I visited Christchurch with my parents and we stayed for almost 3 weeks. During this whole stay we had not one single situation that we weren‘t satisfied with. The rooms are very modern with multiple charging options for your devises (USB helped us a lot since we are from Europe), a mirror that heats up to be able to see yourself after showering and a display next to the front door to show DND (in that case the bell won’t ring as well) or if you want your room to be cleaned. There’s a lot of storage room to keep everything tidy, you can leave your valuables in a safe and the room and bathroom was very spacious for two persons. What I perceived as very lovely and ahead of time was that they offer a refund if you don‘t need your room to be cleaned every day (after a stay of at least 3 days) in order to help the environment. The few times that our rooms have been cleaned there was still a lot of dust that built up over time but I wasn’t bothered by that too much. Other than that everything was perfectly clean. To get to the city center of Christchurch you can expect a 5-10 minute walk and there‘s a wide rage of shops, restaurants or bars. Still we preferred to visit the hotel‘s bar Bloody Mary‘s almost every evening. That was honestly one of our highlights to have some drinks, eat dinner at the bar and play some games as a family. I want to take that opportunity to praise the service of the bar staff and especially highlight Blake with his beaming smile and professional service. Even during the busiest times at Christmas or New Years he kept a genuine smile and seemed collected and efficient. He left a really good impression on all of us. Every single evening we left the bar happily and fulfilled. The breakfast buffet was very diverse and delicious and you could get fresh coffee on a coffee machine on your own. As a German I have to address the heavenly bread, that I was looking forward to every morning. One thing I‘d like to suggest would be to offer raw vegetables like sliced cucumber or fresh tomatoes (additionally to the baked tomatoes). That would complement the breakfast perfectly. All in all I would definitely recommend the hotel to all visitors of Christchurch or the surrounding area and even if it‘s just for a lovely evening at the bar Bloody Mary‘s. So thank you to all of you,...
Read moreChecked in with my husband for our babymoon. The night manger checked us in however was quite unprofessional as he was more interested with the couple checking in next to us, even conversing with them while we were still in our process of checking. He was so side tracked, he failed to mention of breakfast price, check out time or any other relevant information that we may find useful during our stay. We had to ask to get the above information from him. Definitely not a welcoming nor informative check in process by the night manager.
Our stay was not a pleasant one. We discovered period blood stains on the bed sheets as well as expired uht milks in our fridge. We mentioned these issues to the receptionist the next day, the issues were rectified however they shouldn’t even be in the first place.
The hotel is newish, however the bathroom is poorly designed. No bath tubs, I was told only 4 rooms in the whole hotel had bath tubs. The a/c is directly next to the bed, doesn’t help with my sleeping having air blown at my face-took us a while to adjust the direction so it’s not blowing directly at our heads. Terrible pillows and limited amenities. ( no slippers, no newspaper and toothbrush only on request)
The most appalling thing to us is the service of the front desk staffs. None of them greeted any guests as they enter or walk passed the desk. They had their heads down and rarely looks up, unaware of anything or anyone that may required their assistance with. The lobby area is quiet, no music no interaction from the front staff, not a welcoming atmosphere. Hence hard for me to believe this is a 4 star hotel. I have had better experience staying at a local motel or a holiday inn.
The location is average, the main entrance is on an one way street. You have to walk through a park and a few blocks of nothing to get into the city. I have noticed Novotel and the crown plaza are both situated right in the cbd. Perhaps better...
Read moreGood but not great. The rooms are large but soulless with very few appointments or little touches to give it any excitement. Staff were ok but not great. Our room didn’t correspond with the booked room and when we enquired were told we were given a complimentary upgrade. Not sure what the “upgrade” entailed as it was 2nd floor with a Carpark view. The booked room was “Deluxe King” and there was nothing to reflect “deluxe” in this supposedly “upgraded” room, so I would have hated to see the deluxe one! The room appeared to be missing a couch or sofa of which there was ample room, so the dead space also leads to the feeling of “meh” nothingness. ||TV was switched on and then froze…ON. Could not be switched off, adjusted, muted at all. When I called reception, she said “oh, it’s ok - I’ll be there shortly” as if this happens all the time. Then when she (the receptionist) got there, she knew exactly the problem was (she knew the history of it) and she proceeded to get down on her knees under the desk to fiddle with cables in a small hidden box. This was awkward for all involved as we watched on. She took about 5mins, and I had to get down and help her as she was having trouble re-connecting whatever she had pulled out. ||This is an embarrassment for Rydges Christchurch and being it was 20mins after check-in and I had already called once to question the room and now twice to fix the TV which I had to help with…any passionate and reasonable service professional would offer a room change. Any culture of excellence would see to it that a known TV problem would be properly fixed (or the room not offered) and not have a receptionist in the room on her knees needing the guests help! ||Breakfast buffet was awesome. Would like to see an auto-coffee machine added instead of brewed, but overall it was...
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