I stayed at the Novatel this evening. While the rooms are clean and tidy, and the food is good, the bad attitude and service of the front staff is appalling. My check-in took 15 mintues. The receptionist took no interest in either getting my name correct, or moving with any speed. This in-spite of the fact that I told her I had a conference call (which I missed). Its probably important to note that I was the only person checking in. This delay was then followed by a request for milk (there was none in my room). After twenty mintues of waiting, I called the reception and asked again for milk. This then took another ten mintues to arrive. This is another example of a good hotel being run-down by terrible-front-of-house service. The rooms, location, faciliites and kitchen are all good ... well they suit me for the business I do I in Auckland ... but the attitude of their reception staff is a real turn-off. I certainly won't be back.

We have just come back from spending a Night at The Novotel Ellerslie which we did`nt thankfully have to pay for as my husbands work paid for the night away. It was not all bad, but the Hotel room was $197.00 for the night, and the room was not that good! We had a Standard Room. We had stayed the night previously, the night before, in another Hotel which was $109 for my husband, Myself our 7 year old son and 8 year old nephew , and that included a Continental Buffet Breakfast for us all. That Hotel which was called Airport Ventura Inn and Suites and was newer than the Novotel, and had the same shower head and taps in the bathroom, the same tiles in the bathroom, and the same toilet and the room was bigger as well! I have written a review for that hotel as well and its more value for money. At the Novotel the staff were all friendly, and professional, and they had nice touches, like at reception they had complimentry apples and lollies. They also had different pillows which you could ask for , if you did`nt like the ones in the rooms, these consisted of non allergenic, Tri Pillows and Contour Pillows. The rooms were clean and the housekeeping lady which we had who delivered us extra towels etc was so lovely, she had a real love for children I could tell, as she looked at our son and nephew and said how cute they were! The rooms were very sound proof, we could not hear the road noise, and we could not hear talking in the room next to ours. The beds had feather down duvets as well which was nice. The toiletries were in nice bottles . We ate in the restaurant and the food was nice, the waitrress we had was very friendly and efficient. The complaints I have are that the TV had only about 7 different channels and half of them were free NZ channels, they also had really bad reception, and the 1 free movie channel which they had (unless we wanted to pay to view) was wide screen movies, and the TV was not a wide screen TV ! The mini bar was a rip off at $4.00 for a can of pepsi, and $5.00 for a small container of Pringles potato chips, Small chocolate bars were $4.00 each! The MAJOR complaint was the parking and VERY lack of parking! There are at least 120 rooms here and there are about 60 car parks! Guests were asked to park in the car park next door which is in the Ellerslie Race Course. That is ok, but we had a note in our room which said "Please do not park in Car Park no 3 after midnight , instead park in Car Park no 2 otherwise your car will be towed away and it will cost $200 to retrieve it!" There was also a sign outside which contradicted it, telling Guests to park in car park no 3 . We parked in Car Park no 3 and our car was towed ! It cost $200 to get it back, plus $20 for the taxi! Most tow away costs are NOT $200 in Auckland, who gets the extra money from the tow away ? The Duty manager had all her answers "well prepared" for us, like she was "well practiced" on this when we complained about it! Also when we went to pick our car up, there was another man from the Novotel picking his car up too, which had been towed away ! The Tow away Building was a real dump which my son described as "a dark dumpy dungeon" he was correct! . It was not a good experience, but one which we learnt from, and one which I would like to warn other people who stay there about. The Duty manager told us, that "we SHOULD" have asked the Valet to drive our car to the correct park" well we did`nt know they did that, and she said "we should have asked", when we have stayed in expensive Hotels before they have "OFFERED" us that service and we have not had to "ask" for it. I think the managment need to retrain their staff in offering that service at check in. When people are paying $197 a night to stay in a standard room, the staff should be "bending over backwards" to make sure guests are looked after properly . We will DEFINATLY not stay there again, and if my husbands work pay again, we will be "encouraging " them to pay for another Hotel instead .

I stay at this hotel about 10 times a year for periods of 3 - 5 days. I have always found the rooms clean and the service what would be expected of a hotel of this rating. after probably more than 20 visits I am yet to have a problem. Only issue can be parking, which is outside and not sufficient, however you can park in front of the entrance and hand keys to the concierge. Location beside the motorway makes for easy access into town.

I stayed at this hotel for 4 nights. I didn't use alot of the things at the hotel itself, including the restaurand or bar. Very close to the train station. The room was decent sized, clean and quiet. It did have a fridge, which helped. It is also close to a large grocery store, which also helped. The TV channel selection is below average, from what I saw of it. It is neither in the best neighborhood, nor the worst. It is not located near anything really, so you have to take the train to get downtown or anywhere else. It seems to be for business travelers, altho that isn't what I was there for. I did have one dealing with the concierge and he was very helpful. The situation of getting to anywhere in Auckland from the airport is ridiculously expensive and takes a fair amount of time. Altho I can't rave about where I stayed, it suited what I was there for just fine.

Our travel agent booked us in here for a three day stay in Auckland. Too far from the city centre and expensive in a taxi on day three the reception told us about the train station which was near by and much cheaper - a bit late! Toilet is very small - yes it is like a time capsule, not a lot of room and our safe was broken, we were told it would be repaired the next day but it never was. Drinks very expensive, buffet dinner okay but not great value for money. More a business persons hotel. Internet access very expensive.