Kuirau Park Motor Lodge — Attraction in North Island

We stayed a total of 3 nights and 4 days at the motel. Overall, it’s an older place that’s definitely seen better days and could use some renovations, but the condition is generally reflected in the pricing.

Night 1: My daughter and I stayed in a twin room on the ground floor. It was okay for a short stay – basic but had all the essentials. At $115 per night, it felt a little steep for what it offered; something around $90–$100 might be more in line. The windows let in quite a bit of cold air and outside noise, which made it a bit harder to relax. The shower took a while to heat up and the water pressure could’ve been better, but again, everything we needed was there.

Nights 2 & 3: We moved to a two-bedroom family apartment that slept all 7 of us (2 adults, 5 kids) – it had two double beds and three singles. The cost was $608 total, which worked out to $304 per night. For the facilities, I personally think around $260 would’ve been more reasonable. But the apartment was fully equipped with a proper fridge/freezer, stove, oven, and microwave, which was super handy for a family stay.

Facilities: The motel has two geothermal hot pools and an outdoor heated pool – a definite highlight for the kids! Pools are open from around 8am to 9pm, and the outdoor one was a favourite. The location is also great – a short walk to town and just minutes from Kuirau Park, which has lovely markets on Saturdays. Onsite laundry is available too ($4 per wash, $2 per 20 mins on the dryer).

Staff & Service: Wayne, the new owner/manager (just 4–5 months in), was awesome. Friendly, helpful, and always happy to assist when we needed something. His hospitality made a real difference to our stay, and we appreciated the service.

Overall: It’s not a luxury spot – the place is a bit run down and could do with some updates – but for a budget-friendly, family-sized option in a super convenient location, it’s decent. Slightly overpriced for the condition, but we’d still consider staying again, especially for the space, pools, and...

This is the absolute worst motel I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. The rooms were disgustingly filthy and outdated. There was a cigarette butt on the floor next to the stove. The sheets were dirty and had holes in them. There was a whole fingernail on the floor as you walk in the door. There was no blinds and the curtains has holes and were dirty and smelly. There was no lock on the inside of the door and it was extremely unsafe. There was a dirty filthy mat on the floor in the kitchen that hadn’t been washed in ages. The room was hot and stuffy with no air conditioning. The bathroom was disgusting and un-sanitary and the whole two bedroom apartment smelt terrible. I would not let a dog sleep in this place let alone a human being. All the furniture was damaged or falling apart. They charged me over $700 for two nights accommodation in this rat hole. The whole place should be condemned and I will be contacting the council about the terrible conditions and un-safe environment in this slum.

The female manager was extremely rude and unhelpful in every way. She refused a refund and the man who was working with her lied to my face about the condition of the rooms. They both argued that they couldn’t refund me and were so dismissive about the state of the rooms. They are unprofessional and very deceitful in the way they run that motel. Do yourself a favour and never ever go here or you will definitely end up with some sort of disease or infection, or robbed while you sleep.

If you are going to charge exorbitant amounts of money for accommodation then make sure they are not only clean but safe...

Never again!! We stayed for 1 night, Rotorua was booked out and this was the only place that had a room, we couldn’t get out quick enough. |First impressions when we arrived was “Oh no”, what is this. But we decided to stay due to nowhere else available and the lady running the place was vey good over the phone and had also “upgraded “ us to one of the “renovated“ rooms. This motel was used for emergency housing until late last year apparently but I wouldn’t be surprised if it still was. The lady said they had all been moved on so international tourists could start booking again, good luck to them!! The government apparently pays to renovate these places, they should able to operate until renovations done.|The lady in reception was friendly enough and showed us to our “renovated” room. When we opened the door we were greeted with a smell that I can only describe as like someone had smoked 1000 cigarettes in there. Then she said it was renovated except for the wall being painted. I hate to think what it looked like before. |We were glad we brought our own blanket so we didn’t need to pull the bed covers back, I hate to think what it looked like.|The place was a s**t hike, disgusting.|Enough said, please done stay there unless you check...