A central location and close to shops, restaurants, bars and the cruise terminal. A great variety at breakfast which was included. Front desk was flexible about early check in and we were also able to get a late check out. Stayed for 7 nights, room was tidied 5 times, once they knocked and we opted out. Rooms are small but clean and well appointed. Construction is going on all around the location, cranes fill the sky line. No early start up of equipment so it did not hinder our sleep. Streets are torn up for a new rapid transit, I believe a train will be underground for most of its route, so again construction. Entrance is not easy to find, but is at street level and there is an elevator an escalator and stairs to get to the floor for check in. The entrance is on a hill, Auckland is very hilly, wear practical shoes for walking about, pulling suit cases would not be practical, we saw that and people were struggling.
We thoroughly enjoyed our (unexpected) stay here as our original accommodation fell through last minute. From the friendly concierge team who greeted us when we arrived, the lovely staff at the front desk were so helpful and patient when we were stressed about last-minute change of plans. The rooms are tastefully decorated and beds really comfortable. The room is really quiet - you wouldn't know you were in Auckland CBD. We will be back again next time we are visiting Auckland.
On March 13 to March 15, I stayed at the Intercontinental Auckland. My first night at that hotel was probably the worst of any hotel stay in my life. We arrived at 930AM from international flight from the US. The hotel did not have a room ready, which was understandable. There actually were rooms ready, but the front desk did not want to assign an upgrade. The bell hop held our bags and was to place our bags into the assigned room. We come back at 515PM, get the room keys. We go to the room and we cannot enter the room because the security flapper was closed. We go back to the front desk. The assistant manager goes up with us to the room. Of course, he cannot open the door. We are told to go to dinner, and the hotel would cover half of dinner. At 630PM, we are given another room, and told that dinner would all be comped. We wait in the new room for 4 more hours. Just after 1020PM, a bellhop brought us our bags. We waited 5 hours for our bags. We were tired after a 16-hour flight. We needed our meds and our CPAP machine. During this period there were numerous conversations of we’re doing the best we can. Hogwash! I spoke to the assistant manager at our room’s door at approximately 730PM. I told him he needed to drill the locks on the interconnecting doors. Because you see, our room was identical to the previous room. We only reserved one room. The assigned rooms had interconnecting doors. We suspect that the person who put our bags into the first room, exited from the other room after closing the shared doors. That person never checked our room’s security flapper. Comping our dinner, did nothing for the situation. The hotel should have put us in the nicest suite available. As that would have been the best service recovery! I know they were available, because I checked the IHG app. Instead, we get verbal apologies that never addressed our needs!!! Hello, we could have had a medical emergency, and this hotel plays with keys? There was no formal apology from the general manager, who never seemed to get involved. The comedy of errors and lack of empathy was astounding. At one point, I felt that the hotel was insinuating that somehow, we did this! Like really, how is that possible? The actual hotel is very nice. The room was very clean and the bed comfortable. The location cannot be beat if one is leaving on a cruise from Auckland. BUT, we would never stay at this hotel again! The actual operation of the hotel is very poor for a 5-star property. There is no good reason for what happened to us. I left after our 2 night stay, furious, aggravated and disappointed!!!
To be fair the motel was flooded a year ago and was closed for an entire year, they are doing it up. Good points: comfy beds, good staff, free airport transfer bus, well priced happy hour. Not so good points: broken fixtures in the bathroom, could be cleaner, ( carpets need a clean), kitchenette rudimentary at best, door to room not particularly secure. Staff were very pleasant and I think once the renovations are complete it will be a reasonable place to stay. Bar, restaurant and front desk area are all nicely done.
This property has much to offer but let's themselves down on the smaller details. Rooms were huge and well appointed, quiet, great off street parking and extremely comfortable. However many items were not overly clean, outdoor area littered, window sills, oven, microwave, fridge and crockery/cutlery needed attention. Before daring to eat off crockery or drink from glasses (that were filthy) we had to clean, they were unhygienic. Oven had leftovers on the base, microwave had splatter from previous guests and fridge was not clean. Given COVID I would have expected a much higher level of cleaning however they have obviously relied on previous guests to clean sufficiently, this was not the case. However when we addressed with cleaning staff they were lovely and accommodating and cleaned window sills. We arrived at 1700hrs we had anticipated an earlier arrival but due to flight delays we were a few hours later (reception open until 1900hrs so we were not concerned) however was closed. We called the number on the door and were given a lockbox number, keys retrieved to room but they had not been allocated and we could not access. Thankfully another couple had already called reception and they were en-route so this problem was solved quickly. Also staff advised that we had been inadvertently charged twice and refund was in process however 7 days later no refund for over-charge has been processed. This is a great property, cleaning ladies were lovely but Management just need to get the basics right. Reception should be available as stated, rooms and amenities should be cleaned and outdoor areas need attention. I would stay here again and I can recommend but please Management address the issues we have raised. This will elevate your property rating considerably with little effort. I would have liked to address these issues directly with Management however as we were busy and office often closed, we did not have the opportunity to address directly when we were in residence.