Good service from the front desk and clean and comfortable room. We had a disability room which meant more room and a bigger shower which was great. Tv could do with upgrading though but overall a pleasant stay.

Our room was ground level so we could sit outside and enjoy the air. The only grump was that it was the first hotel I had stayed in that we couldn't dine in the dining room - in this case it was booked out!

We did not stay at the Golden Gate but we did eat in the dinning room.
The service was good initially and we ordered our first and only round of drinks. About 10 minutes later we ordered our meal, about 10 minutes later we heard a loud disscussion about one of our orders. 30 minutes later we were still waiting on our order and feeling thirsty we tryed to attract the attention of the staff to order another round of drinks. About 15 minutes later our meals arrived, at this stage our 4 year old nephew got down from the table found a jug of ice water and served us with our drinks.

Poor service in the dining room would make me think twice about staying.

Clearly visible fom the main road on the edge of town, this big hotel (by NZ standards) provided a very welcome night's comfort for us. Our room was large and light with double opening doors on to a patio (upstairs rooms have balconies) with a queen bed and double sofa. The decor and furnishings are a bit 1970s, bu everything worked and it was very comfortable. Attached is a public bar, cafe/bar and restaurant, and there are delightful flower-filled gardens. One bonus was the free guest laundry, but a bigger one was the friendliness of the all the staff, from the receptionist to the those in the bars.

We stayed here for one night during a tour in Nov 2009.

The Golde Gate lodge is more of a motel than a hotel. The rooms are spread around in different wings with little courtyards between the wings. Sometimes it was a bit hard to find your way around as some of the doors were locked and some were not.

The room we had was basically OK: fairly big, passable but uninteresting decor and fairly clean. However, the room configuration was really strange: there was a tiny bathroom with a bath and a toilet seat, but the basin was in the room, in the "kitchenette". I found this a bit strange and not too convinient or hygienic. The bathroom was a bit of a let-down: it was small and old, with a loud fan.

Even though the room was basically OK, the disappointment was the service: because of a conference, the main restaurant was closed and the meals served in the bar. It took over 20 minutes for our drinks to arrive and a further half an hour to get our food. The mussels in coconut cream with chilli and coriander were quite nice, but we didn't dare to order dessert as it would probably taken yet another half an hour to come. The dining experience was probably the worst we had in NZ, all due to the slow service. Having a full house of conference guests is no excuse for a conference centre: they should have more staff if they can't run the business with the staff they have. The breakfast was OK: there's a buffet of cerals, toast, coffee and juices and you order your hot breakfast from the staff. Again the food took quite some time, but was OK.

One of the few positive aspects was a reasonably priced internet connection (as opposed to most of the hotels in NZ). We took a stroll in the town after dinner, and noticed that there are quite few accommodation alternatives there, and next time I would stay somewhere else.