Finn's Paekakariki — Hotel in North Island

We visited Finn’s Paekakariki on Friday evening. First to the strengths. As has been mentioned by other reviewers, the property is very close to the train station, has a restaurant, and is situated at the northern entrance to the Escarpment Track hike. Also, a notable relative strength was the wide selection of available television channels to choose from while resting in the evening after a long hike. Further, the restaurant/tavern has an impressive selection of international beer and wines to choose from.

Regarding our overall rating. Three weakness that should be considered and addressed by this property. First regarding check-in, something we now read as a problem by others that have placed a review in this space. Check-in time was noted as 2:00pm in both public materials and on the non-refundable invoice we were emailed at the time we made the reservation. When we arrived at 2:10pm and found all doors locked and entrances to the property, e.g., the check-in area and restaurant with lights turned off and dark, we were concerned the property was closed or out of business, and almost turned ourselves around to return back to Wellington after circling each side of the property multiple times to find a way in. We even stopped a stranger walking his dog on the pavement to ask if he knew how to get inside the hotel to check in. After he tried to assist us, he suggested we go to a gated area in the back, a place that appears to be shared between the hotel and some private residences, to see if we might find our way inside there. We did, and found an open door through a private office and then into a kitchen area where we found some employees working. When asked, the staff person (perhaps manager) that then checked us in explained that they were preparing a special dinner for that evening and would not be opening up the front area (check-in and restaurant) until 3:00pm. While we refrained from being argumentative, we certainly wondered how this might have been better handled through communicating this decision to open late to guests, especially with a non-refundable booking policy, perhaps via sending that information in an email, or even placing a sign on the door. We found the excuse offered for opening check-in an hour late without notice because it was a national holiday wanting. We’ve traveled widely in North America, Europe, and Asia during many different national holidays and never found ourselves locked out of a 4-star hotel during the hotel’s prescribed check-in time.

Next regarding cleanliness, another theme we now see mentioned by other reviewers. There was a disturbing amount of black mold on the shower growing on the tiles. We are not speaking of the grout, which also had mold, but the tiles themselves! If this review allows photo uploads, we will include them. It was certainly unsanitary and unsightly, and most puzzling, something that could easily be remedied with standard cleaning practices, i.e., gloves, bleach based cleaners available at any grocery store, water, and a sponge or brush.

Finally, while we appreciated the specials and options available on the menu for dinner, we in fact ordered one, we left half of the entrée after finding a long hair inside of the beef curry. We’ll leave readers to decide whether they think this is a reasonable standard of food preparation hygiene. In sum, we wanted to highlight many merits of this property and made efforts in this review to share the good things we observed, however, given the ease with which the owners and managers could improve the concerns we’ve raised, concerns that appear to be in harmony with what others have noted in this space, one might wonder why these problems continue.

Overall, how this property is listed as a “4-star” hotel, remains a mystery unless this is something that is decided by the proprietors rather than some independent rating body. North American, European, and Asian travels will not recognize this as a 4-star property under any circumstances, unless the star rating system is 1...

Went for dinner on a Sunday evening, restaurant about 1/3 full. Took 25 minutes to get served, after watching others get seated, drinks ordered and served, and dinner orders taken. Was told it was because it was very busy, 7 tables being used, no large groups. May have been short staffed? Still for me one waiter should be able to take care of at least 7 tables, I know I can with a hangover ;) Ordered beef burger then was told they had no fries, waiter and I agreed on some wedges and a salad, then the other person on floor (bartender or duty manager) came to push me into either or, or pushed pasta so I picked pasta as I like a good carbonara and not such a fan of wedges. 30 mins for pasta to be served, no one else entered the restaurant since the group after me. Carbonara was a good portion, penne al dente and the sauce rich and hearty. Overall very satisfied with the food. Service was frustrating, however I noticed a review posted 2hrs prior regarding the wait time to be served so may be due to short staffing or new staff. Covid has been playing havoc on us all of course. Other observations, light was a bit bright, tv a bit loud but neither uncomfortable, overall a pleasant experience once finally having drink in hand and food on fork. Would...

Three major points that need working on at this establishment. The first and the biggest is the cleaning; the room smelt musty for a start, the windows are so dirty and dusty it doesn’t look like they’re ever cleaned. The toilet was really dirty around the connector of the lid to the base, the shower has mould growing in all of the gaps. There are big hanging cobwebs in all the corners of the room. I did not feel comfortable staying here with such a low level of cleanliness as lots of others have mentioned. The room; most of the lights had blown, the wifi password given in the guest book doesn’t work, the phone number in the book to call reception doesn’t ring, there was a hole in the wall, sachets for coffee but no knives or scissors to open them, all of the switches in the bathroom do not work except for one & obviously the train is not the owners fault but the 5am and every 15 minutes after that wake up from train horns and alarms was rough. The food; the quality of the meals was very low, I didn’t eat most of it. I can only imagine the hygiene of the kitchen. The room and food prices are too high if you’re not going to hire professional...