Distinction Rotorua Hotel & Conference Centre — Hotel in North Island

I have no idea how this hotel has a 4.1 star review on Google. Our stay here literally brought me to tears. We arrived at around midnight for the beginning of a 4 night stay in a deluxe suite, so not the cheapest room either (24 hour front desk so no problem checking in.) Lobby looks glorious and clean, all seems well. The room is another story. Disgusting and calcified shower head, hasn't had a good clean in a long time - in fact needs replacing. Absolutely filthy, rusting vent above the bath tub. Stains ON TOP of bedding, stains on pillows, chair and generally just a very, very tired room. Coating of dust on glassware and hair dryer, cutlery was also dusty and spoon had what looked like sellotape glue on it. The light above the bed was flickering and wouldn't light properly, the toilet flush was broken and the box with tea and coffee in was hanging off by one hinge. The fridge was rusting out at the bottom and the shelf it was sitting on was swollen and damaged, I assume from the fridge leaking at some point. Absolutely mortified that this is the standard of a 4 star hotel. Called reception and politely, despite how upset I was, asked if we could view another room. Gentleman at front desk let us check another room. Another gentleman assured us he had checked the room and it was much better - great, glad to hear. Well the room spoke for itself, it had exactly the same issues, if not worse due to the even bigger stain on the bed covering. Told reception and asked for another room or an upgrade, was told "we don't have any upgraded rooms, but would you like to check out another room? It'll probably be the same though ..." that tells me he knew exactly what we were walking into with each room. We thought what the hell, let's have a look. Sure enough, same issues. We had no choice at what was about 1am but to stay for the night, which we had to pay for. Absolutely no offer of a discount or even an apology. We were able to get a refund for the remaining nights but the stress, upset and time wasted having to find somewhere for the rest of our holiday, truly stained our entire trip. I have videos and photographic evidence of everything mentioned. UPDATE: a few weeks after the trip, I ended up requesting a refund for the night stayed and sent photos. I received apologies and a full refund...

I had high hopes with my stay. Upon check in, we had to upgrade several tiers (at a fee) in order to get a King bed. The room is dated and 1 of the lamps was not working. There is also only 1 bedside table which is very uncomfortable for one of us. The TV sat right across the desk and we had to move the TV so I could work at the desk. Lighting in the room is poor. Power sockets only by the side of the bed that had no bedside table, so my phone had to be left on the floor.

I headed to reception after checking in at 6pm to request for a room where the TV was mounted on the wall so I could use the desk to work, and guess what?? The only other room requires a $30/night upgrade (again) and had 2 queen beds. And if I forked out $79/night, I could upgrade to a suite with a king bed. The broken light in our room was not fixed, as the male staff who attended to me in the evening was not very friendly. Not only that, the house phone in the room is not working and the reception knows that and they had to ring our mobile phone to find out our requests. This is in room 228.

That was last night. This morning I headed to the breakfast dining area and they informed me the buffet will close in 10mins. There was virtually no guests there. I told them I was only after a slice of toast and they insisted they couldn't accommodate and I had to pay the full buffet price.

So appalling! I would say I am well travelled through large parts of Asia, Pacific and the US, so when such basics do not meet bare expectations that comes with an established hotel chain, and a room that costs over $200 a night, I am sorely disappointed and disgruntled. This place is distinctly disappointing, worse than a 3 star motel. I may never ever stay in another Distinction hotel. Distinction Rotorua definitely doesn't seem to have a policy that takes care of...

Day one...Into our Deluce room! No air conditioning but there is a thermostat to adjust the temp??? Pool temp 37c!!!! What the !!!! no respite from the heat there. Housekeeping poor! No cups for tea or coffee, no spoons, no face cloths in bathroom. Dirty under vanity unit, thick dust on glass shelf above fridge, dirty under fridge where drips come out of the fridge as a foot is missing and it tilts over. If you find a wine bottle cap in room 246 holding up the fridge.. it was me. Dust behind chairs once pulled out from wall so wecould watch TV... Beds and pillows are very comfortable though.

Day Two!!! Out and about at 9am.. Placed the PLEASE SERVICE the room sign out. Back 5 hours later and nothing done. A visit to reception and I was told that servicing happens automatically and there are no PLEASE SERVICE rooms signs.. grrrrrrrr Pity I didn't take a photo of it when I collected it and gave it to reception... Staff confused and said the house keeping staff would assume a sign on the door means DO NOT DISTURB grrrrrr again. Room was serviced quickly while we popped out and on our return the beds were made, the empties removed but the rubbish bin was untouched, the dust was still there and again!!! the face cloths were taken away but not replaced!!!

Day three.. Shower time... Use the complimentary shampoo and ...... It was full of water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Not a bubble to be seen... grrrrrr again

The Hotel has potential but there is some serious quality control issues that are clearly passing under the radar.

Big thumbs up to Mr Yakatori restaurant. Pavillion Cafe was ok but didn't enjoy the New York pizza delivered by room service for dinner.. Bland.

Sorry but...