Pullman Rotorua — Hotel in North Island

Got charged for a 5 Star Hotel & received below than 3-star service with family. Disappointing.

Mostly staff was friendly & accomodating, it was one or two people at the front desk that led to a really bad experience.

Booked the room, based on good reviews on booking.com for this facility. However, was let down by poor service given by few. Arrived at the hotel after the checkout time of 2 pm given on hotel policy, still, the room was not ready for us. Was made to wait 25 mins - 30 mins in the hotel lobby with 2 children (1 & 4 years old - both tired from traveling). This room was booked 2 weeks in advance. Had to load my luggage myself onto the luggage trolley on arrival as a bell boy after paying $359 for 1-night stay at the hotel. The reason they gave me was COVID. once the room keys were given, my luggage stayed by the reception for 30 minutes, while i had to wait for it in the room and had to call reception mutliple times to get the luggage sent to the room. At night my 1 year old girl needed milk before she went to bed. So when i requested the guy at the front desk reception to send the room service to room 403 to collect empty baby milk bottle, get it washed and filled in with warm milk. He told me it can't be done and lectured me that if the kid get sick after drinking the milk it will be on them. I couldn't believe on the response, when i insisted that my girl does need milk before sleeping and can't sleep without it. Then I am told by this front desk guy that he will check with restaurant staff, who did't have problem with it.

So I am told if I need milk for my baby girl then I need to go to the 4th floor room to my room, collect milk bottle and bring it to basement restaurant by myself for warm milk as they are too busy to send room service.

Even during check out time because we had so much luggage, I requested for luggage trolley to sent to my room and the front desk told me they will try and see if they can accomodate for this. After waiting 15 minutes, we had enought time waiting and then we tried and manage to carry the complete luggage by ourselves by loading multiple luggage on our shoulders with kids - really pathetic service recevied from 5 -star hotel. They should get their staff or...

We had been to Rotorua 8 years previously and stayed a little out of the city centre (myself, husband and 16yr old son) . This visit we wanted to stay in the cbd so we could walk around a bit more. We stayed 4 nights. So Pullmans was a great choice. We didn't pay for valet parking, there was no need, we were able to find plenty of parking on the streets outside, that were close and easy. We had a lake view room, and we loved it. Super clean and comfortable. We had no issue with the aircon (it was very warm when we first got to our room, but was easy for us to fix, and no further issues during the rest of the stay). Before booking, we saw some people mention an issue with the setup of the toilet/shower? While definately a different setup, it was no problem for us and we found it easy to maintain privacy... close the door that connected the hall/bathroom area and the sleeping area when in use. Simple. The rooms were immaculately kept and we found the staff, from check in, dining, cleaning... all of them, were very friendly, professional and helpful. Special mention to Lyka for looking after my husband and I when having an afternoon drink before dinner. By the end of our stay, she knew what our order was! :D |We did dine at the hotel restaurant on one evening. It was good quality, but a bit on the expensive side (although not unusual for hotel dining). We would also recommend trying Fainting Goat bar (amazing cocktails) and El Mexicano Zapata Cantina (best mexican food we have ever had) for meals, literally just around the corner. There are some nice cafes around the area too, but we really struggled to find a place that made good coffee (actually, we found it hard all over the North Island to find good coffee). We stayed at another Accor hotel in Auckland after this one and it was not as good as the Pullman in Rotorua. We loved our stay here and would highly recommend. It was so easy to get around, room was great and the staff really were amazing. There is so much to do as well. The Kiwi hatchery was a highlight as well as the Redwood walk at night, Skyline for mountain biking and the Luge, parks and all of the geothermal activity. Wish we had had...

We stayed at the Pullman in hope it was going to be the best part of our stays in the North Island. The hotel is 9 storeys high and unfortunately, the place was a let down. Take note that there is no complimentary guest parking and the only option is metered parking off street or valet parking at an added fee of $49/ day. A drop of area is located in front of the main entrance but was full when we arrived with no concierge or staff in sight. So, my partner had to sit in the car around the corner whilst i checked in. The room and common areas were poorly designed with unusable space. The luggage rack in the room was small and we were unable to fit our suitcase there. The toilet and shower were separated, however designed a la semi open plan layout meant air conditioning flows freely through to the shower area. The clincher is the A/C vent is located over one of the beds and just blows onto you - fine if one likes that but not my preference. A fridge and mini bar as well as basic coffee & tea making facilities were present. Bath robes were available. No slippers were available despite 2 requests and we were later told that the hotel had run out of supply! Same goes for the laundry bags, so we did not even bother using the laudry facilities (Yes, these are all hints at organisational planning).

Breakfast was okay but not wow. Barrista made coffee incurred a charge. The breakfast area can get very busy and somewhat chaotic at peak hour ; our 'mistake' for sleeping in after our second night there. Disappointingly, tables were not cleaned and cleared efficiently. Likewise, food was not always replenished in a timely manner leaving guests asking staff to bring more items out! Perhaps staff were struggling and one must ask why? Quantity vs quality (and what about adequate training)?

Personally, I patronise a number of establishments in established hotel groups and this one had put me off my Accor experience. Definitely not a 5* experience and will be challenged to a 4* standard. We will opt for elsewhere with better quality and value if we...