Hideaway of Rotorua — Hotel in North Island

STAY AWAY! Management here are completely unreasonable. After our first night here, which was fine, I approached one of the staff members, who I assume is the lodge manager based on our interaction, for room service and, after ignoring my request, he asked us to leave when I told him he wasn't listening to my request for room service. He said, "you can't talk to me like that. I'll give you a refund and you go."||This was day 2 of what was going to be a 5 night, 6 day stay at this hotel. I have two small children and was alarmed that the man would even suggest us to leave over a simple request for our room to be serviced, which the lodge manual in the room specifically says is done daily. As the conversation continued, the man brought the lady who services the rooms to speak with us and, instead of servicing the room (even just a quick vacuum and taking the trash would have sufficed at this point), they insisted the room wasn't serviced because my husband didn't explicitly ask for service when the lady came into the room to give him towels. There is a "make up my room" sign outside the door so we assumed she'd come back later to make up the room when we are gone.||Either way, blaming my husband for not asking for the room to be serviced rather than just doing a quick service was really strange to me. So, at this point, it was clear that no matter what we say, they will not listen, will not service the room, will blame us for them not servicing the room, and accuse us of things that aren't true (the man claimed to my husband that I cursed him out, which I absolutely did not). Therefore, I no longer felt safe here. So I took him up on his offer to leave with a refund for the rest of our stay. He even told my husband he is an "honest man" and this is a "family run business" so he will definitely give us our money back.||However, since we booked through Hotels.com, the man said we need to lodge a refund request through Hotels.com and he would approve it right away. However, when we finally were able to lodge a refund request on Hotels.com (after thankfully finding somewhere else to stay), Hotels.com said Rotorua Hide Away Lodge refused our refund. At first they said because I, "harassed the staff" and they claimed they had a video (which they don't because I did not) but then later they changed their statement to, "because they have a no refund policy," which completely contradicts what the manager told both me and my husband multiple times, promising a refund for us to leave. I even have him saying that we could not stay the night and that he would refund us starting the night we left in video.||We are now in the process of attempting to get a refund through Hotels.com, to no avail, for our over $900 that the lodge is refusing...

STAY AWAY! Management here are completely unreasonable. After our first night here, which was fine, I approached one of the staff members, who I assume is the lodge manager based on our interaction, for room service and, after ignoring my request, he asked us to leave when I told him he wasn't listening to my request for room service. He said, "you can't talk to me like that. I'll give you a refund and you go."

This was day 2 of what was going to be a 5 night, 6 day stay at this hotel. I have two small children and was alarmed that the man would even suggest us to leave over a simple request for our room to be serviced, which the lodge manual in the room specifically says is done daily. As the conversation continued, the man brought the lady who services the rooms to speak with us and, instead of servicing the room (even just a quick vacuum and taking the trash would have sufficed at this point), they insisted the room wasn't serviced because my husband didn't explicitly ask for service when the lady came into the room to give him towels. There is a "make up my room" sign outside the door so we assumed she'd come back later to make up the room.

Either way, blaming my husband for not asking for the room to be serviced rather than just doing a quick service was really strange to me. So, at this point, it was clear that no matter what we say, they will not listen, will not service the room, will blame us for them not servicing the room, and accuse us of things that aren't true (the man claimed to my husband that I cursed him out, which I absolutely did not). Therefore, I no longer felt safe here. So I took him up on his offer to leave with a refund for the rest of our stay. He even told my husband he is an "honest man" and this is a "family run business."

Since we booked through Hotels.com, the man said we should lodge a refund request through Hotels.com and he would approve it right away. However, when we finally were able to lodge a refund request on Hotels.com (after thankfully finding somewhere else to stay), Hotels.com said Rotorua Hide Away Lodge refused our refund. At first they said because I, "harassed the staff" and they claimed they had a video (which they don't because I did not) but then later they changed their statement to, "because they have a no refund policy," which completely contradicts what the manager told both me and my husband multiple times, promising a refund for us to leave. I even have him saying that we could not stay the night and that he would refund us starting the night we left in video.

We are now in the process of attempting to get a refund through Hotels.com, to no avail, for our over $900 that the lodge is refusing...

This business breaches the Fair Trading Act.||Hideaway Lodge specifically advertises their business as being pet friendly. In theory, you book a pet friendly suite, advise them that you're bringing pets in advance, and check in. The website states in clear language that there is no extra fee for bringing pets - only that owners are responsible for ensuring no damage is done and may be charged a fee to fix any damage. The pet studios are older and slightly run-down but its the trade-off for bringing a pet, which to me is fine. If my pets caused damage i wouldn't have an issue paying. ||What I don't appreciate, and will not accept, is paying up front specifically for a pet friendly suite and then having the person at the counter try to scam me out of extra money. I was told "the pet policy has changed". When I asked "when did this policy change?". I was then told "today" (a week after I had booked and paid for a pet friendly suite). ||They then told me "we'll waive the fee this time". Later I find out they've successfully done this to others at an earlier date - so they lied to me about the policy change and simply were after more money. This is false advertising. Under the Fair Trading Act, advertised prices must be genuine, and there must not be extra costs you weren't told about. It is illegal to attempt to add prices to the service at check-in after it has been booked and paid for. ||This was our second visit, but we will not be making a third. Avoid this scam business at all costs if...