The Edgewater Resort & Spa — Hotel in Arorangi

Last week I stayed at the Edgewater resort for 8 days to attend a wedding. When I first got to the resort the welcoming from the front desk was not what your first impression should be! The staff were unorganised and rude, there was no warm welcoming or excitement that made you feel like what you had booked was worth it. They were trying to change extra for what people had been quoted and when asking questions they were unhelpful or just totally ignored what you had said. Once we arrived at our villa - it was semi clean but not done well, the floors felt uncleaned and parts were not well looked after (there was also cockroaches). The bed in the main room was uncomfortable and the water was not hot water even when using the shower booster. Over the course of our stay we ate and drunk at the restaurant at Edgewater - drinks were over priced and the alcohol drinks had next to no alcohol yet costed and arm and a leg (I preferred drinking at Vaianas or the Rarotonga resort). The staff were rude were when we asked “what cocktails were on happy hour” one replied with “gosh standard cocktails” I replied with “guess you have had that question a lot tonight maybe have some signage then!”. I found the happy hour was not happy hour they got smaller glasses so you paid for what you got there was no happy hour discount that is for sure. The food was over priced and not that great - kids food was cheap but portions were ridiculously small! The breakfast in the morning was unsatisfying and we spend most mornings paying for the hot breakfast which was limited in choices not one day did they have the salmon and when you got bacon you were lucky to get two pieces otherwise you pay $3 for an extra slice. I would not recommend eating there unless you want to be left feeling like you have been ripped off! On another note I was celebrating a birthday that week, my partner had planned a surprise breakfast on the beach which he had spoken to reception who said “can’t help go to the restaurant and find this person, they can sort it”. We arrived on the Tuesday afternoon my partner went down on Tuesday and planned this for the Friday morning, each day he went down and checked they said they had it sorted and it would all be ready on Friday morning (family members went with him and they heard them say this even the manger of the restaurant said it was sorted). Only for him to go check on Friday morning and for them to say, “nah we didn’t know, no one told us.” Instead of trying to fix it or make it happen they were just rude and said “oh well”. I am sorry but if you are going for a honeymoon, anniversary, special occasion, birthday or just wanting to do something special for your partner DO NOT DO IT THROUGH THEM, as they DON’T CARE and WON’T MAKE IT HAPPEN!! Then fast forward to the day we were leaving they messed up or accommodation for the last day as we had flight delays (and had sorted this before going to Rarotonga as Air NZ had let us know ahead of time). They then messed up our shuttle at 12am before going to the airport almost leaving us stuck at the resort and instead of taking accountability they wanted to blame the shuttle company that they use and that they booked for us to use. They didn’t let the shuttle company know and instead of being helpful it was an “us problem”. Also when checking out they didn’t acknowledge if I had been check out and when I asked he goes “yeah” and rolled his eyes! No “thank you for staying with us, we hope to see you again” or anything. Customer service needs a real working on! Also if you are wanting a resort with wifi don’t go here they will charge you an arm and leg for wifi that barely lasts! Such a horrible experience would not recommend, would not waste your time or money! There are much nicer resorts around the island that is for sure! Let’s just say I am not breaking my neck to go back to Rarotonga after this experience at Edgewater. Let’s hope the Manager actually reads this and does better instead of the same old reply they put on all these other reviews. Really...

Best book somewhere else unless you enjoy, shabby rooms, uncomfortable beds, cockcroaches, crowing roosters waking you at 4am, a monotonous menu and poorly cooked food.

I personally can't understand the review status of this resort as it's a shabby run down place. I have pictures of our room which I will upload as what we got was clearly well below 4 star status - in fact what we got was bad. We will be making a formal complaint to the Edgewater and our travel agent about what we ended up with.

The service at reception was mixed, but information and support lacking and inconsistent. The Edgewater experience was a waste of money and energy and ruined what should have been a great holiday.

Day 1 booked into the room, immediately concerned about the shabiness of the room - got in after midnight. The bed was lumpy, obviously old and it was just a yuck experience going to a resort and ending up in a room that was just disgusting. Air conditioning was old and noisy so the choice was listening to a loud humming all night or sleep and sticky heat. When the roosters began crowing at 4am, it was over, I could not stand one more night in the room. The next morning we upgraded to try get away from the roosters. The upgraded room was slightly better (we had to pay for this). The room was newer but the ocean view was not really an ocean view as you couldn't see anything but at least we didn't have listen to the roosters directly outside our room - sadly we could only upgrade for three nights and had to spend our last two nights back in the shabby, dirty, rooster room.

Overall the experience on the resort was disappointing, from being placed in a shabby, dirty looking room, cockcroaches, lack of privacy in the garden facing room, with the bathroom window affording no privacy on a busy thoroughfare/pathway. If showering at night we had to do so in the dark otherwise passersby could see in.

Positives: House keeping staff were friendly. The people at the activities hut were friendly and helpful. The wait staff were efficient but mostly not friendly.

Advice to would be travellers going to Rarotonga: Don't stay at the Edgewater, its tired, dated, boring and the front of house staff mostly unhelpful and disinterested - find a place by Miri beach, don't rely on the buses (as these are inconsistent in the weekends and confusing and you get mixed information from others (particularly the reception staff at the Edgewater), book a car/scooters for at least two days so you can look around and get to your activities. Don''t eat at the Edgewater or their spaghetti Italian restaurant - the food is really bad, and fairly certain we had gastro problems because of it. I edited to include information about the wifi. Do not pay for data at the edgewater, it's a rip off, we paid for 2 gig that lasted 5 hours (and we did not have our device on so not sure why it didn't last). We chose roaming, paid extra to our local country provider which was cheaper than using the Edgewater and surprise surprise the 1 gig daily limit with our own provider lasted the whole day using two devices. Fairly certain the Edgewater are skimming on this too. Enjoy the beach down by the turtles, it's really nice. Eat at some of the local cafes, the food is better than on the two resorts we ate at. Go to a supermarket to stock up on snacks, water and drinks as these are much cheaper than the resorts who charge extortionate amounts for things - i.e. a can of coke $8 but $2.50 at the supermarket. It's unjustified profiteering by them, and they clearly do not invest in customer comfort and convenience or upskilling their customer...

My Wife and I stayed here from April 10-18, 2018. We have traveled almost once a year since we got married, in 1970. We've backpacked through Europe, North America, Asia, Japan, South Korea and Australia. This is our first time here at Rarotonga. I have read many reviews about the resort, virtually all are positive, some slightly less, for, in our opinions, silly reasons, and some even remarking on the quality of the television programs available, who travels the world to watch T.V.???. Our room, 506, suited us in every aspect, spotless, perfectly laid out, nothing was less than we expected. The air conditioning was as frosty as we wanted it to be, and the fan above the main bed was more than adequate. Plenty of closet space, a programmable safe for valuables, and the bar fridge was entirely adequate for our needs. A beautiful unobstructed view from our first floor balcony through the palms to the lagoon, the fabulous sunsets are a photographer's delight, which I took full advantage of. The food was excellent, with other than the supplied continental breakfast available for a moderate extra cost, which is made clear in the room compendium, as are other extra costs, like room service delivery of food and drinks, NZ$15, (very reasonable), and beer, spirits and some pretty impressive cocktails available, again, with prices clearly marked, so no surprises there. The Staff, without exception, are a joy, always genuinely smiling, greeting, (Kia Orana), and nothing was the slightest bit of inconvenience, certainly no complaint from us!. We were lucky enough to see a wedding at the resort, the setting and outlook was beyond beautiful. As town is only 4 kms away, an hourly bus can be caught directly outside reception, NZ$8 per person, well worth the small cost. We hired a car for a day, size deciding the cost, but well worth it, it was very well presented, modern, clean and comfortable. I'm an experienced (since September, 1967) motorcycle rider so we hired a 125cc motor scooter, very different, very convenient, I thoroughly recommend doing it, but, for us, the air con little car was quite pleasant. Yes, the pathways ARE slippery when wet, but there are ample warnings, no problem there. The recreation activities and facilities are very varied, and great. all functioned as advertised, clean and nothing broken. I must say one more thing. This is the most child friendly resort we have ever experienced, there is so much for the kids to see, to experience, to do, I guarantee your kids won't be bored, and will sleep very soundly come bedtime.. The images of the bride were unplanned, she passed in front of me as I was waiting for some sunset shots, I have no information at all of who she is, but as no-one was taking shots, I had to!. The very beautiful local Lady was helping my Wife so I took the shot, she was quite happy for me to do so. The final one, of a family with the child washing her feet, I got permission from the Parents to take the shot, I showed it to the Parents, they were very pleased The NZ$3 dollar ice cream my Wife is buying was HUGE, and took some time to demolish, almost a meal in itself!. Dead set, Rarotonga is a very different, beautiful place in time, as everything is there, for those who might remember, it's very much the same as shown in the late 60's tv show, 'Adventures in Paradise, starring the American lead actor, Gardner McKay. Truly, I felt I was there, way back then, it was a beautiful,...