Stay Mission Bay

After a long flight from San Francisco, we arrived in Auckland to find that Stay Coastal had double booked the unit we reserved through AirBNB seven months earlier. We'd stayed there before and enjoyed it. The booking had been accepted, we'd paid, and AirBNB sent several confirmation messages before our trip in February. We then spent several tense hours with AirBNB support sorting it out. Our kids are devastated that their beach holiday is now in a house in a random suburb, a ten minute drive from the beach instead of a five minute walk. When we raised it with the host, he tried to Google nearby accommodation on the day, unsuccessfully. He hung up on my wife when she explained the effect on our family holiday. We handled the rest through AirBNB. Sadly, this company is a scam. You can count on them to ditch you after you arrive in the country, so don't do business with them. Only because we booked through AirBNB did we have any recourse. This was the worst possible overseas travel experience. Anyone considering booking with this outfit should take this warning seriously.

We arrived in New Zealand for an eight night stay and found that the unit we'd booked six months earlier had been overbooked. There was no advance notice, and after travelling halfway around the world, we had nowhere to stay. The company only offered a refund, which didn't help when we were there with our family and needed accommodation. They gave no meaningful help finding somewhere else. This was incredibly stressful, and I wouldn't trust this property with an important trip. Don't plan a trip assuming your booking will be available.

I was able to fit work and relaxation into my stay at Mission Bay. I spent the days visiting nearby clients, then enjoyed dinner overlooking the bay in the evenings, a treat compared with business travel as usual. The location is great, near excellent restaurants and right by the water, and I loved going for a run along the coast each morning. The place was beautifully presented, clean, modern, and had thoughtful touches that made it feel like home. The hand and body washes were luxurious and added a spa-like feel. Mission Bay made the trip special. I'd highly recommend it to anyone wanting both work and downtime.

The location was handy, one block from Mission Bay Beach, and we had a dedicated parking space. The rooms were spacious and looked out onto a garden, though the dining area faced the car park and passersby could see in, so we kept the blinds shut day and night. The cupboards had enough essentials, but there was only a tiny 50ml milk carton and barely any dish liquid. We stayed in the ground-floor apartment in the older block, units 1 to 4. The newer-looking apartments next door are units 5 to 8, so check which part the photos show. Our place was dated and freezing on arrival, with no heat pump and a small heater that couldn't warm the living area. The bedrooms were like iceboxes. The bathroom didn't look like the pictures, and there were cobwebs on the bedroom ceiling and a few cockroaches there too. The dryer was broken, so we had to take our washing to a laundromat. I called the office about the heating and dryer but didn't get a call back. Someone did bring an extra heater the next morning, and it worked better. At $675 for two nights for four people, I don't think it was good value. We could have found a better deal elsewhere.