Mount Albert Motor Lodge

Arrived later in the evening, so slipping into my room after hours was convenient. Car spaces still available. Which was great .nRoom was affordable and had all the amenities needed.nWill intend to return when passing through Auckland again .

Room was okay, good for price, however, we did have an ant problem despite the room being clean.nnClose to train station so was a bit annoying listening to them.nnEasy to get to, with good space and pool.

Disappointed with our room..nAs soon as u open the door you are greeted with a yucky smell like a urinal smell, stains all over carpets whole room needed a deep clean...nBeds were like sleeping on abit of hardwood and the blankets had stains all over them....nThe sofas had rips in them, i don't think the room has ever had an upgrade...

I really wanted to like this place, but some things were off, and a couple of things unforgivable.nnLet’s take the positives first. Booked a one bed apartment space and it was a good size. Had a decent, well-appointed kitchen. The location was great for us concert visitors who didn’t want to stay in town and the price reflected that. There’s an on-site cafe that we didn’t try but looked OK certainly the wine list was good enough for the party of ‘ladies who lunch’ leaving on the Friday afternoon we arrived.nnCar parking is tight. Gardens well-kept.nnWhat we didn’t expect was that some of the motel features dated back to its opening back in the 1950s/60s, others from a potential refurb attempt in the late 1980s, and nothing was new beyond a couple of extra sockets with USB charge points. The doors, cupboards and fixtures were peeling, and the toilet seat was so old it was delaminating - in what world is that an acceptable thing in hospitality?nnDon’t know about the rest of the rooms but 14 had nothing newer than 1990 beyond an ageing flat screen TV, a new carpet, and serviceable mattresses on the beds. Ah, the fridge had been replaced, probably a necessity looking at previous reviews. Deferred maintenance here will be a massive problem for anyone buying this property and business.nnAgeing facilities I can live with for a price, but what steered this review to one star territory was the dirt. It was clear nobody had done a deep clean on the room in a very long time, with dust accumulated on all the skirting, and in the room corners. Superficially it was fine, and that’s clearly good enough for the owners and their staff know that.nnThe killer was the bedsheets. We didn’t notice until we came in at around midnight, long after reception had closed, and while we’d dismissed the sex stain on the duvet coverlet as ‘just one of those things’, when we turned the bed back we exposed sheets with dirt pilling and dark hairs. That’s totally unacceptable and was mentioned at checkout to the young man on duty.nnI hadn’t the heart to ream him out about this as it’s clearly not his business nor his responsibility. He should get another job to stop having to apologise for the owner’s shortcomings though. He said he’d mention it to housekeeping but I don’t hold out much hope. No email from the owner apologising has arrived, and no discount was offered but not his fault.nnWe slept in the other room two singles, sheets clean, but one sheet with holes in.nnIn the morning we found hairs on one of the bath towels too.nnThis looks like the cleaners take the piss by ignoring what they think hasn’t been used whether it has or not. That’s downright lazy, but in my opinion that stems from the owner’s instructions to save money as much as possible. We threw all the towels into the shower base to make sure they got cleaned for the next guests.nnThat attitude is a management thing. From the general air of laissez-faire and run-down nature of the place gardener excepted - top marks to that contractor the owners clearly don’t care at all about cleanliness and guest comfort, only replace anything when absolutely necessary, and leaving anything that works until it doesn’t - like the rusty light fittings in the bathroom, scarred chrome dining set, antique TV, 1980s lino, dated motel wall art and horrible light shades.nnThe shower was…interesting. Clearly a rebuilt floor over an earlier leak problem judging by the botch repair job I could see. One of those curtains that want to hug you all the time. Pope shower head that you need to kneel in front of to get the blessing. Given the obvious remedial work in the room I wouldn’t like to see the Artex ceiling downstairs.nnThis motel could be great, and isn’t, hence my poor review. The owners need to close it down, clean it up, and renew it. Preferably they should sell it to someone who cares, for a dollar, because that’s the only goodwill in it and anyone buying it will have to invest a small fortune correcting a decade or two of neglect.

Enjoyed our 3 day 3 night emergency last minute unexp stay here, while our home was getting repaired. Only interacted with reception at check-in and checkout. Nice, quiet, close to train station and strip of shops restaurants etc. Cleaners clean our room every day and replace fresh towels, thank you. Nice pool, fully equipped kitchen, comfy beds, warm. Nice lil bathroom. Thanks so much.

Directions to Mount Albert Motor Lodge with public transportation

---