Camelot Arms Motor Lodge — Hotel in Ōtara-Papatoetoe

On arrival my friend pulled into the drive jumping out to check in leaving me sitting in the car while he did so, after a couple of minutes a Chinese man came out of the reception and walked in front of the car looking at me and then went back into the reception shaking his head. I thought it odd but ignored it and put it down to me being sensitive or a little paranoid. My friend returns to the car, parks up and proceeds to tell me not only did this man at reception tell my friend I was too young to be there with him (I’m 29 and my friend is 32) but also that he thought I a prostitute and he actually came out to check me out for himself obviously this nasty chap is able to spot a prostitute a mile away.

Now I’ve nothing against sex industry workers or anyone trying to earn a living but being accused without due reason and inspected by him was not only embarrassing but also humiliating.

After Looking me over he must have decided I wasnt a hooker after all as I was allowed entry to the room situated on the ground floor right opposite the reception. Now imagine a rather dated and dire room with its 3 badly placed blue tatty chairs 2 of which sat 2 nasty dingy grey tatty matted old cushions and bed with off white polyester mix bedding with dubious and somewhat worrying white stains on and 2 brown flat cushions, we were told to not make a mess and to keep it as tidy as we found it... ok. No air con but 3 sets of French doors that if had not been bolted shut would have led onto the front lawn and actually allowed some fresh air in too. There were also 2 small windows next to the drive that you could open. Had the door open for a brief while as was very stuffy in the room but had to close due to the owner loitering outside and around were we were so we open the 2 small windows that allow little to no breeze due to facing towards another building (reception) and pretty close too the Owner again hanging around outside the windows while we had them open we think listening or atleast trying to listen into our conversations. Another friend was passing through and stopped by Briefly on entering the carpark and parking the owner came out and started getting really angry and saying the car engine was too loud and asking him why he was there for maybe 10minutes before the owner ejected him from the room and grounds, apparently there are no guests aloud and the car was too loud and he didn’t like him being there. Our friend was there maybe 10 minutes and hadn’t even finished his cup of tea before being removed from site... it’s only 6.15pm may I add and as far as both myself and my friend could work out there was 1 other guest staying other then my friend.

Chinese owner is a racist plain and simple.

9.30pm he knocks the door (for the 4th time today without a valid reason) my friend jumps out the shower and goes to see what he wants.. he says to my friend he didn’t like the look of us... and wanted to know where we were from, (we are English and Turkish/kiwi) He gets anxious almost arratic and shouty and said we made him feel unsafe and he didn’t want us there and he felt threatened (wasn’t complaining when we was taking the money for the room though) He actually went as far as to say He disliked the natives and China was better and he felt threatened and unsafe in this country as it’s dangerous and that a Chinese woman cannot walk at night as will be robbed by a local as they are all criminals, don’t work and steal, lazy and a drain on society. My friend stated that if he didn’t like this country he could always go back to China seeing as it is better then New Zealand to which he said he would if he didn’t have his business.

DONT STAY HERE.

If the motel is the reason the owner is here If it goes out of business surely he do one back to lovely China where he won’t have to be scared of the thieving lazy natives and we will have One less racist pig in New Zealand. Everyone...

My stay was cut short after my colleagues and I were kicked out over what what would have been maybe a table spoon of dirt which was left on the kitchen tiles. Not much to get upset over, nor was there much we could have done about that considering the kitchen served as both the front door and hallway to the tiny establishment that was to be home for the week. Without much of a conversation we were told that we were unwanted guests, and instead of offering to leave expensive boots outside and begging for another night stay, I would very happily leave this very average accommodation and questionable electrical work behind. Although if you stay in room 21, beware of that dodgy plug behind the bed 👍🏻

Replying to owners response:

That would be a great suggestion for someone who has another pair of shoes, cheers. Dirt was left on the tiles in the entrance but we didn't track it through the entire room. If any got on the carpet, I apologize, but it would be merely accidental and definitely not worth an extra hour or more cleaning time?! Don't recall you asking for our guest training credentials upon arrival, but maybe you should ask that of...

Very poor service. So rude. Not welcoming whatsoever. Chinese guy at reception very rude. Yelled at me for no reason, yet I wasn't yelling at him. Told him off for talking to me in that tone. He got angry over $250 bond fee which I never knew about as it is not stated on their website. He never asked me to give the reservation number, it was all about the bond fee. His old white partner is no different. They're both very rude and don't deserve a star at all. They need to learn how to deal with customers professionally. Things could've turned out differently for them, but they're not worth it. They gave us the room and all of a sudden they kept ringing the room we were in and kept telling us to leave. SO UNPROFESSIONAL!! Why give a key if you want us to leave 15 mins later? I made sure I got my refund before I left cos they're scammers. Had an argument with both men. They really needed a good punch to the face. Being a woman, I would've happily done it. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE. THERE ARE BETTER ACCOMODATION PLACES NEARBY ESP TOWARDS THE AIRPORT. THEY'RE SCAMMERS AND VERY RACIST! DO NOT STAY HERE IF YOU'RE NOT WHITE...