We have never received such bad service! When we called to inquire about rates, we explained that we were travelling with two grandma's and two teenagers ages 13 and 15. We explained that we needed beds for four of us and were willing to bring air matresses for the kids. We asked for the best price that they could offer us for a three night stay. The owner quoted us $100 dollars per night and insisted that we take the two bedroom apartment because he would feel bad if we were squashed into a smaller unit - even though we had previously stated that we were fine in a smaller room if it meant a better price. We were thrilled by this great deal!! We called to confirm our reservation in the two bedroom apartment approx. 15 hours before we arrived, and confirmed that we only needed one air mattress.

When we arrived, we were informed that he had given our room to guests who wished to extend their stay and they were willing to pay a higher rate. He then proceeded to chastise us for asking him to lower his rates when we had called...we asked for his best price...he offered us the larger room at the reduced rate by his own free will. He then called into question the size of our children ---they were awfully old children....we told him their age at the time of booking. He said we were welcome to find another hotel if we weren't satisfied with the one bedroom apartment that he downsized us into. At this point we had six tired, hungry passengers who weren't interested in searching out another hotel... so we stayed. We would have been fine with the size of the apartment if we hadn't originally reserved a larger one! The owner didn't even have the decency to offer us two smaller apartments - the grandma's could have shared one.

There were no towels, and when we asked for some, the owner promtly gave us 4. ..no hand towels, no face clothes, no bath mat. Day two, we recieved 6 towels, 3 faceclothes, two hand towels and a bath mat. Day three, we were back to nothing.

The good news ... the location was great, the beds were comfortable, it was relatively clean - the walls needed a good scrubbing, and it was quiet.

We would never book with this hotel again based on the absolutely shocking service that we received!!

We intended on staying in the Yellow Tail room one night, and ended up staying for 5! Great management, clean rooms, and a perfect location to do all the great things bay of islands has to offer. We highly recommend it to anyone visiting this amazing part of New Zealand

We intended to stay in Paihia for a couple of nights but ended up extending our stay mainly due to the great hospitality and service we received at Dolphin Motel. When we first arrived, Greg (owner) was in reception and made us feel very welcome from the start. We stayed in the Kahawhai room which was upstairs. The room had everything we needed, it was clean and well-appointed. The motel is with-in easy walking distance of the main town and pier, but also very quiet. We also met Heather (Manager) and Karen (Cleaner) during our stay. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful which added to our enjoyable stay. We would definitely recommend the Dolphin Motel to anyone intending to stay in Paihia.

upstairs studio unit,nicely furnished and clean.the room got stuffy as there is only one small window at the back of the unit.everything was fine until the adjoining unit used their shower and then the sound of the water going through the pipework was deafening.