KACK IN KAIKOURA

We  are on the first stay of a three day trip from Christchurch to Wellington. So far it has been fabulous to spend some time with mum and dad in their faithful steel steed - their motorhome known as Bugsys Burrow.  We stopped at Waipara Springs  winery for a stellar coffee and bought a couple of bottles of wine  and then stopped in Cheviot and had a noisy in a fabulous antique shop. Then we looked into a lovely gallery and struck up a conversation to find in ten seconds  flat that we found an acquaintance we had in common. This seems to be a national sport for Kiwis. Work out with a stranger someone you both know in the shortest time possible. With well travelled parents and a chirpy and inquiring old man - its a daily occurrence.  Now we are not too precious about where we stay on out trips and it makes it easier if its a camping ground with a power site for ma and pa and a cabin for me - that way we can stay together.  Their motor home is cosy for 2 but cramped for 3. So our first night park  up is in a place called the A1 Motel in Kaikoura. Its a place probably built in the 70's and its bloody tired.  Now we dont really mind tired but we dont abide grubby and this one is grubby.  It was $30 for the power site for ma and pa and $70 for my room.
We have with us some precious cargo - a mate who owns a lobster exporting company gave us over a dozen cray tails for xmas.  so a fridge is good. I unpacked them and put them in the fridges freezer and as i closed the door it fell off. Landed on my toe..  it hurt. but i could not help laughing.  the sheets are clean but the toilet would be a great centrepiece in a horror movie of the genesis of some alien life form.
So we wont be back. But like all good holidays the bad experiences are all part of the trip.  This morning we are off to cruise around Blenheim. A mate has offered us a cuppa tea and some fresh xmas baking.  And then Sunday sees us in Picton for the big crossing on BlueBridge.

AWESOME TRAVELBUG.CO.NZ

It seems there are a few people in the travel industry following the Silver Oaks saga. Including Travelbug the Trademe travel booking site.

They have just tweeted us and have given us a $150 voucher! Thats way better service that we got from Wotif.com

Now thats how you win friends and influence people. The voucher will go to mum and dad who suffered the most at Hotel Hell. Just told mom and dad and they are really happy. These days they make frequent trips to Dunedin as dad needs a bit of attention from some kidney specialists and sometimes they are too tired to make the return journey from Dunedin to Alexandra. So a nites stay will be very welcome.

My parents know how to rough it - we all head to the remote muttonbird islands in a few weeks where we will have a long drop for a toilet, and no hot running water and a coal range for heating and eating in a little tiny place. But it is spotless. Mum is a stickler for cleanliness - Janola is her best friend. They have travelled throughout the country extensively but they reckon Silver Oaks is the crappiest place they have stayed.

Thanks Travelbug for making my parents very happy!

FREE! A EXTRA NIGHT IN HOTEL HELL - CUSTOMER SERVICE FAIL

We have documented our appalling experience at what we have dubbed Hotel Hell. The bed bug ridden, filthy, Wellington hotel Silver Oaks on Thorndon.

Well we lodged a complaint with the Hotel at the time and all we got were shrugs from the staff who reckoned that they could do nothing. So we went to Wotif as we booked it through their website.

Anyway we are getting compo of sorts - a free night back on the same floor of the same Hotel Hell.. !!!!!! Yess siree ! For some reason Wotif thinks that a free night in the same shithole is going to make me feel better!

We will not be taking up that offer.

And as for Wotif we wont use them again - we will use Trademes Travel bug or Ezibed.

Here is the correspondence.

To Wotif

RE BOOKINGS #193273## & #193273## As described on Wotif Silver Oaks Hotel on Thorndon Business Rooms contain a queen bed & a single bed. All rooms come with Freeview TV, fridge and mini bar.

HI, I would like to make a complaint about this hotel. It falls a long way short of expectations and is not accurately described in the brochure

List of Failings

No milk
No Mini Bar
No TV remotes
No cups
Continuously pouring hot water in the shower -bath that had rotted the boards around the bath and consequently the bathroom smelled bad. ( I did complain to the manager and the did give us another room - that did not have milk or a minibar. )
On request I was given milk. The young man on reception was fantastic - When I asked him why there was no TV remote - he said that " there had been lots of theft and head office was not giving them any money to fund some"
He did go out of his way to find one for my elderly parents.
The place is best described as "grubby"
I would not have booked this hotel at all if I had known how bad it was - it falls short on many levels and I would like to know what I do as I think that it it is not accurately described in the Wotif Advert ( no milk, no minibar ) and its grubby.

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 4:46 PM, Admin <admin@wotif.com> wrote:

Hi

Thank you for your patience.

We have contacted the SilverOaks Hotel on Thorndon with regards to the feedback you have provided our office. The property has sent the below response.

We are greatly disappointed to receive this feedback.

We are pleased to head that our Receptionist was helpful and friendly, the Receptionist is a full time Receptionist and is not actually a student.

We appreciate that the guest did enjoy their breakfast, and I am sure you appreciate the fact the tea bag broke was beyond the control of the Hotel.

I am surprised to hear that you could not find the coffee cups in the room, I do assure you that there are coffee mugs on the shelves above the fridge.

I am most concerned that your father had a fall in the shower, that is certainly of great concern to us, and we are relieved to hear that it was only minor.

You are certainly correct the shower is above the bath, and the shower is fitted with hand rails to hold on to, in addition the base of the bath has a non slip base, so it should not in effect require an additional rubber bath mat, but we do appreciate your comments and will invest in rubber mats as an extra precaution as we certainly do not want our valued guests having a fall in the shower.

I understand you made the assumption the TV was a 15in, I assure you all TV’S in the Hotel are 24 inch, we do not have any 15 in tv’s

We do offer uht milk, and this is normally found in the fridge, I do apologise if the room attendant did not replenish the uht milk.

For some reason in Hotels the remote controls do seem to walk on a regular basis, we do replace all missing remote controls every month, it is amazing how often we do need to do this.

We now have our mini bars on the 3^rd and 4^th floor, in the guest compendiums we advise guests that if they would like a mini bar to the room they just need to ring 0 and it will be delivered to the room

The guest is correct the sheets are cream, we do not have any brown sheets. The sheets were purchased as a cream colour and they do remain a cream colour.

We do believe the rooms are very clean, and we do agree with the client that if the Hotel is an older Hotel is must be clean, and we do agree with that principal.

If you are not totally satisfied with the outcome from the property or you wish to comment further regarding your booking please do not hesitate to contact our customer service team for further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Kylie Morris

Customer Liason Officer

Hi, This is the most outrageous reply I have seen. Its a very sophisticated way of calling me a liar. It is extremely clear that a search of the internet shows very clearly that this hotel is not as it is described and its substandard and its filthy. This is a comment repeated time and time again by people who have had the misfortune to stay there. what was worse is that I also ended up with bed bugs.

It would not have been acceptable at half the price let alone the $135 we paid. I want to know what one has to do to get their money back. I have had one experience with Lastminute.com where I was not given the room as described in my booking - yet I was offered an immediate room change and the owners were also happy to inform Lastminute that a refund was warranted.

It is obvious that Wotif is happy to list this type of hotel with out any regard to it being honest about its rooms. Some listing sites have actually refused to book this hotel for what are obvious reasons.

I made it very clear to the hotel that I was appalled yet they would do nothing ( in fact there were three other elderly guests who were also upset with the filth they had encountered)

So I want to know how I go about getting some compensation for an appalling experience.

And the outcome????

Thank you for your reply email.

It is disappointing that you do not feel that the property has been honest and fair regarding your feedback and subsequent request for a refund on your booking.
On this occasion Wotif.com has exhausted all avenues with the accommodation provider to secure a refund as per your request without success. Any refunds for a reservation must be authorised by the accommodation provider that has advertised and sold the accommodation as this has not been gained we will be unable to offer any refund on this occasion.
In light of your recent experience the SilverOaks Hotel on Thorndon would like to offer you one free nights accommodation at the SilverOaks Hotel On Thorndon, room only, in a business room on the 4^th floor, valid to the 31 August 2011, or from the 1 November 2011 to the 31 December 2011.
Please note that Wotif.com is a booking agent. As we are an accommodation booking agent and not a travel agent, we are not offering recommendations towards properties. Our website lists available accommodation for guests to compare and contrast the different options available to them before proceeding with a booking that best suits their requirements.
Wotif.com is unable to guarantee that the information on the website reflects a true representation of the accommodation advertised. Our office makes every effort to ensure that the information is accurate and that the accommodation providers are providing sufficient information to assist our customers in making an informed decision however as per our terms and conditions we do not guarantee or offer any warranty for the services rendered by the accommodation providers.
Unfortunately we will be unable to offer any further compensation pertaining to your booking.
So for putting up with a NIGHT IN HOTEL HELL YOU GET A FREE NIGHT IN HOTEL HELL! and the rooms we stayed at was on the 4th floor and was a "business room" The only business that would be conducted in these rooms would be drug deals and prostitution.

WELLINGTON HOTEL HELL, THE SILVEROAKS ON THORNDON - UP FOR SALE

We are awaiting replies form both the owners, Silver Oaks Ltd and the online marketers Wotif to the dreadful experience we had staying at the Silver Oaks Hotel in Wellington. Both had said they will get back to us.

It was an appallingly grubby hotel and out sentiments were echoed by all but one of the reviewers on Tripadvisor.

And this site has stopped referring it.

We worry about this sort of establishments ability to tarnish our reputation leading up to the Rugby World Cup 2011.

Anyway it appears the whole chain is up for sale by Collliers. The sales blurb mentions the fact that some hotels are due for refurbishment. We have stayed at many hotels undergoing refurbishment but all were clean. The Silver Oaks was not. It was filthy.

Do not stay at this hotel until someone new has bought it and manages it to a standard that Kiwis expect.