Kea Apartments

It’s good value, especially if you’re on a limited budget, around $100 or less a night, or only staying briefly. We had a one-bedroom unit with good space and some newer decor, particularly the stylish new bathroom. It’s really a renovated old motel rather than a proper apartment. The beach is a five-minute walk, local restaurants and bars are three minutes away, and both the airport and Nelson city are a six-minute drive. The driveway and parking layout are poor: the driveway’s very narrow and dark at night, and when we parked outside our unit, the car almost blocked the door. The business sign isn’t lit, so you might miss it after dark. Soundproofing isn’t great either. I could hear a loud truck start up every morning at 5:30.

Restaurants are only a few minutes’ walk away, and parking right outside the door made arrival easy. Inside, it was very clean, with a modern look, a comfy bed, fresh linen, plenty of clean towels and a comfortable sofa. I slept well and would stay here again.

There was a long black hair in my bed, even though I’m blonde, and ants were crawling through the bed and all over the kitchen. There was also built-up dust everywhere, so the cleaners hadn’t done a good job. I tried to find an email address to contact the owners privately but couldn’t. I won’t stay here again.

We’re locals and won’t recommend kea apartments to our family when they visit. My partner and I booked online, then arrived 10 minutes later. The outside looked in a sorry state, but we gave it the benefit of the doubt. It was a cold day in Nelson, and this wooden, uncomfortable unit felt cold and lacking in luxuries for a 4-star hotel. There wasn’t even carpet. It might suit as a summer bach, but we were tired, cold and just wanted to relax, so after a five-minute discussion we decided to cancel. On the drive back to the office we noticed lots of empty units. We handed in the keys and left for a comfy, warm, heat-pumped unit that cost $1 more per night. Before we’d even reached the new hotel, kea apartment's had charged the full two-night booking because we hadn’t cancelled within 58 hours. The whole thing, from booking to walking out of the motel, took 15 minutes. I think it was so rude to charge us when we hadn’t even had the key for five minutes. We believe customers have a right to cancel. We managed to convince kea apar's to refund one night, but we still haven’t seen the money. Very disappointed.