Novotel Hamilton Tainui — Hotel in Hamilton

Received the most awful customer service! Absolutely appalling for a 4.5 star hotel. Facilities and rooms were okay, the room was tidy and had all the amenities. Arrived early before 2pm to check in and paid for valet parking and receptionist that checked us in was welcoming and assisted us with no concerns apart from no mention or discussion re the terms and conditions of valet parking. Half an hour after check in we left to grab some food my car was still in the main parking when we arrived back at around 4pm. We had dinner reservations and requested for the car to be brought up at around 6:20pm, when jumping into the car to leave for dinner, IT WOULD NOT START! Prior to this we had driven from Auckland all the way down with a couple of stops along the way and had no problems with the car. We then told this to the staff out front to which she said that the valet driver had an issue with the car and said she would get the duty manager. After explaining what was going on to Warren (Duty Manager), he did not know what to do or say to us. After asking for help he only then offered to check the camera footage to see if they were at fault for this but was unable to find the footage of the car entering the valet parking area! No time stamp on our valet ticket at all or for their own record which is very unhelpful for situations like this, the only footage found was the valet driver bringing the car up at a poor angle. NO further resolution or compensation offered as we told him we missed our dinner reservation with family and he said he could call a taxi and told us to pay for it! He then asked if we wanted to call AA but at our own expense, we asked him to at least call AA - he then told us AA would be arriving in an hour. We then explained to Warren again that Anne out front said the valet driver - Dean was having an issue with the car, we asked why this was not communicated to us, to management or noted down on the valet card about the car having issues. During our discussion with Warren, Pare the other receptionist at the time spoke for him in a rude manner, she also did not offer any resolution but only pointing the finger back at us saying it’s our car and told the team not to touch it! We expressed the displeasure that we paid for a service and got back a problem with no compensation or solution offered. Once the conversation pointed back to Warren, Pare then left the front desk and went to speak to the valet driver who drove my car without us going to speak with him all together first. After the valet driver had finished moving another guest’s car he then finally came up to us and told us that he had no issue with the car. At this point we were very confused as one staff member said otherwise. I then asked to speak to both the staff members. When clarifying what had been said to us the valet driver looked confused and the staff member who said he had an issue clearly was trying not to say something to avoid putting any liability towards them! We then expressed to Warren that the situation was stressing us out as we needed to drive back to Auckland the next day and he replied back with “you are stressing me out”. HOW RUDE and UNPROFESSIONAL coming from a duty manager to tell YOUR CUSTOMERS that they are stressing you out. We did not pay $250+ in this economy to stress you out. In my years of working in customer service/hospitality I would not dare to say to my customers that they are stressing me out! That is not how you communicate or treat your customers how embarrassing for the company you work for! This whole situation was handled poorly and could have been avoided from the start if the manager and staff members acknowledged the issue with the car when it occurred and had it noted down on the valet ticket, offered solutions. A refund for the valet parking would atleast have been something substantial to us however we received 0 compensation and this has put us off staying at this hotel again or recommending it to...

We recently stayed in Room 425 (the corner room suite) and experienced a blend of top-tier hospitality, thoughtful amenities, and a few operational hiccups that brought the rating down to four stars.||Service:|The service was truly outstanding. A loud disturbance from Room 422 at 1:30am on Saturday (21 June 2025) was dealt with promptly by staff after I lodged a noise complaint—turning a disruptive situation into a positive reflection of the hotel's responsiveness.||On the Thursday evening before Mātāriki, the restaurant staff kindly let us enjoy the Mātāriki dinner special using our prepaid dinner package. The spare ribs entrée from the regular menu was especially good, and it was appreciated that we could take the complimentary bottled tap water back to our room.||Housekeeping maintained an exceptional standard throughout our stay. One of the biggest highlights was the room’s A/V flexibility, we brought our own streaming device, and were delighted that HDMI inputs were unlocked, allowing us to project content across both in-room TV's and giving us great access to our own lighting routines (using our own lights). ||We were also grateful for the complimentary one-hour late checkout—thank you.||Logistics (4-Star):|However, a few logistical issues stood out. The lack of transparency regarding the hotel bond was frustrating. It would be helpful if this was clearly stated on the website, rather than discovered upon arrival. If it’s intended to encourage on-site purchases, well, it certainly worked.||On Mātāriki morning, I attempted to step out into the courtyard between 10–11am, but the door was locked. With the lifts overwhelmed by departing guests and no stair access to reception, we were left waiting unnecessarily.||Also, a quick note, the spa pool near the InBalance centre seems to have mysteriously disappeared. Last seen in 2020–2021, the staff have no knowledge of it's disappearance. ||The Building (3-Star):|While the service shines, the building is starting to show its age. The carpets feel worn, the window seals may need checking, and the top of the curtain lets in too much light, especially with overhead courtyard lighting shining directly into the room. These are better suited to productivity than rest. A solution could involve proper curtain fittings or simply providing eye masks.||The bath also appears to have a slow leak issue. Once the plug is removed—even briefly—the water slowly drains away after reinserting it. Likely a maintenance issue worth inspecting.||Side Note:|The room offered excellent daytime views of the Waikato River and some entertaining scenes at night, overlooking Skycity, where you’ll catch glimpses of pokies and punters lining up. If you’re browsing the photo gallery, you might just be able to guess which one...

Firstly, the room we booked was not available as we travelled as mother and daughter, not a couple. We eventually got a suitable smaller room but was told there was no discount for the mix-up. We ate in the restaurant three times, first time was fine as it was after the lunch rush. The other two times were noted for the 40-50 min delay in meals. The final time, the floor manager kept avoiding us, wouldn't come back to answer how long our meal would be and his poor service was obvious to the point of rudeness. After a 50 min wait my mother (87) and I were so cold and frustrated, we decided to walk out and have the meal in our room. We were brought chips (our side dish) first, no meal, the chips got cold and I complained again. By that stage, we had lost our appetites. The chef tried to apologise with chips and salad, but I felt that was 'buying us off' and what we really wanted was our meal. I was angry and disgusted at the treatment and the floor managers inability to even speak to us and apologise. We did not eat there again. There is something terribly wrong with the kitchen at your hotel, and with regulating customer service by those who should be an example. I noted the inflexibility of staff again when asking for a small change in our breakfast room service. There was no willingness to alter anything, and I was very surprised at this regimented approach to customer service, it is no way to win bookings. The room was comfortable and the cleaning staff were impecable, as were most of the front desk staff. But the restaurant and initial room mix up have put us off staying with you again. Most disappointing to be treated like that. Our check in was also marred by the new front desk staff person telling us our room wasn't ready till 3pm, despite our papers stating a 2pm check in. We had travelled from Auckland and to start a stay at your hotel with such bungling was not a good start at all. I had to check rooms for their suitability as the one we had booked was no longer available, despite booking a number of weeks ago through our agent. As our trip was to visit a sick relative, it was a real disappointment to have to battle such obvious errors in customer service throughout our stay. As far as breakfast was concerned, after the inflexibility of kitchen staff, we purchased our own supplies and enjoyed a far superior breakfast each day than the standard boxed cereals, tinned fruit and bland offerings from your kitchen. I was surprised at the lack of pride in good food and lack of attention to succeeding in standing out from the crowd...