SO/ Auckland — Hotel in Waitematā

Firstly, our check in experience was great - nice guy, trying to do his best, clearly very busy and trying very hard, but looking very stressed out with his workload - total respect for him and another young lady at reception. Both seemed stressed, overworked and confused. We attended a VIP event on NYE at their "rooftop bar". $220 for a two hour drinks package and "premium canapes". For my two hour VIP $220 drinks/food package, I got TWO CORONAS AND TWO CANAPES. I was SO/ angry that I mentioned this - all I was greeted with is "I'm sorry but the package is only til 9.30pm". Yes it is - but this is what happens when you leave each person at the bar waiting for half an hour to be served - was it intentional?! Seemed no one could get the value of their drinks package because every single staff member was moody, depressed, overworked and defensive, and when some people did mention they'd been waiting at bar for 30 mins they were greeted with an angry defensive staff member who simply pointed away to the customer, gesturing him to leave the area. Thankfully, the only polite staff member in this bar, a lady, stopped him, stepped in between them & served the customer. The whole bar event was poorly managed, understaffed & staff members looked MISERABLE. This same man, served my partner two beers, with the top of the beer bottle neck BROKEN OFF and jagged glass showing. This was my beer, it was dark so I couldn't see it at first, and I sipped from it once, only realising when I went to drink it for the second time it was broken. I'm just glad to be alive, even if I do have a sore throat. Did I say anything to the bar staff? Of course not because (a) they are rude and arrogant; (b) I can't get near them to purchase a drink, let alone tell them they put my life in danger; and (c) as I'd drank out of it once I thought the bartender would say either I or my partner did it. BUT I HAVE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS SO/.....At end of night, everyone was told to leave by security guards in a massive hurry, while still holding full drinks in our hand - given no grace to finish the drink, just simply words to the effect of 'shoo everyone - skull your drinks and get the f out'. On NYE. No warmth. OK to the room itself. Elegant but disgusting white liquid stains all over the black couch in our room when we got there, which you can only guess by the shape of them what they were. A piece of moldy glueless looking wallpaper falling off the wall in the shape of say...a tissue box. Looked like something out of The Conjuring. The first issues I had with this hotel are not these issues above, these are just additions. Hotel is near IMPOSSIBLE to get hold of by email. I got a lot of auto emails (ya know, to upgrade my room for more money etc) - but I emailed about TEN TIMES to TWO DIFFERENT EMAILS and NO REPLIES. When I first booked, I received two emails, with a human on the other end - but after this - I could not get hold of the hotel at all. I wanted to know if the VIP event would have vegetarian options, so I asked the receptionist, who passed me onto another email address implying they would know. I emailed and waited; emailed and waited; emailed and waited - two weeks and ten emails later, NO REPLY. To think you can't even answer a guest's query of whether you have vegetarian options at a $220 VIP event - is that too much work for y'all to answer? This hotel is a complete waste of money in my opinion. It lacks warmth (except for the 3 staff I mentioned above & the breakfast staff) & it lacks a positive happy vibe - all they want is to get as much money as they can out of you. When we stayed at another major 5 star CBD hotel one night after this, the difference in hospitality/friendliness/warmth/cleanliness was inherently noticeable. The person that checked us out at SO/ in morning was was more interested in explaining to me in the most cold, arrogant, way they are holding the standard $100 charge on my credit card as I already knew (in addition to one night's stay of $1095 per night) RATHER THAN ASK US HOW...

SO stylish, SO chic, SO cool.

SO/ Auckland is an amazing Hotel, the design creates such a unique atmosphere and ambience. There is so many different artistic and interesting features, it really is a pleasure taking it all in.

Every member of staff that I had dealings with were very professional.

Both bars are great, MIXO in the lobby and HI-SO on the roof. I had some great and unique cocktails, the bar snacks and food are also good. Not many beers but the standard internationals are available and some stock beers from Lion's Panhead Brewery.

The swimming pool is pretty cool, the gym is beside the pool and is well equipped and functional. The spa facilities are beyond great, the staff are all amazing, I had such a relaxing and rewarding experience both for the body and mind. The spa menu is extensive, do not hesitate to make use of it.

Harbour Society restaurant is also fantastic, such a great location on the 15th floor, the views are brilliant and the décor is cool as expected. Breakfast is a high quality diverse buffet and also à la carte, there is some talented baristas here, coffee beans are ok. The lunch menu is very good for an exceptionally reasonable price. The dinner menu is great and I look forward to returning, there is certainly so much potential here and the staff obviously have plenty of talent. If I am to be critical, while the food is of mostly good quality and the presentation of the food is exquisite, there is certainly an element of style over substance with the current menu (May 2019). Not the quantity or quality, just the mix of so many different items on some plates, some in quite small proportions, this doesn't make for a cohesive or balanced eating experience. Having said that, do not hesitate to get in here and experience as much of the menu as possible, it is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. The wine list is quite extensive, with the Coravin wine preservation system in use allowing a great variety and quality of wines to be tried by the glass.

The room I stayed in was SO stylish, the bed is of high quality as well as the linens. I enjoyed the pillows that came standard, there is other options available, the sleeping experience is quite relaxing and luxurious. A deep bath is in the room that fills reasonably fast, a bath menu is available. The shower is spacious with a removable rose and rain head, separate mixers are available for each so both can be used together at full flow or separately. The complimentary (included) mini bar snacks and drinks (non alcoholic), as well as the Nespresso machine, teas and chocolate are all good.

Again, if I am being critical there is a bit of form over function or style over substance to some construction and design elements. If you have some knowledge of construction or design you will potentially be quite entertained by the practicality and finish of some elements, take it for what it is and enjoy it, everything might not be to everyone's taste or ideals but what in this world is. It is such a shame, albeit understandable, that the building was not double glazed when it was renovated, there is certainly the potential for outside noise to easily enter the room, Auckland is a busy city, traffic and construction is happening everywhere. It is also a shame that not more thought or maybe effort was put into the sound proofing between rooms. TV or music noise and voices travel between the rooms easily. Activities in the corridor are very loud in the rooms, probably this was not helped by the gap under the entry door. My suggestion if you feel this will bother you is to bring some ear plugs or similar, certainly do not let this put you off coming to experience at such an amazing hotel. I slept very well with earplugs in and noise was not an issue, the bed was so comfortable it is hard not to sleep well. The air conditioning is very effective.

If you are thinking about heading to SO for a stay, drinks, dining a spa or even better all of this do not hesitate, I am confident that it will be a great experience. I look forward...

I have just checked out from SO Auckland and felt like sharing my experience. I will take it step by step so it’s easy to follow.

Background on our booking: Staycation over the weekend, couple Sat-Mon stay, purchased a package from Mastercard that includes some upgrades and freebies.

Check-in: Check-in was pretty straight forward. We were asked to sit down on the coaches and the staff came to us with all the forms and eftpos terminal, which was nice. Was asked to fill in the form even though I have provided all the details during booking - all good there. The lady was nice, explain where what is at the hotel but did not mention any of the inclusions. I had to specifically ask about breakfast and all the other perks. Had I not specifically asked she wouldn’t mention our breakfast is included and that we have a credit to use or how to use it.

Room: Even though our package included an upgrade we only got a standard room on the 6th floor facing the street and a construction site. We had a fruit platter waiting in the room which was nice. We also had a complimentary mini bar BUT the reason why it’s complimentary is that it only had 2 cans of soft drink and 2 bottled waters in it :D. We tried to order room service but took about 5 calls and 15 min until somebody picked up. Food was ok- nothing special. Our TV had ‘failed connection’ for over an hour so we left to the pool area for a swim.

Pool area: the pool area an the spa are really nice HOWEVER for some strange reason the music being played really loudly some kind of Techno/Rock/Metal - no relaxing or enjoyable at all. Since we were the only ones there, I asked the lady at the Spa reception if the volume could be lowered or the music changed. I was told: “it is what always plays here and I can’t do anything about it”. It was really not enjoyable and loud so we left after probably 20 minutes.

We went out for dinner and when we returned at about 11pm the nightmare started.

To get to the hotel we had step over probably 3 blind drunks passed out on the sidewalk and probably 3-4 puddle of vomit right in front of the hotel entrance. None of the staff seemed to care whatsoever. We then casually walked into the lobby - as you do when you are returning to your hotel room - only to be ‘greeted’ by one of the security guy: “Hey bro! Where do you think you are going?” I thought I heard wrong. He let us through when we showed him our room key.

Since we were only on the 6th floor we could hear every single noise from the street - traffic, drunk people throwing up, people yelling, screaming until about 4AM. DO NOT STAY IN THIS HOTEL ON A SATURDAY NIGHT IF YOU ARE AFTER A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP!

Sunday breakfast: There was no buffet breakfast so we had to order. Choices were ok but the food was average. We ordered some fruit and yoghurt, pastries and eggs. Our waitress have completely forgot about our pastries and fruit, only brought our eggs and when she came back later on and started clearing our plates I mentioned we never got our fruit and pastries. She looked shocked, dropped all the dirty plates back on the table only to come back 5 min later with 3 dry croissants (no jam or butter) and bowl of fruit which had 5 pineapple pieces, 3 blueberries, 5 other pieces fruit - no yoghurt even though we requested it. We had our brekky included but normally this would set you back $59.

Sunday dinner: We had dinner at the restaurant on Sunday evening. Food was ok…nothing special. Nobody explained the menu, the waiter cleared my plate the second I put my cutlery down even though my partner was still eating, had to ask for water refill 3 times… very average.

Checkout: easy and fast. Stuff didn’t ask a single question, no interest about our stay…nothing really.

Summary: Very surprised how mediocre the service and the experience was. I had much higher expectations from a hotel that charges $800 for 2 nights. AVOID AT ALL COST ON A SATURDAY NIGHT IF YOU ARE PLANNING A NICE AND...