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This is a short report on our experience of staying at the Lake Taupo Hilton. Whilst some may wish to take my comments here in a negative light that is not the intent and negatives I have highlighted are stated as observations only. The Lake Taupo Hilton property is, in my opinion one of the best Hotels of its calibre at which I have stayed.
The comments I have made about Internet, smoking rooms, labelling and parking are there purely to illustrate that are there are a series of small challenges facing this really great addition to the Hilton Hotel chain. The staff is extremely helpful, friendly, well trained and keen to help and do whatever was needed to make our stay as good as it could be.
Lake Taupo Hilton.
We stayed three nights 26th November – 29th November 2009.
We booked and prepaid a King Hilton Deluxe room incorporating Hilton Premium Club discounts. On arrival the hotel had been open for 23 days and it was obviously, though unobtrusively, still undergoing works toward completion.
On arrival we were greeted by Arpan who looked after our bags, showed me where to park and then showed me to the room. Meanwhile, Sue (my wife) had been back to reception and asked if we could have a room with a view of the lake. Sebrina at reception was very helpful and went to the duty manager but due to us booking in on the busiest weekend of the year this was not possible. Arpan took it upon himself to show us an alternate room and that is the one we remained in for the duration of out stay. (I will let the hotel sort out its own politics on that one.) The weekend we booked was the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge and the first occasion that the hotel was fully booked since opening.
We were originally upgraded to a ‘Relaxation Suite’ in the Heritage Wing with a great tree scaped view. We actually stayed in the new wing in a Junior Suite on level four (the top level), though still with a rearward and valley view. As a balance we were told that the front side of the hotel with lake views also gets a lot of road noise.
The heritage wing looked to be superb though wasted in out case as we live in a heritage house.
During our stay there were a lot little things that needed sorting out. Examples of this are the elevator button lights not staying illuminated (so you do not know if it is responding), the big blue “Hilton” sign at the front not fully illuminating and several ambiguous pieces of information in the ‘Welcome book.’ These are all things that will no doubt be sorted very quickly.
Business Centre and Internet.
This is something that has major interest to most AFF and FTers so I will mention it first.
Various references including the ‘Welcome Book’ refer. To arrange a wireless internet connection, please contact Front Desk. Wireless internet is available throughout the hotel and wired internet is also available in rooms, with data connection located on the work desk. To access wired internet, simply open the web connection browser and accept the Terms & Conditions. Cost is $10.00/30 minutes, $14.50/hour, $29.00/day or $120/wee k (including GST).
It is disappointing that the hotel has opted to offer internet at such an expensive rate when the trend these days is toward free or cheap internet or at a minimum free to status guests. The implication in the ‘Welcome Book’, and hence my comment above about ambiguity is that the computers in the business centre have free internet access. This is not the case. The ‘Welcome Book’ states ‘Complimentary computers are available for guest use in our business centre from 6:00am – 10:00pm daily.’ Elsewhere it is written that ‘Complimentary computers are available for guest use in our business centre located in the Heritage Wing’. There is however no mention of complimentary internet access at the Business centre for Gold and Diamond HHonors guests and I only found this out on the third day of our stay. There was some initial difficulty with setting up the internet connection which was an interesting learning experience for the staff as well. I did discover that once you have an access code from the business centre it is then usable in the rooms.
Parking.
Cost is $35 per night for Valet however self parking is free as mentioned on their web site though this cannot be gleaned from the Welcome book if you have not looked up the web site. It does not mention self parking so in light of the ambiguous information re computer access I wrongly assumed that there would be a cost involved.
Restaurant.
The restaurant is probably the best that my wife or I have eaten at. We booked for the Saturday evening which was bound to be busy as it was the day of the cycle challenge. When we booked it was stated that they would be busy and that we may have to wait a little while for a table (no more than 30 minutes) but that as house guests they would fit us in.
When we arrived there was no waiting and we were quickly and quietly shown a really great table by the window. The service was superb, the food exceptional and the price quite cheap. My wife had a seafood entrée that was quite sufficient as a main and I had a steak.
Pool and Gymnasium.
There is an excellent pool, spa and gymnasium overlooking the valley at the rear of the hotel. An added attraction is the wild ducks that sometimes come and visit whilst you are swimming.
Smoking rooms?
The note in the room says the hotel is non-smoking yet Under S in A-Z in the Welcome book it mentions the hotel having a limited number of smoking rooms. I believe that the correct answer is that the hotel is a non smoking hotel.
Summary.
It is now two months since our visit and I am sure that the hotel management has addressed most if not all of the issues that I mentioned. I highly recommend this hotel to everyone as a great Hilton at realistic rates.
We will be returning as soon as we reasonably are able.
The comments I have made about Internet, smoking rooms, labelling and parking are there purely to illustrate that are there are a series of small challenges facing this really great addition to the Hilton Hotel chain. The staff is extremely helpful, friendly, well trained and keen to help and do whatever was needed to make our stay as good as it could be.
Lake Taupo Hilton.
We stayed three nights 26th November – 29th November 2009.
We booked and prepaid a King Hilton Deluxe room incorporating Hilton Premium Club discounts. On arrival the hotel had been open for 23 days and it was obviously, though unobtrusively, still undergoing works toward completion.
On arrival we were greeted by Arpan who looked after our bags, showed me where to park and then showed me to the room. Meanwhile, Sue (my wife) had been back to reception and asked if we could have a room with a view of the lake. Sebrina at reception was very helpful and went to the duty manager but due to us booking in on the busiest weekend of the year this was not possible. Arpan took it upon himself to show us an alternate room and that is the one we remained in for the duration of out stay. (I will let the hotel sort out its own politics on that one.) The weekend we booked was the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge and the first occasion that the hotel was fully booked since opening.
We were originally upgraded to a ‘Relaxation Suite’ in the Heritage Wing with a great tree scaped view. We actually stayed in the new wing in a Junior Suite on level four (the top level), though still with a rearward and valley view. As a balance we were told that the front side of the hotel with lake views also gets a lot of road noise.
The heritage wing looked to be superb though wasted in out case as we live in a heritage house.
During our stay there were a lot little things that needed sorting out. Examples of this are the elevator button lights not staying illuminated (so you do not know if it is responding), the big blue “Hilton” sign at the front not fully illuminating and several ambiguous pieces of information in the ‘Welcome book.’ These are all things that will no doubt be sorted very quickly.
Business Centre and Internet.
This is something that has major interest to most AFF and FTers so I will mention it first.
Various references including the ‘Welcome Book’ refer. To arrange a wireless internet connection, please contact Front Desk. Wireless internet is available throughout the hotel and wired internet is also available in rooms, with data connection located on the work desk. To access wired internet, simply open the web connection browser and accept the Terms & Conditions. Cost is $10.00/30 minutes, $14.50/hour, $29.00/day or $120/wee k (including GST).
It is disappointing that the hotel has opted to offer internet at such an expensive rate when the trend these days is toward free or cheap internet or at a minimum free to status guests. The implication in the ‘Welcome Book’, and hence my comment above about ambiguity is that the computers in the business centre have free internet access. This is not the case. The ‘Welcome Book’ states ‘Complimentary computers are available for guest use in our business centre from 6:00am – 10:00pm daily.’ Elsewhere it is written that ‘Complimentary computers are available for guest use in our business centre located in the Heritage Wing’. There is however no mention of complimentary internet access at the Business centre for Gold and Diamond HHonors guests and I only found this out on the third day of our stay. There was some initial difficulty with setting up the internet connection which was an interesting learning experience for the staff as well. I did discover that once you have an access code from the business centre it is then usable in the rooms.
Parking.
Cost is $35 per night for Valet however self parking is free as mentioned on their web site though this cannot be gleaned from the Welcome book if you have not looked up the web site. It does not mention self parking so in light of the ambiguous information re computer access I wrongly assumed that there would be a cost involved.
Restaurant.
The restaurant is probably the best that my wife or I have eaten at. We booked for the Saturday evening which was bound to be busy as it was the day of the cycle challenge. When we booked it was stated that they would be busy and that we may have to wait a little while for a table (no more than 30 minutes) but that as house guests they would fit us in.
When we arrived there was no waiting and we were quickly and quietly shown a really great table by the window. The service was superb, the food exceptional and the price quite cheap. My wife had a seafood entrée that was quite sufficient as a main and I had a steak.
Pool and Gymnasium.
There is an excellent pool, spa and gymnasium overlooking the valley at the rear of the hotel. An added attraction is the wild ducks that sometimes come and visit whilst you are swimming.
Smoking rooms?
The note in the room says the hotel is non-smoking yet Under S in A-Z in the Welcome book it mentions the hotel having a limited number of smoking rooms. I believe that the correct answer is that the hotel is a non smoking hotel.
Summary.
It is now two months since our visit and I am sure that the hotel management has addressed most if not all of the issues that I mentioned. I highly recommend this hotel to everyone as a great Hilton at realistic rates.
We will be returning as soon as we reasonably are able.
)
