The Terrace, Franz Josef — Hotel in South Island

Very DISAPPOINTING customer service to say the least. The guy (assuming the owner) has a very bad temper & takes it out on guests. Being a new mum - (mentioned this in the notes when booking & also on check in with the receptionist) - hubby was taking a shower with bub so I went to reception to get a third towel. Owner didn't know about bub, as a third person wasn't in their computer system (but was written in the hard copy of the reservations book). The owner said he's charging us for bub to stay at a higher rate than advertised because he can (his reason - backpackers are charged per person and thus so do the people who stay here). I tried to hold back the tears & get the courage to question his reason because we have our own porta cot so no need to charge us as no other accommodation in NZ had during our holiday. The owner raised his voice & said kids cost more than adults because of the mess they make & the extra water usage & he's had a bad day thus doesn't want to argue.. he will charge the additional fee to our credit card and there's nothing I can do about it & came out from behind the counter to intimidate me. I started crying (bub can't even roll let alone make a mess) & walked back to my room. The owner started to follow me and yelled at me to be reasonable because he's not in the mood today!!!! Neither was I, it was a very trying day.

WORST...

Arrived here after 5 pretty dismal nights in another motel in Queenstown, and I was pleasantly surprised! Upon arriving, the lady at the front desk was very welcoming and helpful, providing great information of the Franz Josef area, giving me details on where to drive to to view the glaciers, where to park, etc etc. Great first impression.||I got the room at the end which gave me a breathtaking view of the alps, and can be seen in both day and night. The room was extremely clean, plenty of space to move around, and there were plenty of windows in the room which made the room very bright and welcoming. Since there were so many windows, I didn't need to worry about cooking because I could just open every window to air out the room.||The bed was pretty comfy, with in-built heaters, though I didn't use it since the "fireplace" was more than capable of heating up the room. I had a 2 great nights' sleep and woke up with plenty of energy to start the day. I have a reason to return to Franz Josef, and when I do, this would be my go to...

Unfortunately I didn’t get there. |I booked late the day before so cancellation wasn’t an available option. |Little did I know then was that due to very bad weather and multiple land slips the road from Queenstown was closed, a 10 hour detour via Christchurch wasn’t an option. |I tried to engage with hotels.com who I’d booked with. They contacted the hotel who insisted I pay for the first night and they would refund the second. I obviously wasn’t happy with this as it was apparent the road was closed when I booked so access to the hotel was never going to be possible. In fact the following day the other road into the area was closed so the town was completely cut off. |I read a write up on here from someone who had the same issue in 2019. The hotel said then that if they had been contacted they would have refunded the money as they did with other direct bookings so this time either hotels.com are lying or the hotel have changed their policy. |Obviously not happy I paid for a product I...