Pinewood Queenstown — Hotel in South Island

We, a family of 4, booked to stay 5 nights in one of the Pinewoods 2 bedroom units last July school holidays. I had stayed there many times before before I had kids under different owners, and it had been great. The full amount was taken off my credit card at time of booking 4 months earlier. However when we turned up in July they told they had no record of our booking (it was double booked)... they could see I had enquired but said that the booking was cancelled. |In the stress of the moment I could not find any booking reference as I was needing to find accommodation for that night! Pinewood gave us no help to find anywhere else to stay, and of course it was peak time, and we were lucky to sort out somewhere for the first 2 nights (a unit that slept 3 nearby where friends were staying), but there was nothing at all on booking.com with self catering options, just hotels. |The evening when I finally had time to look through things, I found the proof of payment (over $2000) and my husband and I went back to Pinewood to show them, and escalated it to speak to a manager, who spoke to me on the phone. Initially she claimed the books were all balanced... but then the reception guy found our payment with no customer code attached. All the manager said at the time was I dont know how this could happen, no comfort for us! |In the end they did refund me the money (we had been out of pocket with for 4 months!) a few days later, but not compensation for the huge stress and inconvenience it caused us. We had to move 2 times, losing days while packing/unpacking, and our 2nd accommodation was quite far out of town, so not ideal. We actually have named that holiday our worst holiday ever!!!|I emailed them a while later suggesting they should have helped us find accommodation of similar or higher quality at the time, and if not given us some compensation... an acknowledgement of their failure in customer service. Initially their manager replied and said they did want to give us some compensation, and asked me how much I thought was fair. I didn't know what to suggest but when I did suggest a money figure and gave my bank account details I didn't hear from them again. I sent a reminder too, but nothing. |I didn't want to put a bad review up, but Pinewood has not done anything to make this right for us. Do not recommend that...

My partner and I stayed here 1 night. I'm grateful I hadn't booked for any longer than that. I'm giving 2 stars and not 1 because of these good things: the beds are not too bad, linen and bathroom were clean, the kitchen is fully equipped including utensils and cutlery and the shower was always hot, unlimited and free (even if tiny. Remember to use the one with the window if you don't want to get a sauna together with the shower). Here's all the very bad stuff we found during the few hours we stayed there: the staff is not friendly or helpful and doesn't bother making their customers fully understand them (my bf's English is not super good and the receptionist didn't bother slowing down at all when he checked in). there isn't enough room for all of those people they accommodate (according to my calculation: 6 people per dorm X 4 dorms per unit = 24). 24 people with one fridge and 2 showers. The toilets are ok in number. there is NO WAY you can sleep before midnight because most of the people in the hostel simply don't care about the others and keep partying noisily. A guy even complained because a girl asked them to keep their voices down. the beds are dangerous and hard to climb (especially in the dark). They have no ladders. the doors (fire doors, so certainly safe) are EXTREMELY noisy to open and close. there is a HUGE lack of plugs. If you want to dry your hair you can only do it in the corridor. they DO NOT RECYCLE. one last "beautiful" point: the wifi doesn't work. In conclusion, for those people who would love to sleep while travelling, DO NOT STAY IN THIS BACKPACKERS. I wish we had spent those $2 extra per person for a more relaxing and comfy place. We were in block G just...

miserable customer service,Very poor hygiene of the room. it was stinking, couch was stained.....pull down wall bed was broken... The start it self was wrong....receptionist gave us a wrong room keys, then she gave us a wrong place to find our room..... finally when i got the right room i had to approach the receptionist again to help us with the Bed and stinky room.She came in checked the room told me the smell is normal this is how her home also smells,then she said the bed seems alright to her when i showed her the bed is broken she told me to adjust it for a day and would send the technician the next day to fix ... I could not take it with what she said and had to ask a change if room.as they were fully booked she could not give me a room..finally manage to give me an extra room just for a night to sleep and then move back to the stinky room again the next day until the bed was fixed this all took her 2hours from the time we arrived..... the other room provided was pretty okay though.but unfortunately couldn't have that room.. Next day Also the bathroom did not have any soap no hand-wash provided..I requested another receptionist for a room clean which obviously wasn't done no soap refill,bed was as it is room was only vacuumed....... I made a mistake by booking this hotel thought i just have to sleep and it should be fine so did not want to spend much...however this was way below the satisfactory level .... Rooms are too noisy can easily listen to the next room shower and people talking...Would advice to spend little more and have a decent...