Carters Beach TOP 10 Holiday Park — Hotel in South Island

Despite having an in general good experience with Top 10 whilst I’ve been on a NZ road trip with a mate from overseas, yesterday my bubble was burst by the Westport (Carters Beach) location. Literally 48 hours before I was due to leave Queenstown and head north via Fox Glacier to Westport, the highway from Fox to Franz Joseph closed. Once it was clear that travel on that highway was going to be impossible I contacted Fox Top 10 and was advised I could cancel and get a full refund despite the official policy being No Refunds. Awesome. I called Top 10 Westport Carters Beach and advised I would not be able to come and I have been refused a refund. So much for consistency from Franchiees! What can I say… Fox Top 10 guy I spoke to sounded almost apologetic about road being closed and said that under the circumstances they would refund no issue. Carl however in Westport is keeping my $200 so I have told him to take his family out for dinner on me and I wish him to contemplate how he has basically stolen the money without providing any service. Reality is I would have accepted 50% refund however when someone writes back and says normal people have insurance to cover this, I really do think maybe he is in the wrong business.

So 100% for Fox, Hanmer Springs, and Te Anau. But 0% for Westport I’m afraid.

Update: owner seemed to forget that I called him to cancel the day before arrival and after I had called Fox to cancel. Road was open when I booked. Owner of Westport told me to reply to confirm email which I did and he claims to have not received it. Anyhow I’ve told him again to enjoy a $234 meal on me to celebrate my cancellation due to a force majeure situation. May other...

I had an absolutely awful experience with CHRISSY today. We booked online this morning and PAID in full. We arrived an hour earlier than check-in. We were told by another person we needed to wait, so we did. I was getting some lunch out in the reception area, and Chrissy approached me without greeting me and very dryly said that we could not use the facilities until check-in. I said that this is less than an hour away and she said that we can use them at 1 pm. With this, I sat in the van waiting for my partner to come back, and as we were driving away to get lunch elsewhere Chrissy ran down the steps of the reception, OPENED our driver's door WITHOUT WARNING!! and told us that since we're booked, we can use the facilities. I told her that the previous exchange was unnecessary, and if she asked, I could have told her we're booked. To this, she just answered that "if we're like this" (like what?), we can just leave and there is not going to be a refund and she turned her back and kicked us out. I have lived in NZ for 8 years, and I've never seen such rudeness in customer service. I've stayed at Top 10s all over NZ and used to love them, including this one....

First time to Carters Beach and will definitely go back. The facilities are fantastic and clean. Has what you need and even a games room. Didn't see inside it, but the boy said it was pretty cool. He also loved the carts and spent a lot of time riding them. The pillow was a great hit also. The beach it just a short walk across the road, and I would wear something on your feet when walking on the sand. The water was clear and looked like glitter was tipped into the sea. There are banks in the water, so move with caution as you go from shallows to a drop. Staff are friendly, and it was great to be able to have dogs there, but on a lead. Any issues they addresses it pretty fast . Room and motel rooms were good and comfortable with good showers. Unisex bathrooms are great. No noise after 10 pm, that includes laughing. New year was 12:30am. West Port is a cute wee town and a short drive from the camping grounds. It is bigger...