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I decided to stay here for a night while in Christchurch this week. The hotel is brand new and only opened at the start of July.
All I can say is wow. It’s a very nice hotel. As somebody who’s pretty particular when it comes to hotels there was simply nothing I could really fault (except the lifts which had a mind of their own). It definately comes highly recommended by me.
Pricing was very competitive with it being cheaper than the neaby Novotel when I booked, and it’s way better than that.
The pics online are very enticing and I’d already told myself I was going to try it out. IHG are rarely my first preferred option but I suspect CP will challenge that in Christchurch. It’s close to one of the places I need to go which is handy. Hope to get down there in September.
The only thing is Rydges has free parking vs CP $15 and PGR gives you dining benefits e.g. 20-50% F&B etc. I’ll possibly still choose Rydges if I need a stay but otherwise I think Crowne may be the go (price being ~ even).
Have to agree about the elevator buttons. I pushed the ‘down’ button and no elevators stopped and the light went out as if the lift had arrived. A couple arrived and pushed the down button and same thing happened. We got to talking about “13<sup>th</sup>” floors in hotels and how we thought they weren’t labelled as such anymore. Anyway, we ended up pushing all 4 elevator down buttons just to get one to stop on our floor!
They also need to label the elevator floors. G for lobby 1 for dining/breakfast and 3 for gym. Some signage to the gym would also be useful. There’s nothing getting out of the lift. It’s right by the exit but you’d walk straight past it easily!
Looks like the bar area on the 1<sup>st</sup> floor is a common area and shared by functions which is a bit annoying to walk out into from the breakfast dining area and fight your way through people to the lifts.
The social wine bar on ground floor has a tv but the seating isn’t at the best angle for you to watch it with a partner/companion. Possibly best from the bar but I figured they didn’t want people glued to the tv in this area either. That would be unsociable :p
Buffet breakfast didn’t seem as nice as the hotel itself. Porridge pancakes omelettes etc are included. Partner loves Bircher muesli but that’s on the a la carte menu and I was told we’d have to pay extra for that. Weird! The a la carte menu looks to be priced at café prices.
I don’t think the Auckland CP breakfast is as nice as it used to be either but in both hotels still obviously more than edible.
I really like proper reading lights over desks. If you’re computer based the screen is probably enough but if you’re reading papers then the lighting isn’t bright enough. Have to say I got a bit of a surprise at the amount of recline the desk chair has!
Pretty cool even the clock has USB ports.
The amenities have a fantastic aroma. I had to thieve. Also funny you can turn up the tv volume to the bathroom from within if you need to go while the rugby is on!
Parking is $15 a day but there is a Wilsons car park across the road which on the parkmate app was $5 for 12hrs. If you had the app you could just renew it from your hotel room for another 12hrs! Naturally I discovered this AFTER parking.
Overall it’s a beautiful hotel. I very much love the room layout and décor.
I completely forgot to mention the bathroom speakers in my review. It’s something I hadn’t encountered in a hotel for quite some time.
Just to add, if you’re parking there you can drive up and just talk via the speaker with reception and rock up rather than figuring out where to park to check in then go and park.
The lifts appear to have been fixed, and they have labelled the floors eg fitness centre, market place, reception, Social bar etc.
Dinner at Market Place 1st floor consists of plates. Small (entree size) and large (main size). It is a bit pricey but during winter it’s damn freezing to walk to places. So take an Uber! Breakfast could be on offer for a bit cheaper than the going rate. I quite like the bartender at the ‘Social’ bar. Chatted with people. They also bring out a few pretzels.
They’ve changed the amenities also. Can’t remember what to, but something different from what’s in the review. Or maybe it was just the different room, but I suspect not. Either way was fine.
Also used the gym this time around. Seemed pretty good. I was excited when it said you could bluetooth your music to the equipment. But unfortunately it didn’t work. Also said you could hook up with some wellness app so I downloaded that. That didn’t seem to work either. I didn’t have enough patience to try anything else.
Also, if you run out of bottled water or don’t want tap water in your room I was thinking you could just fill up your water bottle from the gym from any hotel you’re at. It’s pretty good. I don’t often have these revelations 🙂
I couldn’t get my phone to work with their tv. But I have a limited attention span.
Definitely a good hotel to put on your list for Christchurch.
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