Novotel Christchurch Airport

While I've stayed in Christchurch many times, this was my first visit to the airport hotel and it was very useful for the late night arrival and the early morning departure. The views while having breakfast are amazing (some of my best pictures visiting New Zealand over 24 years), and the bar and restaurant staff were excellent.

The hotel rooms are fine, although not possible to get adjoining rooms, empty mini-bar and insufficient towels… 1h40mins for room service, attitude from bar staff when ice and tonic was requested and they all seem to think everything can be dealt with through an app, which itself is unresponsive and relies on actual people to bring the food and drinks to the room. Classic example of a quasi monopoly business having no regard for customer service. Worth the taxi fee to head to the city for decent service.

What a wonderful hotel. Perfectly located next door to terminal. Parking available. Clean. Pleasing decor, distinctive architecture. Staff were all so friendly and interested. Complied with all requests. Great room on 4th floor overlooking runway. Minimal noise. Quirky bathroom - why do hotels try to come up with weird designs for bathrooms? The might win a design competition but they just don’t function well. Great, comfortable bed.

best decision ever to stay here after a late arriving flight. the hotel is just a few steps from the terminal, even lugging a ton of luggage it was no problem - barely longer to get to the hotel than the taxi rank. Maybe 100m walk if that? All the staff we encountered were absolutely lovely and so friendly. The hotel itself appears to be brand new, very nice, modern and comfortable. The bathroom has both rainfall and normal shower heads which I love. Totally worth a few extra dollars to stay here. If you don’t want to spring for the hotel breakfast there is a coffee club & Maccas about 10 min walk away. I should also add we’ve stayed at the Sudima airport hotel in the past which is just a little further away, a bit older and a bit cheaper. Not a bad option if you are concerned about saving a few dollars, it’s still walkable from the airport but would be annoying with lots of luggage - I def prefer the Novotel as an option!

We booked Novotel thinking we could have a good nights sleep whilst getting ready for an early morning flight - however due to inconsiderate guests, inefficient air conditioning and a terrible nights sleep we were left feeling disappointed. I’m not sure whether it’s been post CoVid and the changes they made to become an isolation facility but the room really dries you out like you are on a flight and you wake up parched! You also have inconsiderate people moving about at all hours with the noise proofing not really making any difference Staff were great and friendly but the hotel lets itself down which is disappointing because I’m sure we would have used this hotel again had the experience been totally different.