Tauranga accommodation with thermal pools

My partner and I were extremely disappointment with our experience of this holiday park. We had no pre-booked our accommodation and so pulled in to Silver Birch as it was in the part of the city we wished to stay. Being last minute there was a limited number of choices at the holiday park a self contained unit for $95 dollars or a studio motel unit for $105. It was then revealed the unit would in fact be $103 as there was a $8 charge for linen. We should have taken that as a warning, but it was later in the day, we had places to be and didn't want to appear rude, so we opted for the self contained unit We got down to the room, over looking the water.... that is the nicest thing that could be said about the place. We got in to find a tired, cramped unit with barely enough room in the "living room" for the bed let alone any lounge furniture and the bedroom revealed two sets of bunks and a hole that appeared to have been kicked in the wall. The bathroom and "kitchen" were bleak to say the least. The room smelt stale, we deliberated for about a minute and turned round and headed back to reception to tell them we'd like to stay somewhere else. Well we weren't refunded our full payment as apparently they would have to inspect the room and get the cleaners in. We weren't brave enough to say that would be a good idea, getting the cleaners in that is as it appeared they hadn't been in for some time! So $20 poorer we bet a hasty retreat and went in search of more appealing accommodation. Don't be disheartened though, Tauranga is a great city and we found much nicer accommodation in the end for less than the price of this place. Didn't even make it into the pools.

Megan Higgins    
Rating: 3/10   21st March 2011