Nesuto St Martins Apartment Hotel — Hotel in Waitematā

I booked using Agoda who rated St Martins reasonably well so I arrived with great anticipation. Gps navigated me to the Apartments but finding reception proved to be way more difficult than expected because it's located at the end of a steep gradient, flight of stairs. Beware if you are overweight, injured or elderly. I followed an elderly gentleman who had worn out knees and it was an incredibly painful process. The rabbit Warren of alleys and small roads surrounding its entrance didn't help. The pathways that lead to the pool are also steep n precarious n the garden beds surrounding them are full of thistles n weeds - The first very noticeable maintenance blunder. It was an incredibly hot afternoon so once we got up to our room we tried to put the air con on. I replaced the batteries in the remote and was soooo disappointed when I had the remote settings all sorted but the actual wall unit was completely unresponsive. My husband who had suffered a punctured lung was really struggling as the sun continued to stream in. He called reception to advise them of the issue n was denied reasonable response. I decided to go n speak with reception. He advised me that the "standard" room I had booked did not include air conditioning. I showed him that every room advertised, including the one bedroom 'standard' room we booked, listed air conditioning as their first comfort inclusion n that the room was void of fans but DID have an air conditioning unit, just that the one in our particular room - didn't work. He still persisted, quoting it would cost me an extra $25 to be moved, to get the room we'd already booked n paid for. It wasn't until I pointed out that it was obviously a lack of maintenance and when my husband came down shirt-less and gasping for air that he relented n changed our room. When I thanked him he made comment about the extra cleaning fees n that I should be responsible to pay the cleaners for the extra cleaning our room change would create. Please note that the room we were moved to was in the exact position as the last, with the identical floor plan n furnishings but was on a different floor🙄 This confirmed that for some reason, we had drawn the short straw n he had selected us on check in, to have the unsellable room with the broken air con, in early February to suffer in the heat. A few hours later my husband and I needed to go and test drive a car. We searched high and low for his licence. We asked if it had been handed in at reception n they said no. As it was the last time we saw it I asked again on our return. Sure enough, he had it from when he scanned it on our check in n had kept it. Enough of the unethical behaviour St Martin's. Why try and squeeze the very last dollar out of us n behave in such an inhospitable way. You are in the Hospitality business yet your staff are too busy trying to squeeze every little last cent out of your guests. The pool area is completely substandard. Its at the very back of the building, starved of sunlight. The tarp that is being used as a shade sail signals something is amiss and when you see the pool is 1.5 m deep but is only half full you're inclination to go swimming quickly dissipates just like the water itself. The receptionist shocked me again when he advised there is a $10 minimum charge when using the laundry facilities. The cemetery directly in front of the building is an interesting feature. Some of the oldest headstones in Auckland indicate that life is short - pick resorts that have wonderful caring staff. My family and I were treated like 2nd rate citizens n I would urge you to look for...

We stayed at the Nesuto St Martins Apartment Hotel for ten nights at very short notice, due to a medical emergency transfer to Auckland Hospital for a family member from out of town

We thought we could be staying for two weeks, but this could have been changed either way

The location to the hospital is excellent, the short ten minute walk each way gives you time to reflect on the short walk back

We had three adults and the unit configuration we had suited our needs fine. We did upgrade to a slightly larger unit after say three nights, but reception staff juggled things to keep us on the same floor for an easier transfer.

As the different units are the same layout on each floor, being situated on the 9th floor, we did not hear much traffic / street noise from below, which was helpful (only recall hearing the Westpac helicopter landing once in the early hours)

I only saw through three units on the floor, with the corner units F and C being the best for us

Our plans changed several times quite quickly, for the better eventually and reception staff were again cooperative, initiating a refund efficiently as we didn’t have to quite stay the two weeks we had earlier envisaged

Kitchen/ bathrooms were perfectly fine, the showers plenty of pressure. Beds were comfortable to our needs

Only thing missing in the second unit was a bottle opener .. (not a biggie)

We were essentially there for our family member in the nearby hospital, so didn’t look at the nearby city. Auckland Domain is nearby to walk to clear the head

All in all, this suited us just fine because of the nature of our visit to Auckland. We did consider upgraded somewhere else locally, but we discounted this after a quick look around. We thought for others to follow in our situation, this is a good base close to the hospital - recommend

ps the second week was slightly cheaper booking for us, as we did this over the counter at reception, potentially saving I think $40 something by not using the booking service, might pay to compare

pss excellent coffee at Planet Espresso as you enter the hospital situated two over from the staff café up the escalator as you enter off Park Road. Three to four baristas working during the day, flat whites / short blacks, didn’t get anything other well presented coffee as coffee is all they do -...

On check-in, the staff were great, friendly and helped us with storage as we were slightly early and our room wasn't quite ready.

Upon entering the room it stunk of garlic and spices. It needed a good airing. Then we went into the bathroom and it was disgusting. Mould everywhere. The holders in the bathroom were all rusted/corroded and looked awful. It just added to the dirty feel. The shower was revolting - weeks old mould everywhere. We had to ask for it to be cleaned properly. The cleaning manager was great, very apologetic and was straight onto it and got it cleaned as best he could and left us with a nice bottle of wine and chocolates.

The apartment is in need of alot of maintenance. The toilet seat kept falling off (We had to ask twice for it to be fixed as the first time it appeared to be a quick fix.... it's still fixed properly - needs to be installed correctly) and none of the tv channels were what they said they would be on the card we were given. We told the front desk about this and they said they would get maintenance to fix it. We were at this hotel for over a week and it wasn't done, even after reminding them again. The room also needs a good paint as the walls have wipe marks all over them, where they have been wiped so many times. Almost all of the interior door handles were so loose they would shake in your hand. The exterior doors were almost unlockable. My wife and kids couldn't lock them. I got them locked with a lot of effort. The living rug was extremely dirty and the edges and especially the corners we tripped on numerous times as it failed to stay flat. At one point, my wife tripped and nearly hit her head on the table nearby.

The good things.... The kitchen was reasonably clean (except under the range hood, which was quite disgusting) the utensils and things were all clean. There was enough stuff for very basic cooking, a wok or frying pan would have been great. Everything was easy to find. The beds were nice and firm but soft on top. We got a good night sleep.

In brief we found most of the staff great but the appartment was in much need of a lot of...