Happy Apple Backpackers — Hotel in South Island

RUDE STAFF!!!! AVOID GOING!! I'm giving this horrible place one star only because a rank of zero stars isn't possible. Be sure to wipe your dishes with a towl after washing them, or else the staff would scream at you for "leaving the kitchen dirty" even if you did an honest mistake. My two friends and I just finished a 5 day hike in the Nelson Lakes national preserve. We cooked dinner, ate, and wash the dishes. Just when we got ready to go to bed, the bizzar saga begun. Thr female manager accused me personally for leaving the kitchen dirty after she "saw it in the cameras" (The staff actually looks in the cameras every night when the kitchen isn't left clean in order to find the "suspects" and either scream at them or kick them out of the hostel). When I said it's not true, they took me to the main office and THE MALE MANAGER ALMOST PHYSICALLY ATTACKED me while questioning me about "how on earth was I so rude for not wiping the dishes". When I said it was an honest mistake leaving the dishes washed clean to dry on the bench and that I'm not used to wiping stuff because in my country we have a dish stand (where dishes are left to dry), the man yelled "WELL YOU'RE NOT IN YOUR COUNTRY". They accused Asians (I'm not Asian) for "always leaving the dishes unwiped". They said they spent 16 years living in Asia - if that's true then don't be surprised when people aren't used to drying their dishes!! This was just a tip of the edge in this bizzar one hour saga. THIS HAPPENED IN FEBRUARY 18' BUT I DIDN'T FORGET AND DON'T MEAN TO FORGIVE. DEFINITELY THE WORST EXPERIENCE I HAD IN NEW ZEALAND, BY FAR! P.S. - even after they realized they crossed a line and made a serious mistake, they...

If you're looking to stay up late and party, this is your place. The walls, doors, and windows are all very thin and you can hear people walking around and chatting even if they aren't very loud. Quiet hours are supposed to be at 10pm, but the partying definitely went past 2am. We stayed in a private single room. We knew this was a hostel, but didn't expect even the private rooms to be right next to the communal areas (bathroom across the hall, lounge right outside the window). The room itself is small but clean enough, though I wouldn't walk around without shoes on. Don't expect too much privacy, our only window faced the courtyard so we had to keep the curtain closed and keep our lights on to change etc. I was awaken from a nap to two people playing ping pong on the lawn literally right outside our room. There are communal bathrooms, showers, and kitchen space, which were all clean enough though one of the showers did overflow a bit and the kitchen is clean or messy depending on who used it just before you and of course the dishes are as clean as you might expect for a kitchen where people are expected to do their own dishes and dry them with drying rags that probably get washed once a month. Honestly it wouldn't have been bad if it were cheaper but we paid about $40 per person per night to stay in the private room and I really wish we would have chosen an Airbnb for just a few dollars more. Even the tents set up on the courtyard cost $28 per night per person before taxes. In summary, this was a noisy, mostly clean, mediocre hostel that is overpriced for...

Is a great place with a lot of facilities , we went like a family with little kids and it was a very nice experience for us. The kids can do a lot of activities in the free time . The owner she is very nice and kind and all the team is always willing to help you. You can find showers with hot water, a comfortable bathroom, the team work hard to keep the place nice clean and tidy, even when some backpackers are very untidy and not very clean persons, also the rooms are very clean and tidy, the kitchen is very big and you can find anything that you need to cook . The kids was happy jumping in the trampoline at the kids's area . Is a great place to have a bbq with friends and stay for the Hollidays. Comfortable area to share and rest. I saw the rest of the comments and many people said is noise ... but this problem doesn't depend of the place. Sometimes can be noise because the people don't respect the silence times. Maybe is good idea to put a bigger advertisement about the silence times and to respect the sleep of the rest of the people in red color hahahaha. But unfortunately this depend of the culture of evey one. Any way the owner and the team is very able to help with that as well. Definitely recommend and we hope to comeback next summer Thanks so much Happy apple 😀 for this nice experience. My little boy said "I want to comeback to my house "happy apple" Manzana Feliz in spanish 😄🏕🏝 Priscilla ...