Ivory Towers — Hotel in South Island

We had booked Ivorytowers several months ago, however, after we passed Hari Hari, we learned that the road to Fox Glacier was closed due to force majeure (heavy rainfall, etc.). I rang the property and asked them to cancel my reservation for the following night and to waive my cancellation fee because nobody at Ivorytowers had advised used about the road closure, and there was no way to know about it as we live 1000km away and just returned from overseas. Besides, the YHA in Franz Josef (where we had a booking for the first night) waived the cancellation fee due to the exceptional circumstances (road closure) without hesitation. The lady on the phone - probably the manager of Ivorytowers - however, rejected returning the already paid NZD 160 claiming that this was our problem and that I would have the choice to access the property from the other side of the mountain. As everyone can easily see using google maps, such a trip would take at least 11h30 on the road plus breaks for rests, eating, etc., hence close to 20hours (without sleeping). After I explained this to her she made the absurd comment that there was a sign outside Hokitika informing that the road was closed. Very helpful. Even if we had seen that sign, the trip around the mountain would still take us 10h30 + time for rest, etc. (=19h total time for the trip). In short, the manager at Ivorytowers showed VERY POOR JUDGEMENT, and treats her clients in an UNREASONABLE, UNPROFESSIONAL and UNETHICAL way. Our observation is consistent with other clients’ comments who mentioned that “this manager is rude and unreasonable”, or “owners aren’t very friendly”, or “...what upset me the most was the attitude of the owner…”, etc. STAY AWAY from Ivorytowers. There are plenty of nice places with managers/owners who know how to run a...

We had the family room with a private shower. However, this room faced the back of the premises towards the rainforest. It was raining for both days while we were there, so there were a lot more insects in our room than normal. The room lacked ventilation (no fly screens on windows), so to ventilate, we had to open the door fully, which only meant insects would enter.

The room has an accessible bathroom, with toilet and shower in one room. However because it was an accessible bathroom, the shower did not have a cubicle nor skirting, and the bathroom floor was constantly wet. We even had water escaping from the bathroom because of its poor design. This probably explains the musky smelling room and carpet. Fan in the bathroom was inadequate to control the moisture and humidity in the air.

There was a kitchenette in the room, but the surfaces were not wiped down and were grimy from previous guests. Also found hair in the fridge.

WiFi worked in the room without issue.

Seems like the town is struggling with the glacier retreating a lot, as well as a lack of incoming tourism...

This backpackers/hostel is absolutely adorable and I can’t recommend it highly enough: To start, all of the people that passed through here in our time were simply lovely- a great mix of couples, solo travellers and families from around the world. It was quiet despite all the people being around and also very friendly. The kitchen is fabulous and big and inviting as are the common areas and lounges. There is a hot tub and a sauna- I’ll just say that again- a HOT TUB and a SAUNA to come home to every night after hiking, helicopter adventuring or whatever your day has entailed in this area/ and the price was right (we had a twin room sharing the shower and toilet facilities which were all clean). It’s also a two second walk to the Main Street of town with all the amenities, businesses and restaurants. The mountain view backdrop is also lovely. Cannot recommend highly enough! ||Also unrelated to here- but the local convenience store sells homemade breakfast burgers for a fraction of the price of the cafe made by one of the employees and they...