Kaikoura Apartments

The apartment was a good size, and check-in and checkout were easy and friendly. The Nespresso coffee was great, and the soap smelled lovely. But the Wi-Fi was terrible, and the washer and dryer were loud and didn’t work well. The ocean view only works if you look carefully from the living room, while the bedrooms face a wall. If your neighbours are up before you, you’ll be up too.

We had an upstairs apartment with two king beds and a stunning view of the mountains and coast. Getting to it meant climbing four short flights of stairs. The beds were super comfortable, and it had all the bits and pieces needed for a longer stay. The TVs could use an upgrade.

The apartments themselves were modern, clean, well equipped, and in a great location. Still, the way our stay was handled created extra stress at an already difficult time, and I wouldn’t stay again. We’re usually pretty relaxed, so it takes a lot to get under our skin. At 2pm, the stated check-in time, we arrived and were told the room was still being cleaned. That part was fine, but the receptionist made us feel at fault, saying it would have been ready if we’d called ahead to say we were arriving at 2. I’d never heard of needing to give an arrival time when check-in is at 2. While we stood there, he called the cleaners and said the people for this room had arrived, sorry mate, Murphy’s law, I know it’s a pain. Again, we felt like we were the problem. After we’d settled into the apartment, the kids napped and we went out for dinner. When we returned with food, someone was in our parking space. We asked if they’d be long and learned there’d been a room mix-up: the apartment we were in was actually meant for them. Our door, with all our belongings inside, had been left wide open, so anyone could have walked in. A receptionist came over, told us we had to move, and we had to pack up and empty the apartment. We had a lot of luggage, and our young kids were crying in the car because they wanted dinner. We then waited 15 to 20 minutes for the man to work out which room we should be in. When he returned with a key, he just pointed upstairs and said it was one of those rooms, when we asked for more directions. We carried all our luggage up to the top floor by the stairs while trying to calm the kids. No one offered to help. We got a quick “sorry about that” as he rushed off with no compensation. Nobody followed up, and nobody was there at checkout to speak with us. The whole thing was handled atrociously, with complete radio silence afterward.

There was free parking on site, and the rooms had everything we needed for a home away from home. I liked that they don’t provide little shampoo and conditioner bottles, which saves plastic. The rooms were spacious, with huge king beds, two bathrooms, and heating in both the rooms and bathrooms. We also had an excellent view and could walk to all the shops and restaurants.