Brightwater Motor Inn — Hotel in South Island

I would have rated 0 if I could have! We've had 2 studios booked for 1 1/2 months through Booking. com, to which we have had reservation confirmation. Also have had an email from Sue regarding this reservation. We were contacted by Sue 48 hours out from our arrival to say we don't have a booking because Booking.com have 'DOUBLE BOOKED OUR ROOMS! '|We were thrown into a state of panic as it's extremely short notice to try make a reservation at this busiest accommodation period. Sue said she would ring around locally & try find us alternative accommodation & ring us back. |Over 90 minutes later I rang Sue for an update. Only to be told she's possibly got an alternative but wouldn't have confirmation for at least another hour! I explained this wasn't good enough! I told Sue to stick her unreliable unconfirmed possibility of an alternative. Once I reminded Sue we had correspondence from herself regarding our confirmed reservation. I pointed out that to me is was proof that the error is on her part rather than Booking.com, to which she replied OH! She then proceeded to tell me I'd have to make the cancellation through Booking.com. I asked how would I cancel a reservation that she tells me I didn't have! I suggested she deal with Booking.com & the said cancellation! I requested documentation of this cancellation & proof that we wouldn't incurr any cancellation fee. |6 hour's later we are still awaiting any correspondence regarding this. |Makes me sincerely wonder what sort of business practice Sue operates by. Makes us wonder if Sue had a late booking for our 2 rooms where she could make more money from, than our reservation. |Thanks for the unnecessary stress of this situation Sue.|Thanks for potentially ruining our...

Our check-in experience was horrible. We'd booked and paid well in advance through Expedia, and had received email confirmation.

On arrival, I was greeted by one of the owners (a man) who told me they were 'totally booked out' and had 'no rooms free', before I'd even had a chance to explain we had a booking. He then went and got the other owner (a woman) who promptly told me the exact same thing.

I showed her the email confirmation on my phone, and gave her my name and booking number so she could find it. She barely glanced at the computer before informing me that I had no booking.

I asked her to double check, at which point she started to get annoyed and sharply told me there was nothing she could do — I would just have to go somewhere else, and this wasn't her problem. She told me Expedia must have made the mistake ('they always make mistakes', apparently). I persisted some more, as at this point it was 9PM.

She started to get more irate, repeating that it wasn't her problem. We left.

Ten minutes later, my phone rang. 'We have a room for you. You said you were going to check in late at 10PM. That's why I told you we didn't have a room'.

This was a pretty poor excuse. Firstly, on the notes I had mentioned check-in 'may' be late (not 'will be'), and secondly, that shouldn't have prevented her from finding our booking.

If you want a reliable check-in process, and expect mistakes will be dealt with properly and professionally,...

We had often stayed in the Nelson area but on this occasion we had to book somewhere other than our usual due to high demand. So...it was a mystery what we were getting. The reception was little short of hostile. Certainly no polite conversation. We were asked how we were paying......by credit card......O.K. there will be a surcharge then. We had been travelling for hours and we were both tired and now downhearted. We were directed to our 'quarters'. Tired looking room looking out on a bleak view consisting of a carpark with a motorway behind. I can't really comment on the cleanliness because the furnishings were so dated that any 'dirt' would not be obvious. It's a long way from nowhere so we had to just pull the curtains, switch on the T.V and wait for the morning. I would have to add that the one redeeming feature was that while we were loading our car that morning a chap who appeared to be cleaning rooms shouted a bright 'good morning' to me. Thank you for that. It's amazing how such seemingly unimportant things can change...