Cedarwood Lakeside Motel & Conference Venue

Excellent everything is very good beautiful place 👌👍❤️

Absolutely do not book here! We reserved a room here 4 months ahead of our arrival date. They would not take a credit card, even though one was offered. We called and emailed to confirm several times but with no response. We finally reached them 2 days ahead of our arrival date and they confirmed our reservation. The manager was very short with us and cancelled our reservation instead of confirming it. They then supposedly emailed us the night before our arrival to ask for a credit card, which makes no sense as the reservation had supposedly already been cancelled. We never received this email. They were completely unsympathetic when we arrived, despite having our 2 young children with us. We asked for a room anyway since the Vacancy sign was out, and the the desk clerk just shrugged and said, “I must have forgotten to change it”. Complete inadequacy and unprofessionalism on their part and they took no responsibility for their mistake. **EDIT** I emailed Martin, the manager, to express my dissatisfaction and he doubled down on his lie that we called to cancel. I reiterated that this made no sense since we showed up for our reservation (why would we do that if we had cancelled?) and they had sent a request for a resort card more than a day after they had supposedly received the cancellation request. He also completely ignored the fact that we tried for weeks to get hold him to offer a credit card and no phone calls or voicemails were responded to. Utter incompetence and disregard for their potential guests.

The place was outdated, on arrival the reception was unattended and when the receptionist came to the door, he was rude and, in his PJ’s, (we arrived at 6pm as opening hrs was until 9pm). He stayed in the same PJ’s for the entire 2 days we were there. Also, when asking for extra towels and blankets the receptionist was also like not accommodating and had a attitude. Initially we were going to stay 4 days for 4 adults and 2 kids but when we saw the condition of the room and we were not aware that we had to sleep on a sofa bed (not mentioned on the room description), that was very uncomfortable in which our backs were in pain the next day. It also was not made up with linen. We end up sleeping on the 2x single beds together with the kids the next night. The attitude of the reception fella when we asked for a refund for next two days on the same day we check in was appalling even thou this was in line with their policy to give notice within 24 hrs to cancel booking (happy to take your money but not happy to return it). So, the next day we spoke with the owner (via Phone as he wasn't at the premises) and finally got a refund, however we had one more night’s stay paid for in which we were in the right to stay the night. Upon morning the receptionist fella stormed into our room while we were still asleep demanding us to leave or he will call the police, we were shocked with 2 kids and 2 grandparents becoming very scared. He had assumed that when we got the refund we were supposed to leave straight away, even thou we had paid for the following night. We did not like that he had threaten us, so upon leaving we had gone to the police station and reported it as we were afraid for our safety and didn't want this to happen to anyone else. In addition, the towels are old with bleach marks / discoloured, also saw a dead rat in front of the reception entry with its guts all out. Lack of lighting to grounds during the evening makes it hard to see especially with elderly parents. The next day upon leaving the premises we found that there was a additional charge on our account for the days we were refunded, we were lucky to see this before it was deducted and were able to put a stop on the account and the bank was able to reverse the transaction, therefore we cancelled our card as the hotel had charge us without our authorisation. So please, beware of this place they don't care about their guest or the presentation of the premises. The only good thing is the view of the lake LOL.

This motel is seriously suffering from neglect. The room was clean and tidy, however there were holes in the carpet and the carpet was threadbare in other places. The bed linen is tired. The elements on the stove are faulty working only on full no matter what setting. The shower had recently been refurbished but in another unit there was mould present in the silicone. The thermal pool was not cleaned , it was green, the spa dirty and neglected also. Gardens had weeds lawns need mowing and the autumn leaves needed to be swept up. The Trampoline is broken. THis is very sad as we have used to this motel for at least 20 years. Beautiful views and sunsets. We paid $580 for two nights. We asked to move units but the otherunit was in worse condition and smelt of smoke due to a recent fire in the unit. Very disappointing as this was a clean and tidy motel to visit.

We booked a 2 bedroom lakeside unit with an amazing view. Unit was very clean and comfortable. Wished we had stayed longer than 1 night as a very peaceful spot and handy to everything. Our hosts were very friendly and helpful. Would thoroughly recommend as a great place to stay in Rotorua.