Hotel d'Urville — Hotel in South Island

I chose this hotel as I had stayed there many years ago. |What I was not aware of was, that it had closed at some point and then turned in to what Kiwis term, a "Back Packers". It had then reopened as a hotel once again. |This I was told by a "LOCAL", who is well informed of what goes on in Blenheim, plus owned a very nice hotel, and a vineyard in Blenheim . |( We had dinner with them on this trip ) |Many of the pictures used here, are from the original hotel when it was converted to a hotel. |The original use of this building was the, " Public Trust Building " hence all the large, walk in safes, that still have the large iron doors now left open. |It is a beautiful building, unfortunately it now is quite run down, and in need of a complete rehab. |When we checked in, we had to park off the premises, as there are only 4 car parks allocated to the hotel. Hence we had to park on the street over night, having to move the car by 10 AM the next morning. If not we would have been ticketed. |We were shown to our room, by I'm assuming the manager or perhaps now owner? |This was rather rushed and she was gone. |We then returned to the street to collect our luggage and possessions from our car. |There are no elevators, so we had to carry our bags up to the first floor ourselves. |Once unpacked we went out to explore the town and to do some retail shopping. |Blenheim is a quaint little town, and compared to other small towns, is well mapped out , with a central park which was in full bloom, and overlooks the near-by river. |We had dinner out at EAT THAI , which is a very busy restaurant with good food and very efficient service and good food. I had a tour of the kitchen by the wife of the owner/chef . Delightful hard working people, as are the staff. |So basically we were out and about both days as there is plenty to see and do. Also, we ventured over to Picton, which is about a 25 min. drive. One thing you should not miss is "Omaka". This is Sir Peter Jacksons collection of antique airplane collection, which are displayed in situ . It is really something not to miss. |On our departure from the Hotel D' Urville, I went down stairs to check our and return the key, however there was no one on the desk, but the sign said, " see the chef in the kitchen". So off I go to find the chef who was sitting outside having a smoke. I told him I was checking out , and he said I should go to the front desk. |So I explained to him about the sign on the desk, and he said he knew nothing about it. ?????|So I explained to him I owed for 2 x 1/2 Pints of Milk plus a bottle of water. |Again he said he could not help me with that! |So I just left the key on the front desk and departed. |I'd be remis, if I did not mention the Chamber Maid, who did a wonderful job of cleaning our room, and also searching out, a NON woolen blanket for my wife. |This was not an easy thing in N.Z. , as you know they've lots of sheep in N.Z. ! |Not as if it was that cold, but all the windows are, "Single Glazed", and the evenings do get chilly. There were NO cotton blankets to be found, so our lovely maid found a cotton King bed pad and installed this into the cotton Duvet Cover, which was just perfect. Note: The mattresses are not very comfortable. |The attached picture Hangs over the bed??|Scary....., looks like a yellow...

One star is actually generous.||I would not recommend this hotel to anyone.||Reception was unmanned upon arrival with a note asking us to report to the bar. A young lady there asked us our name, gave us our key and took payment. Further information was not forthcoming with us having to ask where to park, where to find and how to get up to the room.||The whole place felt like a Hostel, certainly not the slightly quirky, high quality hotel depicted on their website.||Getting all our bags up to the room was very tricky - there was no lift and no assistance offered at all.||The room itself had an extremely musty odour and the thick pile carpet (perhaps not the best flooring option for a hotel room such as this) was damp underfoot. ||The bathroom was in dire need of renovation. It was impossible to perceive which was the hot or cold tap at the sink. The shower enclosure appeared to be fitted in the '70s.||Had we not already paid the not insignificant rate, we would have left and found alternative lodgings. Any motel in the town would have been far superior, not to mention cheaper.||My advice to anyone considering this Hotel is...

This hotel boasts an impressive exterior but lacks the luxury associated with its presence .|The rooms are fine if awkward. There is no porter or elevator, so you have to lug your bags up the stairs. The floor constantly changes with slopes and ramps, and there's a funky step up from your bedroom into the bathroom. Hot and cold taps are reversed and take hefty tightening to avoid dripping sounds at night.|The bar says it's "open late" but everything was locked up tight by 8pm.|Breakfast was decent but served in a jungle-themed room crankng out 80s rock.|Those of you who want to sleep in should be aware that the cleaning staff has a boom box playing similar music in the hallway while they're working.|Parking is free, but downtown Blenheim is dead at night. The hotel itself faces out to a couple of empty storefronts and a bank.|So, with no bar, no downtown activity, and relatively few rooms, you can get a decent night's sleep, but...