Aura Accommodation — Local services in North Island

We were blown away by the warm and friendly Kiwi service we received at Aura Accommodation, and will definitely return ASAP! A special shout out to Poppie and Ellen for being the "hostesses with the most-est"! They provided great tips on places to go and things to see, and the accommodation is clean, tidy, simple but very comfortable and in typical NZ motel style has a hob / hotplates, a microwave, crockery and a fridge, so you can save a lot of money in an expensive country. If you feel like eating out, it is a very short walk to "Eat Streat", which is a covered outdoor arcade with a selection of bars and excellent restaurants at all price points.

In addition to the gas-powered BBQ and outdoor swimming pool, Aura Accommodation also has two wonderful thermal baths. All my aches and pains from a recent lower back injury and the thirty-hour flight to NZ just melted away! There are many thermal baths in Rotorua, but as I found out afterwards the on-site ones are slightly acidic - this type is great for deep relaxation and joint pain relief, and alkaline ones are best for skin conditioning and complaints. We visited some of the other (acidic) baths around Rotorua, but whilst some of these have nice views we experienced exactly the same relief from the ones at Aura Accommodation. My advice would be to take advantage of the baths here, and save your money for other attractions such as the spectacular Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, or the Redwoods Treewalk if you have a head for heights and swing-bridges!

Aura Accommodation is located a short walk or drive from many of the best things to see and do in Rotorua. We also appreciated that they have a strict policy of no noise after 21:30, and only renting rooms to genuine holidaymakers - the NZ Govt has recently been paying some Rotorua moteliers to take in homeless people on a long-term basis. This has been causing a lot of problems in many cases, and whilst a full discussion of this is not in the scope of this review I just wanted to have a restful sleep. I don't think this is too much to ask for, and our stay was...

At first site a regular 3* motel. Conveniently located near the lane front, close to the city centre and Government Gardens. But the welcome is so warm and friendly. A true insight into what makes this place tick. You get a little welcome pack, you’re shown to your allocated parking bay and then into your room. OK let’s be frank here, the rooms are a bit dated. But they are spotlessly clean. Modern upgrades include air conditioning, good TV inc Sky, and a great bed. So you may feel you are in a sort of a time warp, but it is a clean, safe and extremely comfortable time warp. Now let’s go back to the welcome. The room includes a personal hand written card. They have suggestions and recommendations by reception for different styles of dining, activities and local amenities. Later in our stay we needed cash for the laundry, no problem just put it on a card. They take the trouble to care, not lip service, but properly care for their guests. The property also has 2 lovely warm mineral baths with water pumped from the earth below, along with a heated outdoor pool, more later. Aura has a fabulous programme regarding servicing the room. If you don’t want daily service indicate using a slider on the door and they will donate $5 for each service missed to charity. So far they’ve donated nearly $29,000! And their environmental credentials are spot on. In room waste separation, milk in glass bottles and a soap recycling project. Outside they have solar panels powering the electric, returning surplus to the grid. All water, including the swimming pool and your shower is heated using their own private borehole, no gas or oil boiler. Their care for our planet is such that they won the 2023 Hospitality Award for their efforts. The whole Aura ethos strikes me as ‘Care’ Care for their customers, care for the planet and care for the locale. A fantastic...

Aura has motel type rooms but more spacious and with cooking facilities. They aren’t the most modern and high end, but very functional, comfortable and clean.

Note that the curtains are very thin and don’t block the outside light much. I’m glad I had an eye mask.

The WIFI is terrific and they have Smart TVs which enable you to connect to your Netflix account.

Laundry facilities on site—NZ$8 for wash and dry with NZ$2 coins available at reception.

Very central—five minutes walk to Tourist Office/Central Bus Station. Close to cafes; spas; restaurants.

They take environmental sustainability seriously.

The best thing, is the staff. The ladies run the place fabulously. Every interaction with the reception team is a pleasure. Five star hotels should take note of how well this place is run and learn from them. They provided helpful suggestions on what to see in advance if arriving that my research hadn’t spotted. The redwood forest walk with night lights ended up being my favorite activity.

Chloe called my international number when I didn’t respond to an email asking at about what time I was arriving (due to poor WIFI) to make sure my room would be ready upon arrival and that I had all I needed to check in.

Staff is...