Waiheke Island Motel

I like the environment

We stayed for 3 days. In this motel. Our room was super spacious and very clean. Good bed, Ok kitchen if you don't have too much ambition to cook yourself. Motel is very conveniently located if you have to rely on public transport. Management was friendly and helpfull. Highly recommended.

The owners were very accommodating. They checked me in a bit early and held my luggage and food until I could check into a different accommodation 400 metres away. They were so nice and accommodating.

Good for a 1 night stay to attend an event close by

Disappointing - photos don’t tell full story Photos of the family unit seemed ok, and at $300 per night we thought that it surely had to be good for that price. The place had a “self service vibe” as we had to pick up a key from a lock box despite arriving at 2pm, and reception was never staffed. The place was dilapidated with bad smells from the kitchen, the fridge and the couch. The carpet was dirty and oily, and the shower was full of black marks on the wall. Bathroom had missing cupboard doors and a hole in the wall covered with tape and painted over (“that’ll fix ‘er”). Lots of locals on the island asked us “is it as bad as everyone says?” so it doesn’t have a good reputation, and we saw several disappointed looking guests walking past our room after just checking in. Google reviews are a bit more honest, but on both sites the owners post defensive replies blaming the guests for the issues. In fact this review will probably get a response from the owners saying “well you didn’t come and raise this with us” - well mate, it’s not our job to monitor the state of cleanliness of your motel. I doubt a carpet cleaner would have turned up at short notice. And in any case, apart from the cleaners who laughed about leaving an element on in a room all night, we only ever saw a staff member hurrying us out at check out time. All told, this and the passive aggressive note on the window at reception (“don’t call us unless it’s urgent”) give out a message that they don’t care about guest experience.