) BUT i was a bit dissapointed to find the amount of 'well-settled" spiders in the room!! They were not fresh intruders. Some were sitting where the tv plug go into the wall and the ugliest ones were at the curtains. The six small ones in the bathroom was less disturbing as they only looked a few days old. ( older webs were hanging at various places)

Thanks to the Staff member who came to remove then all .