Royal Park Lodge

We booked for four nights and had a nice, spacious unit in a good location. The place had the basic amenities. I’d definitely recommend it for a stop in Auckland.

The main problem was what appeared to be prostitution in the room next to ours. We’d booked a place for our family and didn’t expect to be staying somewhere that also seemed to operate as a brothel. There were two battery-operated CCTV cameras and fake flowers by the front door, people coming and going from that room for short stays throughout the night, and dirty sheets left outside for room service the next morning. Given all that, I believe the owner must have known. When we raised it through the booking site, the owner denied knowing about the activity and lied in their response. Our own room was clean enough, but the bed was poor quality and very uncomfortable. There was a full ashtray by the back door, and the heat pump remote had no batteries. I strongly recommend guests avoid this lodge unless they’re comfortable with the prostitution and the other problems.

The bed was comfortable and felt clean, and the location worked well for getting to the highway and shops. But the bathroom floor design is awful, water sprays across the room and leaves the tiles extremely slippery after a shower. The carpet also felt dirty, almost sticky underfoot.

The place was clean and tidy, with good amenities, and they accommodated our request to move to a ground-floor room. It’s easy to reach from the main road. Recommended.