Oaks Auckland Hotel — Hotel in Waitematā

We had issues with • Arrival • The Room • Amenities • Staff not being able to understand or speak English competently

Reception was VERY unhelpful. And during our 3 day stay this trip, we didn’t encounter one staff member who spoke decent English. The staff member on duty when we arrived was beyond incompetent, she seemed very confused and it took over 10 minutes to get through to her we were staying a total of THREE days over a four day period (With one night away on Waiheke Island) Not really rocket science!!!! I found it very distressing that my husband had done his best to organise a SURPRISE 20th Wedding Anniversary trip (It was also his birthday that day - 16th February) When I became upset at reception, the staff member (sarcastically in my opinion) asked if I needed a Kleenex? What I needed was for her to comprehend English, understand our reservation and give us the rooms he had booked on the phone. Also it was very embarrassing and upsetting for me that the extensive back up of visitors waiting behind us could hear everything that was being said and being a very private person, I was mortified for them to see me in tears.

The room we were allocated for the night of 16th February was dark and dingy, dirty (I took photos), shabby and smelt very musty. Certainly not what you would expect when you are paying over $300 per night!!!!! ALSO There was no balcony which my husband SPECIFICALLY requested for EVERY night of our stay, but somehow the person who took our reservation had understood and allocated us one for 18th and 19th February!!! But NOT for 16th!!! The apartments we have always been allocated in the past have been on the other side of the building, higher up and much bigger and better appointed with more facilities. We would never have booked a stay with you if we knew in advance this would be what we were getting in both service and accomodation. And think the $300+ for these rooms is way overpriced.

Very, very disappointed. Sorry, we were just soooo disappointed that neither ourselves or our friends who often come with us to Auckland to visit shows, concerts, galleries etc will be staying with you again.

We were offered access to the 'Breakfast Room' on 17th February to compensate, but seeing as neither myself or my husband eat breakfast this was inadequate. We did however 'enjoy' a 'machine made' coffee!!!!! I just want to add here that the staff who were standing around in the breakfast room were doing NOTHING to greet guests, point them in the right direction or demonstrate how the coffee machine worked. It was very unorganised in the room as well as being very...

BEWARE if booking through Airbnb !

We unfortunately stumbled upon this place through Airbnb overall the whole experience was a nightmare.

We thought it was a self contained apartment like most Airbnb's but this was not the case as we found out on arrival it was a more Apart/Hotel.

Basically a building with rooms and a check in desk. Not what we thought but we rolled with it.

Check in was smooth we received our keys and then another wave of bad news they stated on the listing they had a pool and gym.

The pool and gym was located in a completely other building and required you to go to the desk to get the details when you wanted to go.

This could have easily been added for more clarification.

Moving on, we got to our room (205) it was another room completely different to the one we looked at booking.

Being overlooked in all rooms by the street and office blocks even in the bathroom people in offices can look into here while you are having a shower.

When going down and speaking with the manager they said "it was a picture taken at a different angle" which is definitely not the case.

They did however offer us another room after being persistent, after 45/1hr we got the call that our new room was ready.

We went down ready to get our keys they even said we were upgraded to a bigger room or a room that was more fitting to the listing (610).

This was after as they said they were fully booked and couldn't do much but somehow managed to pull it off.

So going up again with hope still and we walked in to what looked like a put together room, it felt vacant and bland with hardly any character.

But that was fine at this point we just wanted to settle.

We moved into the bedroom to unpack upon seeing a nice clean bed and then a lovely Stained red pillow covered in a white substance, no need to say what that was.

On top of this the hotel said that building work would be going on from 10am - 4pm.

This was far from the case as everyday they started at 8.30am on the dot and sound of drills and machines vibrating the whole room.

It was then we realised that our room was right beside the building work.

It felt more of a punishment than anything for trying to speak up about our previous issues.

Anyway we checked out at the end of our stay the hotel offered us a 20% refund which with all this issues I felt was a kick in the teeth and now letting Airbnb sort a resolution out.

The only positive thing I could say is that they did try and the location is great but overall the whole experience just got...

listen, I wasn't expecting a 5 star hotel. but I was however expecting more than a 2 star experience. apon arriving we had to wait in the reception area for a good 10 minutes before anyone even came to the front desk with no bell to ring for service. the room itself wasn't bad but you could tell the couch was old as the cushions have started to pull apart etc. the beds and pillows weren't to mine or my boyfriends personal liking but that's an us issue, not a hotel issue and unlike most hotels, this one doesn't have room service/cleaning for your room while you stay. there were trolleys with clean sheets, new bathroom products etc so things were being cleaned, just not our room and I would assume other rooms that have current occupants.(I personally haven't heard of a hotel that doesn't do room service during your stay but this was our experience) it does get very noisy in the hotel as one of the nights I heard loud banging and screaming until early morning. we also found a cockroack on the wall so that was concerning when wanting to check out they told us we couldn't leave until they'd had someone go up and inspect the room which was inconvent and odd because in the past, the hotel has been able to refund the bond without us physically being there. after someone had inspected the room we were told we would have to wait a further 10 minutes as they'd found a big stain on the carpet and needed someone to clean it so they could explain cleaning costs to us etc. I told them it wasn't a stain and that I had accidentally kicked over a glass of water the day prior and the water just hasn't dried yet. there was another lady that came down (I'm assuming the person who peoformed the inspection) she had a photo of the "large stain" and I again explained it was water that had been knocked over the day prior. she then proceeded to look over at her Co worker and said "yesterday?" and made a face that indicated she felt I was lying. it was incredibly uncomfortable and unprofessional.(they did end up letting it go and we were refunded the full price of the bond) I understand that working in customer service you have moments where you need to vent about customers but my advice to you is wait until they leave as you end up creating an atmosphere that isn't enjoyable and becomes awkward overall, won't...