Cordis, Auckland — Hotel in Waitematā

It started when I drove up and said to my family wait here - ill see if we can check. I told the valet ill be back if we can check in now ill get the luggage but to wait. 1 valet went got into the car, started it up started winding windows up and asked where the keys were - didnt announce himself, didnt introduce himself. I came back out and said to wait and told my family to just come in with me. He was odd.

When checking in our room wasn't ready but told we could use facilities. Given the key and told bye. Never been here before - the female assistant wasn't helpful when I asked where everything was. Gave a peice of paper and said this will help and walked off. If she had taken the time to talk with me about the hotel would have been great - but we were there for a celebration - which she didnt acknowledge she just seemed like she didnt want to be there. Told me she will call when the room is ready. No call, so I went back asked hours later and she said yes its ready. Also I didnt know what our room nunber was and she kept repeating level 14 I said but whats the room number she said its level 14. She was also odd. We had a lot of extras added to the booking that would have been great to be told about at check in how they worked. But there was no over and above.

I wanted to extend our stay we were told no we cant have our room I said thats ok what else is there, this guy seemed like he was new maybe - he said if I found something online to come back and show him and they would honor the price. We chose not to extend our stay.

We stayed Pinnacle Tower level 14 which is same level as executive lounge which we had access too.

Room was beautiful and clean and comfortable. We were greeted by a staff member with a cake for my sons birthday and a child's pack to which she made a great deal to make him feel special.

Executive lounge open 24/7. Everything is inclusive 2.30pm was afternoon tea finger bite foods of baguettes, cakes, sweets, savories. 5.30pm - 8pm canapes and drinks included sushi, cakes, cheese, crackers, meats, assortment of protein and rice. Juices, fizzy, icecreams, coffee, tea, bottled water all accessible 24/7

Breakfast at eight. Lots of staff, lots of movement but not much happening. We waited 5 mins for a table while we stood looking at 4 free tables already laid out for dining, we had to wait to be taken to the table. Buffet style. Was delicious. Pancakes, waffle a chef making them fresh. eggs everyway a chef cooking to order. Pastries. Cereals. Fruits. Clods meats and cheeses. Cakes. Sorbet. Ice reams. White and Milk chocolate fountains. Smoothies and fresh juices. Staff take orders for coffees. Also a gluten free area with a lot of different selections of bread, cereals, cakes, pastries.

Pool area Pool is on the roof top on level 2 - this is probably a good 5-10mins walk away from Pinnacle Tower which is walked through the hotel. When you reach level 2 follow the sign to chaun spa - there is no signage outside the elevator saying which way the pool is.

The ladies at the entrance way to collect a towel for the pool never acknowledged us even when we said morning. Pool was really warm - which was surprising being outside. This was pumping hot water through the filters. Loved it. Jacuzzi was broken out of order with no fixture date.

Steam and sauna rooms are based in the bathrooms. Which meant I was unable to go in these with my family as they are all boys. But I guess this would be nice if you dont like mixing male abd females in a sauna and steam room. There is a big bowl of ice chips to rub yourself down with after a sauna or steam if needed.

There is no where for a parent with the opposite sex child(ren) to got and change them. A family change room would be great. Somewhere a mum with boys or a dad with girls can take them to get changed, rather than walking through the hotel in your wet togs and towel

Good and bad experience- probably...

My husband and I attended the “State of the Nation” address given by the Prime Minister that was held at the Cordis Hotel today. It was an appalling display of a chaotic event organized by a hotel. Right from the get-go, there was no one manning the tables with the name tags.…we were looking for names by our surnames and could not find our tags. Many others were going back and forth between tables to find their name tags. One of the guests at the table mentioned that he had just been told by someone that the tags were arranged by first names. Phew….so, we all shuffled to other tables and located our name tags. Our tags stated, “Free Seating.” However, just before we went in, we checked with some of the staff standing around and scanned the screen to understand how the seating was arranged. It indicated “Free Seating” against our names. We walked in and found a table with one person sitting at it and even though there were no “Reserved” signs at the table, we asked the gentleman if it was reserved or not and he said that he was given an allocated seat at this table. We did not want to take a chance and so we moved to another table. Just to avoid further confusion we went out again and asked some of the staff standing around who had absolutely no idea about the seating. We were eventually informed that two rows at the back were for free seating. We went to a table in those rows and there was a “Reserved”’ sign on it. We then called a staff member and pointed out another table right in front and asked her if that was a free table for us to sit at. She went across to double check with her manager and came back promptly to inform us that it was a free table, that it had no signs and that we could sit there. I cheerfully told her that her boss better be right as we did not want to be asked to move. We had gone to the event early so we could get a decent seat with an unobstructed view of the stage. We went on to sit down at this table, ordered some drinks and a few others went on to join us at the table. We were enjoying a conversation with some of the people at the table when after some time, I heard a woman dressed very informally in a white top asking us all to move from the table stating that it was allocated to another group. I don’t know if she was a staff member or a guest…. She was not dressed for work or for the occasion. By this time, we were frustrated and were losing our cool. We called the earlier female staff member and the Manager who had allowed us to sit there, and he simply stood there and apologized for the misunderstanding, saying he had not meant for us to sit at that table. He is either absolutely an incompetent manager or was saving his face by passing the blame on to the young female staff member who had checked with him. I could not have been more annoyed with this sheer demonstration of pathetic event organization. We have attended various events at the hotel organized by other groups, and it has always gone smoothly. I am not sure if this event was run by the hotel staff or by an outsourced event company. The casually dressed woman could not have been ruder or more shocking with her unapologetic approach. After expressing our disappointment, we ended up sitting at a table right at the back with our backs to the stage after having paid more than the people in groups with allocated tables. Sadly, the lunch did not lift our spirits either. It was pathetic, and boring. Entree was a salad that was sort of all right and a boring chicken thigh with bone in for the main course and there was no dessert. It was an appalling and shocking experience and the hotel in all fairness should offer to refund our money paid for the event. Our customer service standards have never been that great in our country, but this was just one of the worst examples of deplorable customer...

Where do I start… Christmas getaway for me n my family…. Planned it for months and kept checking in for our reservation each week sometimes even twice a week to discuss payment…so I don’t get any hidden on unexpected cost on arrival… surely we were so excited our kids mostly… I booked for 3 night from 24th to 27th I had each day planned out from arrival point on Xmas eve… I had also called into confirm all 24hours before arriving and it was all good to go.. When we arrived we were held at reception having to deal with bond to be paid on the spot which was never mentioned over the phone or emails…. Happy to do so, got it sorted but as we were going thru all this we got a call about our Christmas Eve dinner as we had 15 for them to hold our table obviously couldn’t make it because check in was not going smoothly…. After 15 min we were called we lost our table, Christmas Eve Dinner was ruined and my holidays wasn’t looking good at this point as we shared this to the person on the front desk he suggested other places to go to n I mentioned we had the booking from the same time I booked for our rooms, the attitude I got from this gentleman was he couldn’t care less…. But he has no idea how important it was for my family….. to save for this getaway n to deal with their miscommunication even after showing all the emails that I was sent to confirm all cost weeks before we arrived…. Finally we got our rooms and by the time it was done it was 7pm our reservation were at 6.30, we went to our rooms and knowing we had to find somewhere for dinner because downstairs at the 8 restaurants it was fully booked, we ended up walking down the street n getting take outs because everywhere else was fully booked…

On our last night we decided to order room service for the kids as me n my husband went to the bar and knowing that the room service had a limited time for the menu so I called in about 10.20 to ask if I was able to order steak etc n the person told me I can order anything on the menu it’s 24hrs So by 11.30 I called into order n they said I couldn’t I could only order from a specific menu… I was very furious and I expressed how upset I was over the phone only to be given the option by the person in charge (manager) if I wanted to check out right then n there

I went down to the front desk and the Staff Manager I spoke to over the phone was just very rude, I said to you my kids were asleep and I’ll wait till morning to leave and you said, are you sure, You can check us out now n you would be happy to do it at 11.30pm you were happy for me to wake up my kids, you spoke down at me and you kept repeating everything I was saying to you and just rolling your eyes, I mentioned I had a drink at the bar but the way you were provoking me and saying that you were to call the cops on me…. And just kept talking to me with such a rude manner, until my husband came down you started to speak to me properly without, the level of disrespect ….. I had to apologise to you, I had to come to reception and ask to speak to you and when you came you finally listen because I had to apologise in order to get some service so customer is always right doesn’t apply to the manager right, you feel like you have every right to speak to your customers and clients the way you spoke to me. In order to get some consideration to how we were treated from arrival…. I call bullshit on your gesture of a complimentary burger n meal sent up to our room. Just a quick quick question…. Is that how you would want someone to treat or speak to the girls/women related to you if they were in my situation…… Workplace or not being considerate is something you weren’t taught it’s something your born with…. When I came down to the front desk I had recorded our conversation on my phone and listening to how you spoke to me now it’s...