Lake Dunstan Motel — Hotel in Cromwell Community

Overpowering smell, uncomfortable sagging beds, no sleep, LOUD bathroom fan, and bathroom fixtures from 1984.

Overpowering smell We opened the door of Room 2 and were immediately hit in the face with the extremely overpowering smell of what would have otherwise been a pleasant and inoffensive room freshener. This did not dissipate, despite having both doors and half the windows open for several hours with a strong breeze blowing through. We searched and smelled everything in the room and couldn't locate the source. When I got home, I had to replace the filter in my CPAP machine as the smell had permeated through and was still overpowering over 36 hours later! 😲

No sleep To say the beds were uncomfortable would be an understatement. I could feel the springs in the queen size bed and my 65kg friend was unable to sleep in the single bed despite putting the room's large fluffy blanket under the sagging mattress - the base seemed to be sagging as well.

Bathroom fan from hell When I turned the bathroom fan on I turned it straight back off again as it was so loud I thought something was breaking. Turns out, the sound of commercial drilling through walls is just normal for this fan. It was reasonably loud in the main room and nearly deafening in the bathroom itself.

Generally poor condition The shower trap and tray filled up with water after running the shower for two minutes. The bathroom fixtures are about 40 years old but a modern shower wand has been tacked on - this is not much use as you can't actually control the water speed because the rest of the setup is from 1984! There was also a musty smell from the heat pump which somehow was not hidden by the other overpowering smell in the room.

We didn't raise our concerns with staff directly as the online booking had indicated the place was otherwise full (speedway had national super saloon champs on) and also because these things are so basic they should not have to be mentioned. A motel exists to provide a comfortable stay and a good night's sleep so that you can drive safely the next day. We didn't get that here. I generally try to find positives when providing feedback - I can say it was clean and cosmetically tidy in appearance and had nicely manicured lawns - but given that it cost more than the Crowne Plaza in central Auckland (IHG member price in March 2023), and due to the fundamental major issues, if I could give this place zero...

Firstly apologies for the delay in writing this review.|We stayed at the Lake Dunstan Motel for War Birds Over Wanaka 2024.||It was a long day on the road and we checked in late afternoon, a very friendly host named Tony greeted me upon arrival and quickly got me checked in.||There was 3 of us travelling so we got the first unit.||First impressions entering the room FRESH and CLEAN.|It was spotless, while the kitchen area and bathroom may have been a bit dated it was super clean and very functional.|The shower was roomy and fantastic pressure.||Nice little touches of chocolates on the beds and plenty of towels etc.||We really enjoyed our stay here and look forward to coming back.||When we left we bumped into Carrina and the kids, she was preparing to get stuck into cleaning the units.||The standards we experienced at Lake Dunstan Motel, the customer service made our stay very memorable and I highly recommend other travellers...

Firstly apologies for the delay in writing this review.|We stayed at the Lake Dunstan Motel for War Birds Over Wanaka 2024.||It was a long day on the road and we checked in late afternoon, a very friendly host named Tony greeted me upon arrival and quickly got me checked in.||There was 3 of us travelling so we got the first unit.||First impressions entering the room FRESH and CLEAN.|It was spotless, while the kitchen area and bathroom may have been a bit dated it was super clean and very functional.|The shower was roomy and fantastic pressure.||Nice little touches of chocolates on the beds and plenty of towels etc.||We really enjoyed our stay here and look forward to coming back.||When we left we bumped into Carrina and the kids, she was preparing to get stuck into cleaning the units.||The standards we experienced at Lake Dunstan Motel, the customer service made our stay very memorable and I highly recommend other travellers...