Kiwi International Hotel

I have left the type as hotel for accommodation type because it is both a hotel and hostel. It is near the top end of Queen Street in Auckland (which is the main street in downtown Auckland) but within walking distance of all eateries, clubs & bars, and shopping. It is approx. a 10-15 minute walk to Sky Tower.

The hotel itself is very old and when I was last there, in need of redecorating. I understand it now has new owners and has been redecorated. I have stayed there two years running for New Years Eve and find it good enough simply due to its location.

There is limited parking on site, which is free. The hotel has a recreation room with a pool table and an air hockey table. It also has a bar on site, but is very limited with what drinks are on offer and by no means cheap. However there is a liqour shop, fast food outlets, and a mini mart (small grocery store) on the other side of the street approx 2 mins away.

Overall if you're looking for relatively cheap accommodation in the heart of a city simply to store your luggage and somewhere to sleep, then this should meet your requirements. Sorry I can't comment on the hostel side of it as I have only ever stayed in the hotel part.

Unique Quality: Certain rooms have views overlooking a park. It is reasonably priced, central, and close to food outlets.

Directions: Central, downtown Auckland

I stayed in a single room at this hotel in March 2007. Initially, I thought the hotel was quite nice and it's located not too far from the city center.

However, when I woke up in the morning I discovered numerous mites in the bed. I was badly bitten and I really regret not having paid a little extra for a better hotel.

Unique Quality: Good location.

The staff was very friendly there. Especially the night Manager Lorraine Prescott. I had a pleasant stay there. The hotel location is not the greatest, but safe to take the taxi to a fro at night. I would not recommend walking alone at night and the hotel staff will tell you the same. There are plenty of cyber cafes around. I never ate at the hotel, because there were plenty of cafes and restaurants around. I would recommend this place to budget travelers only. I felt as if I was staying in a hostel. It was pretty run down.

Unique Quality: The view was good if you get a room facing the city, otherwise your window will be facing the hostels and neigboring businesses. In that case it can get very noisy at night. There was a sign for a pool facility, but I never saw one. I don't think I'd jump into one even if they did have one.

Directions: The not so great end of Queen street

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it our favourite accommodation, but we didn't arrive until 2 am, and we just wanted something cheap for the night - which it was, but I don't know the state of other hostels in Auckland to compare.

Our first impressions at 2 am: supposedly a double room but the bed was like a 1 1/2 single. Ripped lace curtains, shabby walls, corridor, and outdated bathroom facilities.
I won't say more - you get the idea.

And the worst bit was (and not their fault) was that they're building another building in front of the hotel, and the jack hammers and drills and graders started at 7 am a few hours later, and further sleep was impossible.

We did however have a view from our room of the Auckland Skytower, which made us feel a little bit better (when it stopped teeming with rain long enough for us to see it properly, which wasn't for another full 24 hours).

The best part (and maybe only) good thing about this hotel is that it has its own restaurant downstairs, plenty of tourist info brochures so you don't need to immediately head to the Information Centre, and booking desk for tours and accommodation.
This part of the service was absolutely fantastic and i can't rate them highly enough.

We hadn't realized that 2 nights after our stay in Auckland, it was a long weekend and the town where we'd be would be likely to be booked out....the 2 booking staff spent 40 MINUTES phoning around not just that city but 2 others as well, searching for accom for us, and finally got us some, so we were extremely grateful.

Unique Quality: The restaurant seems good, though we didn't try it. Convenient anyway, as it's a fair walk down Queen Street to a part which isn't as run down as this end, where there are nice restaurants and takeaways, etc.
(this top end of Queen St we were in, really needs a 3 block makeover or something).

Otherwise, Queen St is one of the main Streets of Auckland.

Directions: top of Queen Street (uphill from the Wharf)