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Reviews of Novotel Rotorua Lakeside

4.5 out of 5
Novotel Rotorua Lakeside
9-11 Tutanekai St, P O Box 348, Rotorua

Reviews

8.0

Very Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 399 out of 1002 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 335 out of 1002 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 159 out of 1002 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 70 out of 1002 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 39 out of 1002 reviews" "

8.2/10

Cleanliness

8.6/10

Staff & service

8.0/10

Amenities

7.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

2/10 Terrible

Fiona

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Old, cold and no staff had to wait for everything
Stayed 2 nights in May 2024

8/10 Good

Jim

Location is great.
Stayed 1 night in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Charles

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The hotel is comfortable, and centrally located to all the points of interest.
Stayed 2 nights in May 2024

2/10 Terrible

Paula

Traveled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Mould in shower, toilet and carpets stained...dated but bed comfortable except for the bed bugs....manager called to acknowledge however will never return.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Jae Chul, New Westminster

Liked: Staff & service
First the positives: the breakfast service is great. Good variety and well made. Negatives: the facility is dated. The beds are soft if you care about those things. The real issue though is the sulphur smell that emirates from the lake and fills the hotel. My wife is very sensitive to that and it kept her from fully enjoying what is a very lovely area. Keep that in mind when booking
Stayed 2 nights in May 2024

8/10 Good

Katie Tara

Stayed 3 nights in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Helen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Not for this time
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Karl

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The room and hotel were fine, however having double beds in rooms is a thing of the past. Our double bed also dipped in the middle meaning partner disturbance was high. Queen or King sized beds would have fit in our twin room no problem. Strongly recommend upgrading as after all, when you stay in Queenstown you're out all day enjoying the activities and the room is essentially just a place to sleep. But we had the worst 3 nights sleep of our 2 week trip here.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Linda

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Very disappointed we were not advised before we booked that the outside building was being cleaned and painted from 7am each morning. Cleaners directly outside our window with music blaring at 7.30am our expensive lake view morning coffee completely ruined by painters masking up our window. Was told we were advised by a note left in our room. A little bit late at that point to change venue!
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Robin

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Our room had a beautiful view of the lake. My kids loved being able to make fresh juice and smoothies for breakfast. The mineral pools were an added bonus. The rooms were clean and the staff was friendly.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

C Y

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
The staff was super friendly and helpful, the location and the surrounding was great but the room was quite dated, a renovation is definitely required.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Sandor

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Steve

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

2/10 Terrible

Amber

Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Graham

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
N/A
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

4/10 Poor

Munasheel

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Check-in took long
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Regis, Bora Bora

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 7 nights in Mar 2024

2/10 Terrible

Anqi

Traveled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The only positive about this hotel is its location. The entire place probably hasn’t been refurbished since the 90s. Extremely dated and dirty. My cup had a lipstick mark on it. The tap was leaking. For a 4.5 star, it literally provided nothing - no bottled water, toothbrush, slippers etc. Nothing. King bed room did not provide a king bed, though they insisted it was a King in NZ (lol). It was most likely a double, at most (and very barely) a Queen. The pillows were old, flat and overall felt yuck. Worst experience ever.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Arunprasath

Traveled with family
It's Novotel! I expected a better service.. The stay is good - A comfy bed, nice complimentary breakfast.. No complaints there. But the carpet was dusty and stained.. Poor entertainment options on the TV. It's mentioned that we would be able to connect our phone to the Chromecast in TV. But it didn't work at all. A small microwave oven would have been pretty useful to the visitors. For the price being charged, it's just an ordinary room.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Katrina

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Staff are nice
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Grant

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Extremely noisy with bar over the road playing loud music until 1am and hotel scissor lift operating on exterior of building before 7am. A notice in room notified of exterior painting but not of noise and certainly we we not noticed prior to getting to room. Good location close to waterfront and restaurants. Parking is limited at hotel but free in nearby street. Hotel entrance confusing with exit blocked off and you need to reverse out from under reception veranda
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

2/10 Terrible

David

Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Kaijun

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Novotel is situated in a convenient location, with proximity to Rotorua Lake and Eat Streat. We stayed in two superior deluxe. The rooms are spacious and clean. Staff were friendly, especially the housekeeping team. Good facilities and amenities, although the building is not quite sound proof and the doors are quite heavy and big bangs heard across the corridor. The bathrooms are dated and our tap was quite hard to turn on/off. Pillows are in need to urgent replacement. Other than these small details to be look at, our stay were enjoyable. Breakfast was excellent with good presentation, choices and quality. Praises to the breakfast team for their hardwork and dedication. Will return for sure!
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Kourtney, Alexandria

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
The property was dated and while the common rooms had been kept up, the guest room we were in was aged and not maintained very well.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Terre

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Staff was great and very helpful.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Michelle

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very convenient and beautiful setting. Rooms are large and clean, although a bit dated. Wonderful breakfast buffet
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

4/10 Poor

Julia

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Staff & service
Hotel is in need of a bit of refresh but overall clean and comfortable. Staff were very friendly and accomodating. We had our toddler with us and had some safety concerns. The shower mixer was loose and when we turn it on, it fell on to my toddler’s hand and cut his finger. It was only a small minor cut so we shrugged it off. The most concerning part was the windows in the room- there were two parts that were screwed on to joinery to prevent the windows from opening. One of them had a screw missing and my toddler managed to shimmy it off. Luckily the part at the top was still secure. The screws were very short and it really needs to be longer for strength. Reported to reception who got it fixed straight away. We read last year about a boy fell from a hotel floor as the glass panel was missing from a balcony so needless to say we did get a fright when our toddler easily detached a window safety device.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Palais

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Malcolm

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
It is looking a bit dated and worn.The shower in a bath is not the best when over 80yrs of age. Comfortable beds. Expected "secure" parking. To me, we paid for "street" parking - disappointed. Enjoyed the breakfasts.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Joe

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very central to the bars and restaurants
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

Hans

The bathroom is tired
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Greg

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Melanie

Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Don't recommend!
For a 4.5 star hotel it is extremely disappointing. Great location but, old, dated and the restaurant is appallingly for both breakfast and dinner. First night we had dinner and waited ages to place drinks order and then took a long time to come. Food is a buffet. No plates and had to wait for some. Breakfast next morning we paid no clean tables set for 2, lots of staff standing around doing nothing whilst at least 20 dirty tables! Again no plates and bowls only 2 glasses and when we went to get coffee there was none left! Back to the room, bathroom very dated and had shower over bath with curtain. Grouting with mould, bed comfortable only good thing. Corridors needed vacuuming and the first day there was 3 ice buckets outside a room which took 2 days to disappear. A sugar sachet was on floor in corridor first day and still there on checkout after 3 nights. Pool, no towels had to ask and after half hour 4 were delivered with 6 people waiting. Would find somewhere else to stay we are finding small places are way better. Do yourself a favour and go to a small motel/hotel.
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

4/10 Poor

Laura

Traveled with partner
The rooms are very tired and dated. The carpet and wall need redoing.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Gabriel

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Everything ... response time quick ... staff friendly and accommodating ... walking distance to and from activities ... delicious food ... variety of drinks ... shopping near by ... beautiful view of the lake ... can't say enough ... very pleased with whole experience ! Thank you !!!
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

Meng

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Not bad
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Jeremy

Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Nicolas

Traveled with family
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The rooms are old and not very clean. The property is very well located, with amazing views.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Amir, Fort Collins

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Good place to stay.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Duncan

Traveled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Warm and friendly staff, great location very close to town and Eat Street. Rooms were old, bathrooms in need of updating with showers over baths and shower curtains still being used. TV channels kept cutting out and glitching. Uncomfortable beds, very soft. I don't think the room was worth the price. Breakfast buffet a bit disappointing. Nice gym, pools ok.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Erin

The location of the hotel is prime and in walking distance to the surrounding eateries. The hotel itself was just average
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Melanie

Liked: Staff & service, amenities
Very good
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

JOSE CARLOS

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Hi , very cool hotel .
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Darren

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Room in need of refurb, especially bathroom
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Hieny

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Awesome hotel!
This is our fourth time here and has always been a lovely place to stay. We love the proximity to the lake, playground, and restaurants. Excellent breakfast and staff service. Thank you Novotel Rotorua.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Larry

Meals were adequate. Staff helpful. Parking as not free, unless you are Acor member. Thank goodness I am. Stayed a few years ago and it just seem a bit worn now.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

2/10 Terrible

Emad

Traveled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

BJ

Business traveler
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Christian, Los angeles

Traveled with family
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Start with the good: great location and friendly staff. Tons of dining options around the area. The bad: The room was dirty. Carpet definitely needs a shampoo cleaning. The tub didn’t look properly cleaned out. The couch had crumbs under it. There was a ball left behind in the drawers. The worst part was that when I was packing up to leave. I generally look under the bed to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind. To my surprise, I found another guest’s dirty flip flops. I hope this is an isolated incident.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024