Park Hotel - Wellington

After a 20 minute delay flight, I took the airport bus to get to the city centre, where Park Hotel is located. There is an entrance from Lambton Quay (the main street) however it requires a key card, so I had to go through the main entrance from the back street up a steep hill.

After checking in, I proceed to the 12th floor, where my room is located. As I am a Hotels.com Silver member and this hotel is their VIP property, I got upgraded to their executive floor and a complimentary wine was given. Entering into my small room for the next 2 nights, I was looking for the wine and I thought the one placed in the mini bar, which is a pinot noir is the complimentary wine, however I am not a big fan of Pilot Noir, so I went to the phone to try to swap it for something else and also to get some additional amenity kita such as shaving kit and toothbrush. The phone in the room wasn't working, so I had to go back to the reception to get it sorted.

The staff said they couldn't let me take the wine from the reception, it had to be delivered to the room, maybe they are afraid I may have drunk the one that was supposed to be given, but when she came to swap it, she couldn't find the complimentary wine and I told her it is inside the mini bar, but she told me that wasn't the complimentary wine (apparently the complimentary wine is much cheaper than the one in the mini bar, which they would charge me for if I didn't check if those are complimentary). I asked if she could fix the phone but she said she is not qualified to do it, and I had to wait for someone else to come and fix it.

An hour past, no one came to the room to fix the phone, I went to the reception on my way to the supermarket and ask the staff whether they are going to send someone to check out the issue, he told me that the phone is lazy and he tried calling my room. He said it takes a few seconds for the phone to work after picking it up, but he said he will come and check anyway while I head out. 20 minutes later after my supermarket hop, I came and look at the phone display which now shows my room number, I am guessing the phone wasn't connected properly previously and they should have came rather than assuming that the phone was being "lazy".

Next morning, I was heading out late and I have a do not disturb sign, so housekeeping couldn't service my room, however they left a slip saying they are honouring my DND sign and I can contact the front desk if I require the service up to 2pm. As I was leaving to head out, I went to the front desk and told them to come service my room. When I came back, I found out they have taken my less than half used shampoo and body wash and replace it with a new tube (since the new tubes are sealed by plastic, it means there will be more unnecessary plastic waste). I could have finished using the ones I have open up before they do whatever that they do with it (I hope not disposing of them even though it says that it is made with biodegradable plastic). The bathroom door hanger has a sign that says if I hang my used towels there, they will not wash it which reduces washing liquid and water usage, well guess what, it was taken off and replaced as well. Sustainable, I haven't seen the hotel doing their part even though they have signs claiming that.

The Room:

This standard room is on their executive floors. Upon entering, the bathroom is located on the left. A small but clean and modern design. I have stayed here before a few years back, and the room I remember was slightly bigger. Further into the room, there is a Queen bed, 2 bedside tables and a single lounge chair. On the other side, a small work desk and next to it was a closet with build in mini bar, a mini fridge and inside the cupboard was a microwave and some cutlery and plates. Inside the closet is a large space to hang some clothes, an iron + iron board and a small safe right on the bottom.

I wanted some hot drinks so I went to fill up the kettle, however the sink inside the toilet was so small and shallow that I can barely fit it in, and after filling it up, pulling it out causing half of the water come spilling out, there's no way I could fill the kettle all the way up unless I do it in the shower (I suppose the water comes from the same pipe but it just feels weird to me). Found a trick to fill it with a cup, which is still too much hassle.

I like the microwave in the room as people can heat up leftovers instead of throwing it out, or buying food from the supermarket instead of going to the restaurants which is a saving for budget conscious travellers.

Things to improve on:

This is a modern and central hotel in Wellington. The wall around the room is starting to get a little ugly with the paint missing especially around the corners (I guess people bump into them regularly) and some marks due to spillage. A small paint work could have made the room look much more presentable, given it is located in their executive floor and people would be paying a much higher price to stay here (or loyal customers). The air conditioning unit have spill marks around the corner as well, not a good look and pretty disgusting.

The staff are nice but the service seems to be slow when I asked for the phone to be fixed. They didn't even bother coming to check, thinking that the phone is working fine, but it wasn't.

The upgrade to the executive floor (12th and 13th) is a nice additional touch but again it is not much of a view and the room type is still the same, so not much of an upgrade here in terms of room size or view.

The sustainable signs in the hotel room might make them look good and being a forward thinking organisation however everything that they do hasn't reflected that promise of being sustainable. Many big hotel chains are starting or already eliminated the use of travel size toilet amenities by replacing it with dispensable tub, which is a big reduction to the plastic waste (I am assuming they do not recycle those and they do not reuse them after).