Lake Ruataniwha Holiday Park & Motels — Hotel in South Island

Facilities were extremely busy, dirty, the smell of so many people using the bathrooms was almost unbearable. Better off using a portaloo. Alot of feral kids running around all over the roads without any supervision from adults. Dogs left unattended running around barking at people. We had to hide in our cabin from a dog that came up to us as we were leaving and started barking and growling at us with no owners in sight. NO cellphone reception and NO wifi. Park verrryyyy noisy and alot of drunk people walking around. Tents and cabins crammed in like sardines with cars parked anywhere. Campers can be seen flopping it out and squatting behind trees and cars for a piss in the middle of the park or by their tents. Minimal signage - map provided but not sure how accurate it is. We found if difficult to find our cabin. Cabins alright for the price if this place wasn't busy - cheap bedding, lumpy pillows and a few bugs in them but better than sleeping in the rain. Kitchen facility can be seen with multiple phones being charged in the kitchen space from those in unpowered sites. Nothing provided in the kitchen however if request from reception they will provide a kitchen box. We had all of our stuff so we didn't require this. If this is a last resort and you NEED a bed to sleep in this may be an option however I would strongly recommend you stay somewhere else as we regretted staying here. Better off spend you money on a motel unit with a bathroom and kitchen included in the price for maybe $50 more a night. We cut our trip short with staff offering no cancelation options and we still had to pay for the additional night (understandably as we let them know the day of our second night after the 10am check out time). Avoid at all costs.

When requested a refund on site for the night we did not stay as the we had an emergency and had to go back to Wellington - the person on the reception said to contact booking.com who we booked through.

Contacted booking.com and they were unable to do anything about a refund as the payment was managed by the property on site.

The property replied to my request to booking.com with that we were lucky to stay at their accomodation and get a booking as it was their busy season. No compassion, no empathy. AVOID this place.

Will not be returning and singing to the roof tops to avoid this place...

Before I get into details, the location of this accommodation is prime, lake, quiet, close to town. Customer service were great, helpful and flexible with adjusting our accommodation due to our circumstances. Thank you.

However this place most certainly is TIRED. Driving down Max Smith Drive and looking over to your left to the property is disgusting. Half ass tents blown over, rubbish, unmowed lawns, random camper vans, people just camping everywhere. Thats what every customer sees coming to your accommodation.

We stayed in the tourist cabin. We were aware that it was going to be not a fancy room but very basic. This was lower from basic I’m sorry. Birds nests in the roof on the awning deck. We open the door and the sheer curtain, and curtain itself are filthy. Dirt marks and grime. Curtain hasn’t even been hung properly and is falling off. Tv is hanging from the ceiling on chains in the door way. If there was an emergency the tv is in a horrible spot.

The bedroom room in the cabin has blood like stained carpet, cobwebs cms from the toaster, dirty lounge chairs, white or bleach drops in the clean linen, cracks in the ceiling and walls. The cabin appears that the previous interior walls were asbestos and they were replaced with ply board and weren’t painted. A quick spray of paint would make the place feel and look more clean.

There is a hole in our bedroom ceiling which during the day there is light through it.

Bathroom and amenities though were relatively close, hot water, showers had interesting design. However would be hard to clean with the pebble flooring. Locals and permanents all seemed lovely.

There is a lot of potential for this accommodation if all campsites were laid out in a formal setting. Then in that way you could get heaps more customers!

Stay consistent in your cabin designs, some looked like kids playrooms from the outside and bunnings sheds. Makes your grounds look messy and unorganised.

Take advantage of your location, the space and the lake. Thank you for being friendly and flexible during our stay and taking the time to read our...

We booked this accommodation through Booking.com. According to the listing, Wi-Fi is available 24 hours a day for a fee of NZD 5. However, we were assigned to Cabin No.1, which is located at the far end of the property, and unfortunately, there was absolutely no mobile signal or Wi-Fi connection available.

We reported the issue to the front desk immediately. At the time, a younger receptionist kindly offered to speak with the owner and suggested that we could move to a room closer to the reception area, where the signal would be stronger. She mentioned that there might be an additional charge, but possibly not, and told us we could collect the key to the new room at 2:00 PM. She also said we could stay in our current room until later in the day while waiting.

However, the next morning when we went to confirm the details, the receptionist on duty had changed to an older woman, and her attitude was noticeably unfriendly. We explained again that we had no signal at all, but she insisted it was a problem with our phones. We were using both iPhone and Android devices, and neither had any signal or connection, so we are confident the issue was with the Wi-Fi coverage, not our devices.

Instead of trying to understand or help, she bluntly gave us two options:

Pay an additional NZD 50 to upgrade to a better room with a stronger signal;

Receive a refund for the second night, but leave immediately and find somewhere else to stay (she even told us that given the current weather, we might not find a better place).

While we actually felt that paying NZD 50 for an upgraded room was a reasonable option, her unfriendly and dismissive attitude made us lose all interest in continuing the stay or giving them...