Colonial Motel — Hotel in South Island

First impressions create a lasting impression and the greeting from Simon was certainly impressive. We’d never met before, but his welcome was akin to meeting a great friend who’d you not seen for a couple of weeks. There was a common connection, I was wearing an England rugby shirt and Simon was a former professional rugby player. The All Blacks had just beaten Ireland, and the week before England had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the All Blacks. He took us into the back and introduced us to his friends with whom he had been watching the game. One of who was former Kiwi cricketer, Chris Cairns, it was an honour to meet them both. Throughout our stay, Simon always had time for a chat, enquiring about our day ahead, or the places we’d visited.||The room had a large, firm’ish bed, facilities included microwave, double ring electric hob, fridge, toaster, kettle, cafeteria and a Nespresso machine. Breakfast could be ordered, which Simon delivers to the room, we were unaware of this, so visited the local supermarket (5 minute walk away) and bought our own provisions. As you’d expect with a former professional sportsman at the helm, the TV channels included sports channels. They are also washing and drying machines on site.||The Motel is a 10 to 15 minute walk from the main town where the restaurants are. We ate at the Good Home, which I’d recommend and the Dodson Beer Garden, a German themed bar, very genial host, this is about a 30 minute walk, but also recommend. There is a fish and chip shop next door, which we never tried but...

👍 like my review! We had an amazing 2 night stay at Colonial Motel in Blenheim, New Zealand as part of our journey across the country. We chose this place due to its proximity to the Marlborough wine region and its walkability to several places including downtown! Unlike other motels, we felt the hospitality and warmth instantly from the family managing the property throughout our stay. Even though we arrived late due to a major delay of the ferry going through the rocky waters of the Cook Strait, they responded to our messages (using the Hotels.com mobile application) with understanding. After parking our car in our allocated spot, our stay in the upstairs room #10 was enjoyable. The room was very clean, bed and pillows were comfortable, bathroom had its toiletries (e.g. shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion) along with a working ventilation fan, fridge had a separate compartment for freezing, internet was optimal, outlets throughout and near the end of the bed were useful for charging, and several amenities (e.g. Nespresso, instant coffee, French press coffee grounds, tea, hot chocolate, fresh milk, cutlery, utensils, cookware, microwave, stovetop) were thoughtful. They were also next door to a laundromat along with small and big grocery stores nearby nestled with quick places to eat. Overall, we would definitely want to stay here again and would recommend it to our...

At a low price, I’d say this is good enough. Some items were lacking compared to higher priced motels, but I would surely stay here again.

We stayed in the 3-bedroom unit 7. Everything was clean and tidy, even though some areas obviously haven’t updated in a while. We didn’t find noise to be an issue while sleeping, though the thin windows let in a lot of road noise in the lounge, which was at the end of the building by the road. There were ear plugs on the night stand for us to use, so that might help some sleep. The TV in the lounge was modern and had a lot of channels to watch, though since we were close to the CBD, we spent plenty of time elsewhere.

There was a fan heater in the lounge/kitchen area and a radiant heater in the hall, plus electric blankets under the sheets on the beds; most kiwis will be fine with that setup, but many international guests might be surprised by it in the winter. We had brought along our port-a-cot (pack n play) for our baby to sleep in, which of course did not have an electric blanket, so we had to do some extra work to keep our baby warm. They let us borrow a high chair which worked well, though I’m not sure how many are available. The kitchen had plenty of utensils and cooking items I didn’t expect, so...