Ika Nui Taupo — Hotel in North Island

There is a load to love about Ika Nui.

Ika Nui is located on the Lake Front, only a moments walk from the CBD. All restaurants, pubs and shops are an easy walk. Absolutely perfect location.

I decided to book in for two nights in a Lake View Apartment at a very reasonable $170.00 a night. Very friendly welcome at Reception, with excellent directions to my Apartment, plus a detailed map given. My Apartment was located up stairs, towards the front of the complex. I found the unit itself, didn't quite match the photos online when I booked (not doubt a booking agent error as apposed to a Ika Nui problem). The photos showed the room to be front on to the Lake. Unfortunately the room was more side on to the lake, with the view really only visible from the deck. That said, it is a commanding view, and the large balcony with table and chairs made it an enjoyable place to be.

The room itself has a large Living area, with couch, telly, dining table and full kitchen. The kitchen is fantastically equipped, with a dishwasher, oven and even a full fridge/freezer. The bathroom is lovely, with a nice tiled shower which had excellent pressure. The separate bedroom was small, but still plenty of space to move around the bed. The bed was quite soft and springy, but it was comfortable enough.

I found a lot of the furniture to be quite dated. The couch was really old and uncomfortable to sit on. The TV only has the basic Freeview Channels and is not a Smart TV. The WiFi was excellent with no issues at all. I was able to stream movies on my tablet with no problems.

There is a heatpump in the lounge, which kept the entire apartment nice and toasty the whole stay.

I was very impressed with the Cleanliness. All the linen was crisp and white, and everything in the kitchen and bathroom was spotless. The only issue was a bowl on the dining table which was filthy with smudges of butter and jam all over it.

My only real complaint was parking. On the second night the place was quite full, and after coming back from Dinner, there was no carparks at all. I wasn't too happy about having to leave my car on the road, but it worked out okay.

So all in all, an excellent stay at Ika Nui. For the price, the offering was bang on. I would...

My husband and I stayed a few days at the Ika Nui Taupō in room 14, which is directly across from the check in office.

Our living room view was of the lake and it was gorgeous.

There is a full kitchen, as well as living room, dining table, bathroom with a shower and a queen sized bed in a separate bedroom.

The kitchen was well stocked with pretty much everything you could possibly need on a trip to cook.

Walls were thick and we didn't hear anyone except for people in the parking lot one night.

PROBLEMS:

Parking is a nightmare and much too snug for comfort. One night we came home and every slot was filled so we had to park at a different hotel and pray we didn't get towed.

The major downside is the internet doesn't work here. That's a problem if you're a foreigner and you're on data roaming. You won't be able to upload photos to the cloud, post on social media or make WiFi calls because unless we stood at the front door, holding our phone out to get the initial signal, the WiFi wouldn't stay connected anywhere in the entire unit.

Overall I was happy with our stay, except for the WiFi issue.

Visited...

This apartment does not meet minimum standards and should never be offered as suitable accommodation for anyone. To make this apartment habitable you need to make the following changes; Replace the beds - The existing beds should be sent to the tip - past use by date. Replace the lounges - They are just too old and were un-useable. Cleaning fish at the back door is unacceptable. The odour lasts for several hours and is revolting. You cannot stay in the apartment during this period. As a result of the above, we were forced to seek accommodation elsewhere. The manager responded to the fish issue by saying this is a fishing town and cleaning fish at the back of the apartment is ok. The 1 bedroom units are high standard, however take warning the 2 bedroom units are absolutely horrible and should be avoided at all costs. The management does not care about their guests comfort and after just 1 night the conditions were so bad that we needed to seek alternative motel accommodation as we could not sleep in the beds. We needed to use blankets and covers to cover...