Lake Tekapo Cottages — Hotel in South Island

It was okay.

The good: Stephen the owner at the office was friendly and helpful, had several suggestions on good places to go and see. The property is off a side street with easy access to town by walking over the bridge. Lake is beautiful.

The not so good: The place itself seemed makeshift. If you are willing to “make do” and take things “as is” it could work for you.

We stayed in the East Wing cottage. The decor and items in rooms did not go together. It seemed to be a random assortment of things. The beds and pillows were somewhat comfortable but the sheets were stiff and had a cardboard feel. Soft mattresses, older comforters.

It seemed to have been awhile since anyone did upkeep of the unit. Things were broken and impractical. The fridge temperature dial was broken so no way to adjust temperature and the yogurt we had froze. With windows open doors do not stay open or closed properly. The doors would slam shut by wind. The lights were so BRIGHT, and there was only one light per room and it lit up the place like a movie set. No other choices except two small nightstand lights. There is a note about moths and to turn off lights with windows open. Less bright lights may help to not attract the moths. Neighbors are right next door and walk by the path at your window, so less privacy. There are flood lights outside windows that are motion sensitive and light comes into the bedrooms even with curtains closed. The deck had a broken floor board which seems dangerous. The bedroom door hinge was broken so opening and closing the door leads to a loud clunk every time. The water pressure is super forceful in the shower and sink, leading to spraying all over the sink and floor area. Just 2 plastic hangers for clothes, and one was cracked and broken. No hooks in bathroom.. There was a pile of tools and items outside back door. Lack of outlets so there are extension cords you can move around for the lights.

Would not mind if a place is basic, and yes this place is. However, it seemed run down and funky, as if no one had been through to keep things fresh, organized or working properly. If it is your own house and you do not upkeep the place then it is your own choice and you who are living there. When it is a place you are renting to guests, I would expect more. We made do but would not...

UNETHICAL COMPANY - THEY ONLY WANT YOUR MONEY - DO NOT USE THEIR PROPERTIES IF YOU ARE STAYING IN TEKAPO! TAKE YOUR FAMILY TO AN ETHICAL KIWI ACCOMODATION PROVIDER INSTEAD!

As myself and partner were planning a trip to NZ’s South Island), I made the mistake of selecting the wrong dates to rent one of their properties. Instead of selecting 11-14 of July, I accidentally selected 11-14 of June. The cost of the 3 nights WAS $500 (AUD).

IMMEDIATELY (I’m talking a 5 minutes) after I made the booking, I reached out to Lake Tekapo Cottages and explained the situation. Any ethical accomodation provider would be understanding in this situation (or so I thought).

Instead of accepting my cancellation request on Airbnb, (I could not even physically be there for the dates selected as I live in Australia), their immediate reply was that: “We are unable to accept the cancellation request”.

My partner and I had been saving for this trip and to get this response was terrible.

To give more context, they had a number of open properties as June isn’t as busy as July. They knew they were not going to be able to cover the dates that I mistakenly booked. SO IT WAS A CLEAR CASH GRAB OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM $$$.

They wouldn’t even let my partner and I change the dates to something in July when we arrived in NZ. They justified this by saying “it’s too close now to change the dates”. Which is just disgraceful and PROVES THAT THEY JUST WANTED TO POCKET THE MONEY!

In the end, I cancelled my booking as I had no choice. Lake Tekapo Cottages advised they would refund me if the dates were covered by someone else (again putting themselves over their customers to ensure they take their $$$). Only one night was booked by someone else.

They didn’t even get back to me like they had promised. I had to contact them again and argue, and finally they agreed to give me 1 nights refund out of 3. AND EVEN THEN, INSTEAD OF THE $165 AUD WHICH WE WERE OWED, WE RECEIVED $151 AUD. Hopefully my $14 was put to sorting out some of their plumbing and outdated furniture people have reviewed on google.

I am now $344 out of pocket for a service they never provided. This is without a doubt unethical behaviour and they give good hardworking accommodation providers in New Zealand a bad name.

AVOID...

We stayed on the offsite 3 bedroom location. We paid $299 nzd so it wasn’t cheap. Based on the pictures and the fact that this was one of the more expensive place we booked in NZ, I had high expectations. Unfortunately it fell short. The property were quick to respond via text messages. Unfortunately their response wasn’t satisfactory.

Our cottage was dated including the amenities.

The front door had a flimsy push button lock and catches a little bit when you open. The window in the bathroom above the bathtub was broken so someone could utilize window to get in.

The shower temperature was kooky. It either was boiling hot or cold and you’ll need to wait 10 minutes between showers or the next person won’t have hot water. I would move it just 1 mm and it would move from cold to boiling hot. I ended up taking cold shower.

The hot water kettle, when pouring water would leak about 10% so we poured over the sink.

The cleaners left the towels in the washer. When I contacted the property it took over an hour to figure out what to do with it. There first response was to leave it in the washer - I contacted the property because I wanted to wash a load of laundry. That next said to put into cupboard - which looked dirty and had unfinished wood. When I let them know the towels were wet and if they still wanted me to put into the cupboard they said to put into dryer. There is NO DRYER at the place so that wasn’t feasible. Then they said to put into bucket - again no bucket available anywhere in lodge. I finally put into sink.

The clothes hanging rack was half broken so if you do laundry only a small load (4 shirt, 2 pants) would fit onto the rack.

They didn’t have salt and pepper at the place. When I contacted at 8:52 am there response was that it should have it. They did not bring salt and pepper until 15 min before check out at 9:45 am. There was no way we could cook, eat and put away dishes in 15 min and they were strict about 10 am checkout.

The toilet was separate from the main bathroom which normally would be great but there was no where to...