Checking In
Chalet Bedrooms
Our room was one of many in separate chalets. A large number of steps downhill. Parking on a steep slope. No porter. Not ideal for those who don't like steps. An interesting challenge.
Our room, chalet 41, had a tranquil view of trees, and birdsong. I imagined that you need to pay more for sea views.
Another guest told me he had thought all the rooms had sea views. He was wrong. Ours didn't. Nor did the adjoining chalet, as I realised when I took the wrong left turn turn on the Y shape wooden boardwalk by mistake.
We had come all the way from the UK, half way round the world, from the city to the sea. We expected to see the sea, but got no sea view. Nearly everybody else had sea views. Except me. I was not happy.
Hotel Facilities
The food in the bedroom all cost extra. The first hotel of the six we stayed us which gave us no water or free biscuits or nibbles on arrival.
Their room guide said they had mini golf. Not crazy golf but mini golf. Uphill, again.
The Adventure Climbing Uphill To the Pool
Waiheke Island Resort. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
I wasn't carrying anything heavy or bulky like a towel up all those wooden steps, about twenty from our chalet front to the road at the back, another twenty up the second row of chalets to the hotel,
The Pool Pleasure
I managed to get in through the swimming pool gate's lift-up pole fastening, which seems to be the latest thing, at least in New Zealand, which seemed to be the latest style, which I had learned from my previous hotels in January-Feb 2025.
I did not see towels by the pool. Fortunately I had taken the precaution of taking with me a bedroom face flannel.
The pool had steps in the shallow end which was good. The best, practical pool stairs of any pool I'd tried. Although the weather was not over-warm in February.
I could not get any pump action from the outdoor spa. But it was uncovered and easy to get into.
The gate's pole fastening was a challenge getting out of the area, but another taller guest pulled it up and pulled the gate to let me out.
Returning Downhill
I made one wrong turn at the Y junction down from the pool. Then, another wrong turn into the wrong chalet.
I knew I wasn't the first to get lost. All wooden wrong way straight ahead stairs and decks, anticipating guests getting lost, were marked with a small knee high sign saying the chalet number and the warning, no exit.
My husband, practical and confident, later also found walking uphill tiring. He also got lost.
Night two. We had a moth in the bedroom. And a cockroach in the shower room. So shake your shoes.
The Dining Breakfast Room
Breakfast was uphill in the sea view breakfast room. So we thought we would try it even though it was not included in our room price.
Nobody was around to greet us. We were immediately assailed by the aromas of the buffet and headed that way to have a look.
A staff member rushed up to overtake us and bar our way. The breakfast buffet was for a group. Not us.
I thought the group's buffet should have been in a separate room, or behind a screen, at very least marked with a sign, instead of a restaurant staff member running to accost us and head us off as if we were trespassers. It wasnt even an option as it would have been if the group had paid more for the buffet option, and we would have agreed to pay the higher price for the buffet.
We were allocated waiter service. That could be more leisurely, but it means you don't know what you are getting, and have fewer options. And not for those in a hurry.
We checked out early, at the required 10 am - and breakfasted elsewhere.
As we checked out, I enquired about the sea view rooms. Were they more expensive? No, cheaper. We had paid more because we had booked through booking.com
Advantages of Booking.com
Normally my family finds it very convenient. You can book online when the hotel at your destination is asleep. Click, click. No language problems. No waiting for answers. You know you have a room.
We understand that the service is a business, and has its costs. But I had always assumed that the hotels would absorb the cost of the service in order to be sure that a minimum number of rooms got booked.
It saves time to use booking.com, one website, for arranging eight hotels in a hurry, rather than taking time and keeping track of eight different hotels.
We also take advantage of paying slightly more for rooms which can be cancelled at no cost.
Booking Choices
When Booking Direct With Hotels Has An Advantage
On this occasion it did not work out for us.
One UK hotel (which has since changed management) had told us that if we booked direct with the hotel in future, we would get a free bottle of wine on arrival.
But on this occasion, in New Zealand, we paid more, yet got no sea view. We paid more, but got less.
At this hotel, booking through the hotel, you would have to pay less and get a sea view.
I was annoyed. More than briefly annoyed. Annoyed days later, weeks later. Lifetime annoyed. A pity, because we went off to the main street and achieved breakfast with a sea view.
If only I had sold myself on the enjoyment of the hotel bedroom being secluded amongst the trees. If you have agoraphobia, or tsunami phobia, you might enjoy the sheltered clearing, or forest hideaway.
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