Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre — Attraction in Christchurch

Went to a school leavers dinner. Tickets were $120 each so we had high expectations. The venue is nice, it works. We were greeted with a drink, a great start, & there was juice on the table. Everything was going well until dinner. We had a large group, but it’s a convention centre- surely they know how to cater for big groups. FINALLY asked to go get dinner to discover there were ‘stations’ to get food from, & SIDE PLATES to use. A vegetarian station, 2 dumpling stations, & then the ‘real food’ line, so long, I left my husband in line & went for food at the other stations. The vegetarian station was snack food- cut up veggies, dips, crackers & and couple of fried things. There should have been a blackened corn salad, but it was gone when I got there. The dumplings were ok, 3 kinds, although 2 were rather tasteless. There were some sauces that were kind of tasty. When we FINALLY got to serve ourselves dinner we discover it’s ‘sliders’, & again on side plates. Bread rolls & sandwich fillings. The only really good food was the lamb, which was amazing. The chicken skewers were dry, & they ran out of coleslaw so there were just green leaves available. When we went for dessert, which was later in the evening, everything had run out & there were only small tubs of ice-cream & lots of candy, making us feel that someone hadn’t done the catering calculations correctly & the real dessert had run out. Our overall impression was that the majority of the cost of our ticket must have been spent on the venue because the food was worth perhaps $40/head, & that’s being generous! Deeply disappointed! I sure hope the international catering is better because I’m an embarrassed Kiwi calling what we had ‘world...

Tēnā koe, Last weekend I attended a conference at Te Pae and found it to be a wonderfully welcoming place. Facilities were very well-presented. IT staff were on hand when our remote connection wasn't working as well as we hoped. Staff were happily helping out conference delegates. Each morning staff were at the door welcoming us as we arrived - and yes, the smiles were obvious under their masks :) The weekend was wonderfully capped off for me by the empathetic actions of two staff at the convention centre desk. I had been trying to book a taxi (by phone and app) for the past hour with no luck. Stressed that I might miss my flight, I turned to the front desk for help. Their response? "We will get you to the airport". Ten minutes later a taxi arrived to get me to the airport with 10 minutes to spare. Thank you Christchurch Convention Centre for making it a...

Photo: See the problem? Looking West down Gloucester St twoard Convention Center. The last time I reviewed this place, it was October 2021 - now opinions have changed slightly. It remains an amazing place, a beautiful new addition to the Central City. But one minor problem has arisen. Look West down Gloucester Street twoard the convention center, and you'll see the problem. That Concrete wall on the part of the building facing Gloucester Street doesn't look very attractive. The sooner we have one of those new hotels or something put in that spot, hopefully it'll look better. Even some Art on the wall would make it look more attractive then it does now. I rate the Convention...