Novotel Wellington — Hotel in North Island

It has been a long time since we have been so impressed with a hotel as we were with our stay at the Novotel Wellington.

We arrived early having come from Auckland and we were able to register prior to check in and leave our luggage while we headed out to explore Wellington, they could text us once the room was ready which was a great option. The staff were very welcoming and explained where we were and the local attractions near to the hotel. They also highlighted the elevator behind the restaurant which allows you to get down to Lambton Key (the hotel is on the Terrace).

We stayed for around 5 nights which allowed us to really experience the culture and service the Wellington Novotel offers. Its easy to say we were consistently impressed throughout our stay, from the regular greetings we received, to the house keeping team leaving a lovely note, or the themed headphones the kids were given randomly at breakfast. Each interaction felt genuine, and with our interests at the forefront.

To move to the room experience, we were happy with our room location and facilities. We were placed right down the end of the hall way which, when as traveling as a family was a perfect location, as it minimizes our kids disruptions on other guests. Our room had WiFi which was perfect and it is great to see hotels finally embracing WiFi as a free (and not capped) and expected feature of a room. How else could I tag myself and the hotel in a post on FB/IG etc a a visitor to NZ without extra effort? The bathroom was perfect and its great to actually have a bathtub included in the room. We suggest you walk down Lambton Key to "Lush" and pick up a few bath products and head back to your room for relaxation. Each day we received the paper which was a nice touch. The downsides of the room? Well, the TV was quite terrible in image quality and sound and far from where I expected it to be. I expect TVs to be one of the most important room features. Our room at night was quite noisy with wind blowing away and although I didn't feel it myself I was told it actually felt like it shook (not EQs) throughout the night. Finally, I guess the rooms are not super family friendly with it being 2 beds in the same space.Just be aware of it.

The hotel bar area is perhaps the most awkward I have experienced in terms of layout, feeling over our stay as limited in size and relaxation (seating) options. It was however, staffed by the same level of attentive and caring staff we experienced throughout our stay. The most pleasant surprise were the prices and range during 'happy hour', which short of a very disappointing experience on the last day, we found to be reasonable and very progressive for a hotel.

We had breakfast included in our stay, which proved to be a superb addition. Our kids were included and actually were able to enjoy a lot of kid friendly breakfast options. The breakfast options were standard fair for a hotel buffet but were, with the exception of one morning cooked fresh and to expectations. I think if I could level any suggestions it would be to make it easier to order variations of egg dishes and perhaps offer a rotating dish or two on the main buffet. There were a load of breads, fruits, cereals, cooked foods, cheese, drinks and gluten free options.

On to the complaints, which were minor I guess. During our stay, one elevator broke down the day we arrive, and was not usable for our entire stay. This was actually quite frustrating, and only really helped by the fact the housekeeping staff kept swiping us into the service elevator. We faced rather large waits at any point we tried to use the elevators and normally I would expect an issue such as this to be fixed much sooner but since it was over new years we gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Overall we had a wonderful stay, and will definitively be staying here again. The minor inconveniences could not out way the outstanding service and experience we...

We arrived and immediately noticed they were short staffed. The staff that were on did their best. We were assigned 2 rooms next to each other. This was needed for our children. 2nd room was not ready at 3.30pm, they said 5pm, but we had the first room available, 5 people crammed in. As we were in that room, someone else tried to enter and had been doubled booked in our room. I notified the front desk. At 5pm our second room was still not ready. We spoke to the cleaners who said they had cleaned it that morning so again notified front desk. 6.30pm Front desk confirmed with the cleaners and we were issued a key only for other people to be in there. Another double booking. Back to the front desk who said they would need to confirm with management to change our rooms. We said we would leave to get dinner in the meantime as we all could not fit in the room. 9.45pm and only when we came back again to ask, did the manager finally approve the request and we were moved. Went to sleep woke up and left. So of the 21 hours booked, we only got to get comfortable for 11. We couldnt spend a decent day on the first day needing to return to front desk multiple times and decided to leave 2 hours early next day because we have had enough. Priority line was not utilised and there were so many people cued with everyone being told rooms were not ready. Poor performance from Accor hotels. Sure they upgraded us to have an extra bed in each room but this seemed more like a downgrade on a lower floor with no views. And all we got as compensation was 5 free drink tickets, 1 for each of us that we didnt even end up using. Will...

Check-in was smooth, and my only request was clean towels daily. We were tired and went for a shower, and there were no towels in the room. I went to the reception and told the receptionist we needed towels she went to the back office and grabbed me 3, not even folded towels. I needed 4. Then she went with me to our floor and grabbed some more from the storage. There are no amenity kits in the room. Every other Novotel has at least shower caps. Breakfast was average at best. Safe in the room didn't work, carpet had stains. The dining room needs a good scrub. We had breakfast for 2 days, and on the first day, the 2 ladies were really not in a hurry to clean the tables that were not occupied anymore. The dining room has a train station feel as the hallway to the street lift goes through it. On the last day, we needed to go on the ferry and go early for breakfast. They open at 6.30, not 6am, which is an inconvenience considering you need to be early for the ferry. 6am would be more suitable and not unusual as a lot of hotels cater from 6am. One of the workers was especially irritated. we came this early, so I waited until 6 30 to go to food stations as we took the beverages a couple mins earlier. I went to cut a slice of bread, but there was no knife. I asked, "May I please get the bread knife?" She rolled her eyes and said to wait until she finished putting the patisseries out. It was unnecessary to take this tone and attitude, especially in front of children.

We have been in dozens of Novotel hotels, and this is not the standard of a Novotel hotel. The only thing going for this hotel is...