Awa Motel — Hotel in North Island

Well, I'll start with the positives. The receptionist was friendly, the apartment was spacious, the beds were comfortable, sheets & bedding clean, extra pillows, and plenty of extra clean towels. The down side. The Apartment was under-furnished for its size, there were no 'nice' touches, except a few bits of art work. The window in the kitchen had mold and food growing on the frame and the blinds and window surround also had dried food splattered on them. There was old hair in the drain in the spa bath and there were stains on the furniture. The net curtains had mildew on them in the bedroom as did the shower curtain. Overall the entire apartment which we paid over $200 per night was looking very tired and outdated. The appliances although functional were from the 90's including the TV in the bedroom. When I complained about the uncleanliness via email and sent photos I received no response or apology. Some of the food splatters were cleaned and the drain hair but the filthy window frames remained in the kitchen. We were extremely close to town and enjoyed that aspect. We would not stay again. Hopefully they will update and improve sometime soon!

The night we stayed there was a stray dog roaming inside the property for over 2 hours. We travelled with our dog who we had booked into a dog kennel. Because we had our dog in the ute, we parked just outside the hotel entrance. We took our dog out from the ute to let it go to the toilet before taking it to the kennel. The stray dog roaming inside the hotel ran outside and attacked us. We notified management and asked for a refund for that night, but they said it was our fault that we took our dog out to toilet. Our vet bills were $600 and my husband was bitten by one of the dogs not too sure if its the stray dog our our dog. At least if they had some decency and refunded us. Awful sleep that night could not even get our planned trips worth. Correct me if I am wrong but is this not a major health and safety breach by this hotel? We have a good number of photos of the strsy dog roaming around the corridor of the hotel and around the micro cabins. We notified reception and they said they had seen the stray dog but thought it was a guests dog. Now apparently this is not a dog friendly hotel?? Oh dear...

Beautiful, clean, spacious units with lovely, friendly, helpful staff made for a lovely stay. Being within walking distance to CBD and wharf was such an added bonus. SIDE NOTE. If there was numbered parking correlating with each unit, PLUS a clear msg on your website stating one park per unit (Micro Units to use their park only) with extra vehicles & guests visitors vehicles to park off-site then that would make this venue absolutely perfect. 👍 We had one vehicle, two units but oft'times we were hard pressed to find parking on site. Once we came back to a packed carpark so we parked off site, but we're annoyed when 10 mins later we saw a whanau with 3 vehicles drive and park in the micro village. Upon check-in we did query parking and we're told there was sufficient, but clearly there wasn't as some guests had more than one vehicle. Upon check-in you have guests write their vehicle rego ... well, I would have signage outlining one vehicle per unit and all others will be towed. Other venues have done that with perfect results. 👍