Tongariro Holiday Park

We travel often and have visited the region before, but it’s been a long time since we’ve felt this unwelcome. Greg ultimately checked us in early, which we appreciated, but the whole experience left us feeling like an inconvenience instead of paying guests. The park is covered in “no” signs, which added to an uninviting atmosphere. If hikers, especially TA hikers, aren’t a good fit here, that should be made clear upfront. We stayed, but wouldn’t recommend it, particularly to TA hikers. We arrived early knowing we’d have to wait until the official check-in time. Greg (the owner) was dismissive and told us to wait out front. He only looked for a room after he realized we had a confirmed booking, even though there were many keys visible on the board. We’d posted a food parcel to the PO Box two weeks earlier, following Donna’s instructions. Greg said the post office often doesn’t tell them when parcels arrive. But when we called the post office, they confirmed they’d held our parcel for two weeks and had left a notice in the park’s mailbox. We passed that on to Greg, but he offered no solution beyond collecting it in two days. We were only staying one night, so that didn’t help. Although Greg did let us check in early, his lack of empathy and warmth was disappointing. It seemed like his patience might be wearing thin, and we felt that showed in the service.