Barclay Suites — Hotel in Waitematā

Not child friendly at all. ||We booked a stay in a one bedroom apartment and explicitly stated we wanted a one bedroom so our toddler could nap in there during the day and we could still use the living area. When we arrived the portacot was set up in the loungeroom. We had to rearrange furniture in the bedroom to fit the portacot so our child could sleep peacefully, however the room is so small it blocks access to one side of the bed.||Most of the apartment is carpeted and we had to borrow a high chair from family. It's not ideal for feeding a toddler. The included breakfast is at a cafe next door (not inside the hotel) and the cafe only has high backless bar stools and high tables as seating, and no high chairs. Breakfast was also not included for our child and neither was coffee for us. The breakfast options are disappointing and we wish we didn't get breakfast included at all. We asked for a refund on breakfast and now they bring it to our room every day instead.||Housekeeping keeps coming every day right in the middle of our child's nap, despite telling them every day they need to come before 1pm or after 3pm. We have also told reception however nothing has changed. The door to the room is very loud to open and close and they have woken our child coming in. We want our room cleaned just not in the middle of her nap! If we put up the DND sign we will have no cleaning completed (which is the case anyway because the housekeeper knocks off at 3 apparently 🙄).||One of the lounges in the living area is a futon and it is just awful to sit on. There are gaps in the cushions and half the time you end up with part of the bed frame digging into your body. The bed in the bedroom is also two singles pushed together which isn't what we expected. The lounges also look and feel like they've never been cleaned, there are visible stains on them.||The shower has mould in it and the kitchen is tired, with the kickboard under the dishwasher peeling. No hand soap in the kitchen and no line drying option if you've used the washing machine. The fan in the bathroom is very weak. The microwave has the brightest blue light on it that shines directly into the bedroom if the door is open. The only air conditioner is in the loungeroom and the bedroom gets quite warm, so you need to leave the bedroom door open overnight to stay at an ok temperature. ||We have not enjoyed staying here and wish we had spent a bit more money to stay somewhere else. Parking is exorbitantly expensive, there is construction out the front which makes traffic extra challenging due to street and lane closures. ||Do not recommend and would not stay here again. I can't...

The views of Auckland City, Sky Tower and Harbour were insanely beautiful. We stayed on the 23rd floor in the tower part of the Barclay Suites.

The location was perfect and right in the CBD. The parking for our three night stay was good value and close to the Suites.

The rooms were a little disappointing. The carpets were ripped, walls banged up and kitchen a little worn out. The standard of cleanliness was average.

It was great having a washer/dryer in the room, but that's pretty much it for the positives. The room my parents were in had a different combination of utensils compared to ours. Luckily for me, they had a bottle opener as we didn't.

The breakfast options were very foreign for the western traveler. Cucumber, lettuce and Soy Sauce with Eggs Benedict anyone?

The desk service was pretty average. Our receptionist demanded an actual credit card to put a hold on even though we'd paid in advance. Our Visa Debit card (which I've used everywhere in the world for this purpose) wasn't good enough here.

This was annoying as the next day we had to wait in the lobby (as housekeeping were still in our room at 430pm) overhearing every other guest checking in say they didn't have a credit card, have their request to pay the hold via debit card accepted.

It was a different staff member on the desk but still annoying as it appeared we were the only guests that had to pay a $300 cash deposit rather than the normal $1 hold on our card.

So our stay was okay. It was cool seeing the Sky Tower from our bed. Great location. Okay but not anywhere near a 5 star...

Upon arrival we were looking forward to stay in our so called “Deluxe one bedroom suite”.

Until we were stung with a fine print stating you need a $300 security deposit when we walked in the foyer, after talking to management for 20 minutes and asking them to find it and point it out for us in the booking information it was finally settled once management themselves finally found it.

The room itself was nowhere near “deluxe” at best I would consider it a standard apartment room? The bed was a king size bed with two king single bases and two king single mattresses, one of which felt like it just sinks in the middle and hasn’t been replaced in a century. Also you would think for a “deluxe” bedroom that the lamp next to the bed would have a fresh light bulb in it so you could use it, but nope the light bulb was blown and clearly doesn’t get replaced?

Now to move on to the bathroom, it felt like I was staying in a hospital. The bathroom was a bare concrete floor with a manky old shower curtain and loose shower head, for a so called “deluxe” suite I would liked to have think I was going to have an enclosed shower and nice bathroom, hence why they don’t post photos of the bathrooms in the display photos.

In my opinion this place shouldn’t be charging anywhere close to $160-180 a night for a “deluxe one bedroom suite”. Take my advice (or don’t) and book somewhere worth your hard earned money where you will enjoy your stay. If I could give this review a 0...