I booked this hostel online with BBH. This is the first time I stayed in a hostel. The hotels and B&B's in Akaroa are very expensive and I booked the Bon Accord because I wanted to save some money since we were traveling in NZ for almost 3 weeks. When we arrived I met Fraser, he is a very welcoming host and gives you plenty of information about Akaroa and what to do while visiting. He is very enthusiast about Akaroa. The Bon Accord is a cute older house on the main street and close to all shops and restaurants in town. We booked the self contained cottage which is a small cabin with a private deck with old chairs and a hammock. I liked reading a book out here because you can hear the trickling stream and chirping birds. They also have an apricot tree and you can eat fresh apricots while staying here. We met people traveling from all around the world while cooking our pizza in the kitchen. Most were young probably late twenties and then there were a few staying that were older adults. It was actually a nice change of pace from staying in a hotel. However you do give up luxury while staying in a hostel. The cabin had a very tight small kitchen. It does not have an oven so we used the main kitchen which is more fun anyway because you meet people. The cabin is old so it had some carpet stains and old furniture. The bathroom was small but at least we had our own private bathroom. The bed is too soft for our standards. However the positive is that we only spent $89 to stay in the beautiful Akaroa and we hardly spent any time in our room so the money we saved by staying here was worth it. I prefer more luxury but it was ok for 1 night and we used the money we saved to take a sailing excursion on the A Class Sailing with Ray. If visiting New Zealand you must make the trip to Akaroa. It is very beautiful and was a highlight of our trip.
Oh, upon checking email I realized I was charged for a two night stay by BBH on my credit card because originally I was staying in Akaroa for 2 nights in the BBH booking. Fraser wrote me and said I could only have the cabin for 1 night so I stayed in Sumner Beach instead because I only wanted to stay in rooms that were ensuite. Upon arriving Fraser said my card had not been charged so I paid for the cabin in cash. I emailed BBH and Fraser once I realized my card had been charged for two nights. Both Fraser and BBH took care of this problem immediately and refunded my card for the misunderstanding immediately. I would book hostels directly if possible in the future instead of the BBH site so there isn't a misunderstanding especially if you can't get the room choice you requested. They were both great in correcting the problem and sending their apologies for the misunderstanding.