Stayed for three nights on the 15th of January 2012 with a family of four. Arrived on Sunday and found a park out the front of the hotel for the rental car. You don't pay for parking on Sundays in Wellington. The hotel reception is nice and check in was good. The receptionist gave us a nice view over the parliament areas. The water views would be nicer though as wellington is very nice. The room is nicely decorated and has a kitchen with a microwave. Great if you're staying with kids. The rooms are on an angle so space it limited compared to other rooms i have stayed in. In the afternoon alot of heat comes into these rooms. I left the blinds pulled on two occasions but housekeeping opened them up on one occasion causing the rooms to be very hot when we returned from our day trip.
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The pool is nice but the spa is a little too hot. The gym should be removed to save embarrassment to the hotel.
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CON:
When i woke up the next morning i went and valet the car. I checked the car thoroughly as it had been parked on the street. I left it in the hands of the valet. I took the car out on two other occasions to go to local lookouts. There was no damage to the vehicle on these occasions when i received or returned it. I was being vigilant as these were our final days in NZ. On the last day prior to going to the airport i got the car and saw they had bumped the bumper and a portion of the bumper had come undone.
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I went inside and the valet attendant appeared ready for why i was coming in. He was nervous and pulled out a ticket he has supposedly done on Monday showing the damage. This ticket was never provided to me and I suggested that he could of done it in hindsight. Flustered he got the manager to speak to me. The manager supported his worker as I would in his situation. The manager left his details for the rental car company to discuss the issue but assumed no responsibility. In the end it would of been me wearing the damage to the rental company and chasing Rydges. When i returned the car Europcar they did not bill me for the damage as the bumper just needed to be fixed back into place.
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I think it would be unfair of me rank the Rydges poorly for the actions of one person. Just be mindful though there is one dishonest person working in the valet.