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Reviews of The Villa - Hostel

2 out of 5
The Villa - Hostel
34 Auckland St., Picton

Reviews

8.2

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 38 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 30 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 8 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 10 out of 89 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 3 out of 89 reviews" "

7.8/10

Cleanliness

8.2/10

Staff & service

8.0/10

Amenities

7.6/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

4/10 Poor

Kevin

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Like: Garden and quirky endearing Villa. Showers ok. Bed was ok. Free basic breakfast but as no milk was provided only bread jam or toast were possible. Dislike: Thought we booked en suite but only a double was allocated. The advertised free shuttle to ferry was not available and hasn’t been for years. Spa out of order. Kitchen was filthy - sticky floors and not enough tea towels so the three or so were soaking wet. Hardly hygienic. Very little space in fridge and no freezer. No spare key held by hostel, so if you locked room and forgot to take key (or lost it) you were locked out permanently. Very noisy in morning due to heavy long running port infrastructure improvements and an inconsiderate family making loads of noise before 6 am as they were leaving!
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Ginia

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Pros: -Great location, super quick walk from the ferry and cafes -friendly atmosphere -good sized private rooms with sink -nice garden area for relaxing -great value for money Areas for improvement -people were quiet but the nature of the building means if anyone arrives late it’s quite loud due to the wooden floors and thin walls -kitchen wasn’t well equipped - no baking trays, foil, salt/pepper, which was a bit limiting if you want to cook for yourself.
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Tracy

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Nice stay, conveniently located. The spa pool wasn't working very well and they were a little short on dishes and cutlery in the kitchen, but other than that good facilities, enjoyable.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Ping

The old charm of the interior. The outside of the building may need a coat of bright paint. Room should be provided with a stand-alone cloth hangar for winter jacket and bath towel.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Jeff, Napier

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Good value backpacker accommodation for Cook Strait ferry connection.

2/10 Terrible

Grace

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Mikaela

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Taumaia

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

8/10 Good

Carol

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Luke

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Margaret

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Easy walk to everywhere
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022

10/10 Excellent

Belinda

Stayed 1 night in Apr 2022

8/10 Good

Dave

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Value for money!
Tidy, well located value for money accomodation. Room was clean, staff and owner very friendly and helpful. Would recommend for anyone looking for simple lodgings
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Shahana

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2022

10/10 Excellent

Jeff, Napier

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
A good located backpackers - walk into town, bars, restaurants and the Wellington ferries.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2022

10/10 Excellent

Tony

Travelled with partner
Liked: Amenities
It had a private spa
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Loved the property
Stayed 1 night in May 2021

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
cosy comfortable clean
Stayed 1 night in May 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very new to hostels and backpackers. Usually stay in motels and hotels. Amazed at the quay of accomodation for the price
Stayed 1 night in May 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great spot, very convenient and nice facilities. Would definitely come back
Stayed 1 night in May 2021

8/10 Good

Adam

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
A good one nighter
Decent hostel, pretty big but needs a touch up in the bathrooms
Stayed 1 night in May 2021

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nice and cosy villa. Clean and close to the restaurants and train station.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2021

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Great location to catch an early ferry sailing. Cheap and convenient
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2021

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Amenities
People in the kitchen opposite my room banging around then talking until 11.30 until I went out and the shut the door. People then up at 6am on a Sunday banging around. Cheap and clean but noisy thoughtless guests.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2021

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2021
Response from Kurt on 25 Jan 2021
Thank you for leaving us a review :)

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
Close to the ferry The window has no stay, so it banged in the night and the room was very hot.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2020
Response from Sylvie, The Villa on 11 Feb 2020
Thank you for your stay with us. We regret having felt warm in the room, but at that time the weather was very hot in Picton. We hope to see you again soon. Thanks

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
We definitely pulled the short straw with our Standard double room. The 2 other Standard doubles next door to ours were luxurious compared to ours! They had spacious rooms. Ours was cramped with hardly enough room to even walk round the bed! Very disappointed. I know it was cheap accommodation but I feel we got a poor deal in comparison with others. Everywhere was shabby and desperately in need of a lick of paint. I wouldn't recommend this accommodation unless you were young backpackers who were happy to share a dorm with 5 others and didn't care about the surroundings! I would certainly look at other backpackers accommodation in future.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020
Response from Sylvie, The Villa on 11 Feb 2020
Hi, We greatly appreciate your feedback and help us improve. For us the most important thing is the comfort of the guests. We are very sorry that the accommodation was not to your liking, but the bedroom was recently refurbished and has a large double bed just like the other private rooms. We will be happy to see you again. And thanks for helping us improve.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020
Response from Kurt on 31 Jan 2020
Thank you for your feedback.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
The colorfull building. Good advice from the receptionist were to eat
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020
Response from Kurt on 30 Jan 2020
Thank you for your feedback :)

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
They messed up my booking, clearly stated that it was for 4 guests. Unfortunately they only booked for one which meant that we no longer could be in the same room. We we're lucky to find alternative accommodation but when i requested a refund since it was their error they said they would need to get the manager to call me - still waiting on that call, still waiting on that refund. No issue with the actual property etc. It all looked very good and the staff were pleasant enough.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020
Response from Kurt on 15 Jan 2020
Hello, We are very sorry that this happened to you and apologise for our mistake. I am the manager but have not been told by my staff about this situation. If you could contact me directly through our email, I am sure we can organise something. Kind Regards

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020
Response from Kurt on 9 Jan 2020
Thank you for your feedback :)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Staff were friendly and the location was great I would highly recommend staying here
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020
Response from Kurt on 7 Jan 2020
Thank you very much :)

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Kurt on 1 Jan 2020
Thank you for staying with us.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great place with plenty of character and a warm homely feel about it. Staff were happy to accommodate any extra requests and the pet friendly policy was awesome.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Lovely place but shower pressure was terrible... Also couldnt get a nice temp. Waffles were v cute though
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Easy walk from ferry terminal and shops. Our bathroom mat in bathroom was still wet from previous visitors in the room we had.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Really enjoyed our 1 night stay. Comfortable and clean room and bed. Staff were excellent in helping make our stay comfortable. Special mention to Josh going above and beyond...
Stayed 1 night in May 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired
I arrived and none of the beds in the dorm were made - the dirty sheets from previous guests were still crumpled up on all the beds and there was a trash can full of rubbish that hadn't been emptied. Floors hadn't been vacuumed. Had to ask at reception to get fresh sheets and a bed made. Sheets, doonas and pillows and curtains are SUPER OLD. Like from the 80s/90s :( Please use pillowcase protectors on your pillows - they only put a flimsy old pillowcase over a gross dirty old oil-stained pillow. Place is generally cluttered. All doors were locked at reception the next morning and my keys didn't work to get in and check out.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Business traveller
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities
Typical backpackers with some quaint touches. Sadly though this was selected as the cheapest place with cable TV in the room. However the TV was missing and when mentioned to person on the desk they just smiled
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Lovely old villa. Didn't enjoy the cold when having a shower.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019

4/10 Poor

Luke

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not the best
Initial impression was of the smell walking in. Generally the place is fairly shabby and cleanliness could be improved. One of the staff used their key to enter our room at 1am waking us up. The excuse was that their colleague made a mistake at check in and that the room said there shouldn’t be anyone staying in it. We were not impressed. I would recommend finding somewhere else when staying in picton.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness
Great location, easy to find. Room was nice and clean and someone had put foam on the beadhead to reduce noise for other guests.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Close to shops and restaurants. Room very small, only room we stayed in (including at other backpacker accomodation providing rooms with bathrooms) that didn't include kettle. Wouldn't stay again
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Friendly staff, close to everything and very accommodating
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2018

4/10 Poor

Me

Disliked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Room had a damp floor; towels left in the room for my use were also damp; there was not spare blanket and I was cold; the bed stand light did not work; when the heater got plugged (it was after midnight when I attired), it did not work.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2018

8/10 Good

Gwynell

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice ambiance
Comfortable, clean and quiet. The shared facilities provided any of the extras that we wanted. Villa Backpackers Lodge has a nice ambiance.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2018

10/10 Excellent

Kelsey, New plymouth

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
My favourite thing ever thank you Lovely place to meet fellow travellers and relaxing homely environment
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2018
Response from Villa Crew on 18 Oct 2018
Thank you so much for that, we hope to see you again!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed a night, and found the atmosphere very friendly and welcoming. Easy walking distance to the beach and eateries as they are all nearby
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
We had a good comfortable stay and enjoyed the handy location
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2017