The Ohakune Central Motel and Lodge — Hotel in North Island

We stayed in this motel for 2 nights whilst wanting to do the Tongariro pass. We arrived early evening after a long drive up from Wellington only to find the place empty with a sign on the door telling us which room was ours. Someone did appear an hour or so later to check if we were ok and settled in.||||The unit itself was well equipped and clean (Apart from blood stains on the bedsheets). However, it was quite grim inside, with no decorations and quite sterile looking, with very basic scratched furniture, a shower that couldn't hold the temperature too well. It was very hard to feel cosy in the place, which is why I'm glad we were there for only a short time. But I guess such a place isn't meant as a romantic getaway :-)||||The kitchen area was quite good, with a good-sized fridge, microwave and cooker. The TV has a small choice of channels, but they did give us a huge 20GB voucher for the Internet which was really appreciated as it absolutely chucked it down the entire day until about 10pm and we didn't do the walk but mostly hung around Ohakune for the day (which was dead) feeling sorry for ourselves and trying to keep ourselves entertained. ||||The biggest problem we found was the paper-thin walls. There was an equally-bored Chinese family in the apartment behind us, and we could hear absolutely everything, from them moving chairs, coughing, using the toilet, and snoring. Although not the hotel's fault, why on earth some people think it's acceptable to listen to music at full volume at 5:30am in the morning is beyond me. Most of the other apartments I think were empty (I could have been wrong), so it would have been nice if the hotel had placed us away from other people for more privacy. ||||As for the mountain-view, I can't really comment if there was one or not, as it rained heavily the entire time with thick clouds. I'm sure our experience would have been much different if the weather was nicer, and this isn't the motel's fault. ||||Ohakune seemed pretty dead at this time of the year, almost everything was shut except the local liquor store (They have a great beer fridge), and the chip-shop. ||||For the price we paid, it was good value for money, but please think about spacing out guests if you're...

When we arrived we were greeted by a lovely lady who was more than happy to show us around the property. When we settled in to go to sleep the couple next door (who had a super active toddler) we could hear clearly and the floor boards creaked like crazy! The child would run around to around 10pm and keep us up until his parents would (after his hissy fit each night) put him to bed (yes we were tired and wanted an early night).||If it wasn't for the friendly staff (young lady and man) I would give this motel a 2.5 star rating.||I may sound like I am being harsh as aside from the motel being outdated and having paper thin walls, it was all that we needed. That's if we got a decent nights sleep! To be fair the main purpose of a motel is to "sleep", and having neighbours that wake you at 6am and let their child loose until 10pm is not what I consider good value.||Positives would be that reception is maned until 9 and the washing machine was free to use and the dryer only cost $2. ||My advise to the staff would be when there are only 2 rooms being used in the complex do not put them next to each other, it's a bit of common curtisy to the people staying...

We just stayed (briefly) at this motel. First impressions weren't too flash, though check in was efficient. Paid a reasonably large sum for a Queen Studio Ensuite though apparently that's to be expected in "high season". Room very modest: dull, insipid lighting, 80s/90s throwback features, no plugs for either sink. Central heating was on but one modest radiator not enough for a big room (my family and I like it really warm). Mattress a bit saggy but slept so so. Yes there is a Mountain View but in the morning things got worse when the hot water ran out. At first we were advised to wait a while for it to warm up again but the wife saw red then went out to remonstrate with the management. The young woman was at first unhelpful but the young man offered her a shower in a vacant room. We chose to check out early and got a mostly whole refund (except for the night we had spent and a bit extra) which was I suppose reasonable. I would not stay at this motel again but I understand it is one of the cheapest in the area, so the young chap told me. So I guess my expectations may have been...