Hawea Hotel, Eatery & Bar — Restaurant in South Island

ATTENTION!!!!

Giving this one star only because of how lovely and honest the receptionist was and we couldn’t stress that enough , a genuine employee who must often find herself in awkward positions due to her employers standards. We felt bad for this lovely woman who it seems has had to deal with this issue often and deserves far better.

However read on

We booked our one night stay through booking.com and we’re impressed by the price and photographs that advertised a stay in the “lodge” accomodation at the Hawea hotel. ( photos appear to be very cleverly taken If not staged )

Upon arrival we were extremely surprised and disappointed to find that we had been insanely lead astray by this advertisement for what turned out to be a $70 HOSTEL room.(average price of a hostel in the hawea/Wanaka area is $28-$30 FYI)

The use of the word LODGE is not true to the very poor conditions and cleanliness of what is labeled as a hostel on sight , the rooms were sub-par to say the least and in serious need of some attention from a hygiene point of view.

The grounds were overgrown with a large amount of rubbish and discarded furniture right outside the windows that had been frosted to hide this unsightly view. It’s a shame that this ruined what is truly a beautiful view.

The shared bathroom facilities resembled public toilets, were dirty, foul smelling, wet and scary to say the least ,even the local council in the area maintains their facilities with more care.

We are aware due to local knowledge that the owner is never on sight and it sounds like the attitude about the standards of their facility matches what it looks like on the ground.

Admittedly we trusted what we were sold without viewing reviews that fall in line with this one,they date back far enough it is shocking that barely any action has been taken on the unsatisfactory conditions of this “LODGE” ……. Hostel.

Even as a hostel this place needs some serious care and attention, advertisement needs to be realistic and honest and staff need to be valued far more than they currently seem to be.

SERIOUSLY...

Although we didnt have a great deal of interaction with staff excluding via Phone we will definately be back here we loved our stay we loved the fact the staff member taking our booking over the phone had the time to chat to me. Tell me all the various things we could do in Hawea. And when we wouldnt make it in time before staff would leave they were able to accomodate a safe transfer of keys so we could get into our room it had been a long long day and to finally walk in to a fresh smelling amazing laid out space for our girls and ourselves it was just so spacious comfortable and 15 mins from wanaka it was a nice wee away from the hustle and bustle of too close to all the busy "township" and super low cost we woke up and spotted rabbits andnthe irony of that is it was our daughters birthday weekend and we had no one to take care of our guinea pigs so they came with us in the car and stayed in the car. My 4 and 2 year old thought it so cute to see a bunny right outside the sliding door 😂 and when we popped the Yes please sign up they topped up the milk, hot chocolate tea, coffee made the beds fresh towels and when we came back from our day out the room smelt lovely again. I absolutely can recommend this place just a stones throw away from the lake front walk down and enjoy the beauty. We will defiantely be coming back and hopefully for longer next time. All staff were hospitable and there were just permanant smiles i loved it "(by the way my husband is a duty manager of a hotel here in Christchurch)" so of course naturally know the way hospo business works and the stress staff are exposed to so really appreciated the great characters of all we met. Extra special moment when our youngest lay down and looked out the opening of the curtain to find the moon above her head ot was just...

My partner and I was absolutely shocked with the experience. From the poor service to the stupidity long waits. Waiting at reception, the wait to order and receive food and that was just lunch in the restaurant. The fridge was so old in the room barely kept anything cold. The milk was a little glass jar with clean film, who would trust that. We needed to clean the kettle before use. Holes in the carpet. Black Underwear in the grass off the back deck. Cigarette butts in ashtray after booking as family with 2yo toddler. Then the rude, narrow minded, racist behavior our friends received when the rooms they booked were given away to others. Telling them "you can leave now if you want" and "go find accommodation elsewhere" in such condescending and cure manner making a couple of them get upset they had been traveling half the day and have 4 kids under 4 with them. As a born and breed kiwi boy from the coromandel Peninsula the treatment my friends received made me embarrassed to be a kiwi. Absolutely disgusting Hawea Hotel and the tall older guy from reception good on ya way to...