Yet Another Tale of Hotel Inconsistency

Where: Cnr Princes St & Waterloo Quadrant, Auckland, New Zealand

December 2, 2010 at 4:05 PM | by juliana | Comments (0)

All hotels are not created equal, we do know this much to be true, not even ones that are part of the same brand, carry the same amenities and have the same name. Just because you love Hotel XYZ in New York doesn't mean that Hotel XYZ in San Fran or Miami is just as good.

Sadly, this happens far too often and today one reader is apparently fed up with it all. He writes:

I'm a platinum member with Hyatt and now I having the unfortunate misfortune of staying at the Auckland Hyatt "Regency" Hotel. I certainly use the term "Regency" tongue in check, which is bleeding.

From the moment I have had my quarters, I have been disturbed with slamming doors (it's 0100 in the morning, which is why I'm now sharing my misfortune) and talking in hallway which sounds as if the conversation is occurring in my presence. When a door is being knocked on across the hall from me, the sound carries as if MY door is the one in which someone is knocking on.

Using the bathroom has the grand experience of hearing the downward flushes from the floors above.

I do want to clarify that I have no problems with the staff of this property, they generally are very helpful and accommodating. It's this property itself that is so distressing that it should have been imploded years ago.

Am I expecting too much here? No. I have come to expect a certain level of accommodation with the Hyatt brand, and if I' m at fault, then it is because of how Hyatt has projected itself with its fine properties elsewhere.

I must admit that I arrived here after staying at the Seoul Park Hyatt, which is superb in every detail. However I have stayed at other Regency classified properties, and have been extremely impressed with their quality and product. Blame this on Hyatt. I experienced the Regency in Jeju, Korea, which makes this place look like a dust bin.

I have stayed at the Regencies in Bellevue, Seattle and Atlanta as well as Grand Hyatts in various cities and all shine. Hyatt Place far exceeds this property in Auckland.

So what's with Hyatt in New Zealand? If I was a diamond member, could I expect anything better? I doubt it. If this were the standard of Hyatt properties to spend time at, I would not be a platinum member, nor a Gold member, nor a frequent Hyatt customer.

Needless to say, I am EXTREMELY dissatisfied with this experience. I have two more separate reservations at this Auckland property and I am already looking at booking myself elsewhere. Right now Holiday Inn is looking promising. It certainly could not be any worse then here. Well, maybe it's time to try to sleep again. Hopefully the slammers have retired for the night.

THE WORD TO THE WISE IS DO NOT BOOK THE AUCKLAND "REGENCY" UNLESS YOU ARE EXPECTING A SUBSTANDARD PROPERTY AND EXPERIENCE. BEWARE, BE WARNED.

Yowza. For what it's worth, the reviews on TripAdvisor are drastically different than this readers' tale with most people generally liking this hotel very much.

But we think we know why this hotel is having such issues--the owner was forced to sell the property last week because of money woes and even some possible white-collar fraud. Lots of complicated stuff and while usually the hotel brand doesn't change when a hotel is sold, we've had some trouble booking a room for this hotel on the website. Hopefully, there will be better days for this hotel ahead next year.

Got another tale of hotel inconsistency? We wanna hear it!

[Photo: mrrfrost/TripAdvisor]

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