Apollo Hotel Rotorua

We were in room 205. The walls let through noise, and we could hear a loud conversation from the room across the hall. Several things in the room needed attention: the bathroom light was burnt out, the TV wouldn't turn on, the lampshades were tattered, and the iron leaked all its water. There was mold on the shower head and in the rubbish can they provided. The worst part was the manager's attitude. At checkout, he scoffed and rolled his eyes at my partner when we said we wouldn't stay another night. He was also very curt on the phone when I asked about the continental breakfast and requested a later checkout. Extremely poor customer service. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone considering a stay.

The linen and towels were clean, and the person who checked us in was friendly, though they seemed overwhelmed. After we'd prepaid the room through the website, they took my photo ID and credit card and charged another $10. The bathroom was dirty, with rusty taps and pathetic shower pressure. There were no spare blankets, and although there was an ironing board in the cupboard, there was no iron. The kitchen had a few basic utensils, some missing, with only enough for the room's maximum number of guests. No tea towels or cleaning products meant we couldn't wash a glass to use it again. The table and chairs looked chipped and rough. The heat pump worked well, but its filter looked as if it had never been changed, and it had dripped dirty water on the carpet. The walls were thin and we could hear other guests talking. At a glance the rooms looked clean, but closer up there was stained carpet, a dirty sink, hardly any supplies beyond milk and soap, food and dirt between the couch cushions, and dirt under beds that hadn't been vacuumed in years. Lighting was poor too. For the room prices, it felt cheap and tacky. We won't recommend it or stay again. Disgusted and ripped off.

The parking was good, access to the CBD easy, and the free washer and dryer were handy. The heating was good and the beds comfortable. Clean linen and towels, but the room and bathroom were grubby. There was a lot wrong: noise from the lift mechanism, faulty wall plugs, a broken bedroom blind, missing lamp bulbs, no DVD player, and a bathroom extractor fan that didn't work. The spa pools had oily scum and the water didn't look nice, so we couldn't use them. Staff fixed some issues, but not all. We wouldn't stay again.

We had everything we needed, and the heater was amazing. The rooms were big, the bathrooms clean and tidy, and we loved having interconnecting rooms with our other families. It's still close to the city centre. The staff were professional and made us feel welcome.