Russell-Orongo Bay Holiday Park

Very friendly managers, always feels comfortable going there and all around awesome place for kids and dogs

This has to be one of the worst accommodation stays in NZ. We booked a cabin with family visiting from the UK. We left after the first night due to the appalling conditions of this cabin the the grounds facilities. There were stains everywhere, broken rangehood, broken shower and bathroom that smelt like Urine. The camp facilities were no better with broken shower amenities, a smoking shack that was full of cigarette butts and broken concrete seats etc (there are kids around this area it was disgusting). These are only a few of the worst things. When we left we wanted to speak with someone but there was no one in the office, just locked up with no return time etc. I sent a text, email and left a phone message but no reply. The level of service was really bad along with the gross facilities. Apparently it is managers taking care of this place, if I was the owner, i would be worried and wanting to check on my asset and reputation. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Should have read the reviews before booking. I’ve tried to reach out several times to the owner to address this before resorting to a review but they have opted to ignore me. Place could be great but management are totally out of their depth and should not be in hospitality. Our cabin had no working shower so could not have one and sat 2am the fire alarm went off waking us and everyone else up. It was the sound of a normal alarm rather than a faulty or dying battery so upon waking and seeing there was no fire we concluded it could be a carbon monoxide alarm. My young son had felt nauseous earlier which is unlike him so we opened all the doors and windows and stayed awake all night fearful our kids and us would die in the night of monoxide leak in the cabin. At 4am the roosters start crowing anyway so I’d be woken by that (who on earth thinks it’s a good idea to have roosters in an area people go for SLEEP!) the mind boggles. At 430am the alarm started again this time going off every 5 mins long and loud waking the entire camp ground. We realised only then it was faulty but couldn’t turn it off or remove it. About 830 after hours of beeping and nightmare noise the manager came over with a new alarm carrying the beeping one off in his hands. Later told us that this alarm worked fine lol yeh whatever you say. Eyeroll. Was told they would be in touch about a partial refund since the entire point of the place is a shower and sleep of which we received neither. I’m minded to reverse the credit card charges. In all terrible service and they are running the place to the ground. Such a shame as they could have a good thing here with repeat business but they have no love for the place or the people who pay them!

This place is amazing, and the staff are great and really friendly. Really grateful for their hospitality when i was unable to go on my hike. Great variety of options for accommodation. Thanks again guys!! Also plenty of birds around to see.

Overall I wish this place was good. The location and the nature surrounding it were incredible however the holiday park had several short comings. To keep it short - water pressure in shower was a trickle at best - Kitchen was filthy and the freezer had been recently emptied and food was left out on the side to defrost/stink out. - Morning of check out there was no water in the whole camp and no explanation from any staff as to why.

The location was great, listening to the kiwis and moreporks at night. This accommodation has potential but is not reaching it. Self contained unit #142 which was our room sleeps up to 4 but only has 2 glasses and 1 wine glass, no face cloths and plenty of ants in the kitchen and bathroom. The door doesn't lock from the outside so we took all our valuable possessions with us when tiki touring. Informed the owners and were told they knew about it but said there is no theft there. When we said we weren't happy not being able to lock our accommodation the owner said he'd come and put a deadbolt on the door, but he never came. Really poor service.