Lobster Inn Motel — Hotel in Kaikōura

Not the Ritz, but this is a small town

For our 18 day tour of New Zealand we really wanted to see some small towns. You'd expect that the inns in towns like Kaikoura would be of this quality, which is fine. However, that being said, the rooms were outdated and in the 2 nights we spent we never saw anyone who worked at the hotel. Our key was left for us at the front for 2 rooms (we have a family of 5). Our teenage children had their own room that had 3 separate twin beds, they appreciated that.

We had a king bed. Both rooms had large bathrooms which were clean but could use a bit of an update, but that wasn't major.

The inn is convenient but you could not get to town without a short drive. There isn't a path to walk to town so it didn't feel safe to go that way.

In town there are shops, restaurants and such, - and at the Inn there is a restaurant and bar which we didn't try.

All in all it was a nice pleasant stay, but we might check out a different hotel in town that we saw that was more convenient. Good place to go seal and/or whale watching from shore...

A few weeks before our visit, we received an email from the Motel saying "Kaikoura iHop" festival was postponed and would we want to reschedule or cancel our booking.

Why am I telling this? I was impressed by the honesty. With COVID restrictions visitor footfall is low. Still the Motel was upfront in letting us know. Could have meant loss of business for them!

Honesty has good outcomes. We did visit as planned. Nice, spacious rooms. The ones on 1st floor have direct view of the spectacular snow capped Mount Fyffe an dthe Seaweed Range. Rooms done meticulously everyday. Very nice and comfy beds. The adjacent tavern and the Cafe across the street has plenty of Food options. And we really enjoyed the walk to the City Centre and ended up trying a host of other Cafe's and...

Sometimes its nice to get of the well-worn tourist track, and hang with the locals. The lobster Inn is a place where this is possible. Entering the pub was like entering an RSA. Talk was of sheep, tractors, bankers and, of course, rugby, peppered with classic farming colloquialisms. The meal was less than ordinary. Whilst palatable pub fare, bangers and mash (venison sausages and mashed potato) served in a soup bowl is wrong wrong wrong. The free beer I scored at the bar did not make up for this travesty. Sorry Lobster Inn, we wont be back until you buy...