Braxmere Lodge — Hotel in North Island

This is not a nice lodge. Is a motel filled with mozzies and flies if you open you balcony to look at the lovely view. The view is nice no doubt but the insects drive you crazy. I really can't rate this place as we've no choice. This is a good location if you need to sleep overnight and start early for Tongariro Crossing. It takes only 25min. from Braxmere to Tongariro shuttle car park. ||Braxmere lodge yes it has a toaster, a fridge and washing basin, but it does not have a dish washer or a washing machine. We booked this place as we read it comes with Washing machine and dryer from Booking.com. End up, is the compound you need to go out and find the washing place and have NZ 5 in coins ready. ||Is good they provide 4 large towels as there's no room service throughout your stay if is less than 4 nights. I feel the bedroom is pretty dirty. The couch is filthy with stains, the cutleries are not clean to my standard. I'm just uncomfortable here. Bright spots is the wifi is stable and fast. Fridge is nice looking. Toilet is big enough and easy to operate especially the shower area, view of balcony is very nice but we can't open the balcony door unless you're immune to mosquitoes and flies. ||The manager Sue is very fast and responsive via WA which is a plus. ||However, I can't...

We were not able to stay as only 1 of the 2 beds were made up- there were 3 of us.||We booked in prior to the office closing and received a confirmation email from reception with key details and telling us to enjoy our stay.||On arrival we went to the restaurant, picked up our key and on opening the door to the room were met by a very musty smell.||As the room had not been prepared for us we had no choice but to return the key. We just managed to catch restaurant staff as they drove away. We then had to book other accomodation 20 mins away, not easy to organise at 9.30pm but at least other Turangi hosts are keen to look after their guests.||The reception staff have since texted to say that their 'after hours service' needs working on but as the room had not been prepared for us it really didn't make any difference whether we arrived prior to the reception closing or after? Were they going to make the bed and put towels etc out and air the room while we stood waiting?||We would recommend to other guests to check their rooms before paying as otherwise you may end up out of pocket and without a bed for the night, with no staff left to put...

STUNNING. This is a hidden gem with fantastic staff, amazing views and devine food. The rooms were clean and modern and had everything we needed. Any requests for top ups (coffee for the plunger for example) were attended to promptly. Sitting in our personal little courtyard sipping wine to the sound of the water lapping on the shore was absolute bliss.

The food at the restaurant was AMAZING, not to mention very generous servings. We had a late lunch on arrival day and decided on the entree' size for dinner, just as well, as it was more than enough for our main.

:: Special service: After dinner one night we mentioned to one of the staff we were expecting a delivery to our room and if they could follow up. To our embarrassment it was already there when we wandered back. Shortly after we got a knock on the door from the aforementioned staff member following up, just to make sure we got it. Fantastic service! -  We will be...