Greymouth KIWI Holiday Park & Motels — Local services in South Island

Management/owner manipulated a situation and then charged me an extra $100 without any notice. The manager told lies and yelled at me. Something I see has happened many other guests from the bad reviews I've read across multiple platforms.

I recently stayed at Greymouth Kiwi Holiday Park and Motels for three nights and unfortunately had a very negative experience. I booked a pet-friendly accommodation through a third-party service, indicating that I would be traveling with my small dog. However, I was unaware that I needed to contact the accommodation separately about bringing my pet.

Two days after my departure, I noticed a $100 charge deducted from my account without any prior notice. When I called to inquire about this charge, the manager (who initially claimed she wasn’t the manager) yelled at me, accusing me of not informing her about my dog. It was particularly troubling to hear her fabricate a story about the manager being away awaiting surgery, only to later admit she was the manager. This felt misleading and has led me to question the trustworthiness of the management, making me doubt the legitimacy of the $100 charge.

At no point during my stay did anyone approach me regarding my dog, and I was never informed of any potential charges. The while situation feels manipulated just so another $100 could be charged. My dog is a non-shedding breed, and we spent very little time at the accommodation, ensuring he left no mess. There are even other reviews to say the place is 'dog friendly'.

I find it unreasonable to have been charged $100 without prior communication. I tried to request a reasonable refund, as I would have happily paid the $7 per night fee for my pet if I had been informed.

Additionally, I urge potential guests to be aware of the large number of negative reviews across various sites mentioning similar experiences with management shouting at guests for various reasons. This trend raises serious concerns about the professionalism and customer service at this establishment.

I wasn't going to review how unclean and uncomfortable the cabin was but I will now. Thank goodness the kids brought their sleeping bags and we brought our own sheets. The communal kitchen and bathroom are sub-standard. I've paid cheap rates at other campgrounds in NZ that are much higher standard.

Overall, this experience left me feeling deceived and upset. I hope future guests have a better...

Please do not book this hotel, no matter what assurances or ratings you see on booking.com ||We reserved a two-bedroom apartment within booking.com Booking.com informed us TOTAL COST is $402 NZ dollars. We messaged the motel 6 days before out stay, that we have to cancel as our son had an accident could no longer travel based on the surgeon's advice. I also cancelled on booking.com. The motel acknowledged our cancellation. On the day we were meant to check-in (which we had cancelled), I got a call from motel asking me if we were coming?||We informed the motel we had messaged them of the cancellation, and they acknowledged it. The motel said, 'oh i thought you must have changed your mind'. The next day we see our credit card have been charged $804 dollars. I contacted them and enquired the reason they charged despite our cancellation and why the charge was doubled? The motel indicated over the phone they can't cancel, as they would be charged if they cancelled, and indicated $804 was the cost! I should contact booking.com to try and cancel. I tried contacting booking.com, and there was no contact number or customer careline to get in touch with. I contacted the motel again and asked them to get in touch with booking .com, they said they can't get in touch with booking.com, and they would be charged if they cancelled our stay. Initially they indicated they would have to charge for 1 night and refund the rest. When i followed up today with motel owner to see if i could get partial refund or transfer the booking (that we had been charged for to April 2025), they got angry and said they are not going to deal with us, they have been very quiet for the last few years. When I tried to reason with them to say we were willing to stay with them in April 2025, the lady over the phone got very angry because they couldn't let the room out due to their system and cut phone call. ||||The motel didn't inform of us they could not cancel booking on their end, or they would be charged, they mis-led us and at the end have refused to help us or listen to us.||||Booking.com has let us down by having no customer service number or email address. This is a very disappointing experience. When I have tried posting feedback on booking.com reviews they have rejected my comments as I did not stay...

I have travelled a lot for work and pleasure and have definite measures of what is important in a hotel/motel room. Number 1 is a good night's sleep which is a function of the Bed, the temperature in the room and the noise level. Number 2 is the quality of the shower in terms of water pressure and temperature and number 3 is the service you receive from the staff. If these three aspects are good then I can forgive an older property that man be in need of renovation and other ancillary items.

This property excels in my three mandatory and is OK in the rest. We booked in for 2 nights and were assigned a suite that had a Lounge Kitchen, a bedroom and a separate bathroom and toilet. We had room to move, it was clean well appointed and maintained albeit in need of updating in the Kitchen and Bathroom. The shower was brilliant, there is nothing worse than getting to the end of a long day of travel only to stand under a tepid trickle that pretends to be a shower. The showers here deliver torrents of water at any temperature you desire. Brilliant.

The Bed was comfortable, the temperature was right and the room was quiet delivering a good nights sleep and to top it off, the owner was a delight to interact with and the tariff was fair and reasonable for what we were provided.

In summary, this is a great place to stay. If in Greymouth again, we will return here and can not recommend this...