Parnell Pines Hotel

I booked before checking the Trip Advisor ratings, and when I belatedly did I was a bit nervous after reading some of the reviews. However, our experience was very pleasant. The room was clean, light, and with a modern feel. The check-in lady was nice (you do have to call them at reception). They accepted dogs, which is somewhat rare in Auckland ($50/night) and they had parking ($10/night). Parking was first come first served, and a bit tight, but we had no issues. There are some amazing restaurants all within a block. For the location I thought Parnell Pines was great value and I would stay there again.

Jetstar is Qantas Airlines low cost airline and when I fly with Jetstar, I know that there are no meals, entertainment and leg room. Hence when I booked Parnell Pines early 2022 via the Qantas website, I was expecting Qantas branding. The hotel images paint a picture that is grossly different to reality. Parnell Pines is a cheap boarding house with "day" bookings permissible. I walked into the foyer, which was unattended and was greeted by a message to ring the attendant. The women told me that she was on a break and had left my room key for me. As she spoke I cast my eyes around the foyer as I asked for instructions to the key location. Realising I'd missed that the key was in the room and that I hadn't heard what number the room was because she hadn't given them, she offered to meet me in the foyer. An amiable young Indian woman in a baggy tshirt and track pants greeted me warmly. Informing me that she had left the key in the room, she preceeded into the office to print off my booking for me to sign. She gave me instructions to get to my room and how to use the code on the key should I enter the premises at night when the front door was locked. She told me not to worry though, because the fire exit doors were open. Simple enough! Parnell PInes is 3 stories high and there are connecting stairs located near the foyer and in the rear, external to the building, the door of which was open. I love fresh air anyway. I took the internal stairs down and found the room. The room fitted a Queen room with small inbuilt closet, tiny ensuite with tiny shelf for toiletries, 2 small bedside tables and small bag stand. Nothing fancy! However, dust covered the skirting board and the desk handle, which triggered hayfever. Fortunately, I carry hayfever tablets. A jug sat on the long desk which housed tea and coffee supplies, which were disinviting to use. No fridge and I hadn't realised that there was a kitchen that guests had access too as I wasn't given that information. I read about the kitchen when I wrote a google review. I also read the reviews from former guests. One was good and the rest were warnings to avoid the place. Plaster walls enable the capacity to hear other guests ablutions and, other shenanigans. The pros? The bed was comfortable and as I stayed 2 days, the room was tidied.

We always do a bit of research before we book a place but we clearly didn’t do enough when we booked to stay at the Parnell pines. The staff at check in were friendly but seemed to have lost our reservation and when it was found there was no mention of the parking I had booked (which I have emails discussing). The reception, hallways and stairs areas were all extremely run down and gave off a hostel vibe. The room was a studio room down stairs from reception. The room was small and very basic. The door to our room had a piece of cardboard holding the lock into the wall which didn’t do the job as our door didn’t even close all the way. There is a chain lock for while you are in the room but we were really worried about going out as we didn’t want to leave our luggage in an unlocked room. There is no aircon only a fan in the cupboard to blow hot air around. The walls are paper thin so you can hear the other guests as well. We returned after an evening out at about 11pm and found the front door to the accommodation open (was suppose to be on a key card access only). Walking downstairs to our room a random person was walking up and down the hallway with a Jim beam mixer and asking if we wanted to party?! No! We went to bed and just couldn’t sleep. We felt extremely unsafe. We decided to leave quite early and waited for reception to open at 8am, by 8.15 still no one there so we just left. The cafe that was suppose to be attached looked long closed, so no option to sort breakfast. Theonly good thing about the accommodation was the location right in Parnell. Other than that we were extremely disappointed, frankly and won’t be returning.