Last Updated on: 10th August 2020, 10:11 pm
A review of Camelot Motor Lodge, a self-catered apartment accommodation in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Camelot Motor Lodge – 9.5/10
Address: 28 Papanui Road, Christchurch, 8014, New Zealand
Camelot ‘village’
At the end of our trip, we arrived back in Christchurch where we needed to catch our returning flight. Since we are going back to Christchurch why not try a different place and since we were going to try a new place I wanted to try this place because from the photos it looked quite cute.
New Zealand has a lot of European influences from the European immigrants and a lot of the architecture shows this. Camelot Motor Lodge is in the style of English timber villages, and I was surprised at the (albeit simplified) detail. While not 100% detailed in every little way, it was interesting enough for a simple ‘themed’ accommodation. There was a full suit of armour in the reception lobby.
The apartments, at least our large one, was, in our friend’s words, ‘like a mansion’. (apparently our friend’s family, whom we travelled with, since they had less people in their group, had a much smaller apartment). I have to say it was indeed quite large for a motel room, it was the largest one we stayed in during this trip, had English style windows, cast iron chandeliers with chains, timber roof structure, arched solid timber doors for the main door and a large on inside as well (unfortunately I do not have a picture of this, if you do please contribute!)
This was also the only place we stayed at that had a bathtub.
The apartment was a double storey building, with the second floor being a loft/mezzanine and thus had no door. The second set of beds were upstairs, there are 4 beds in total, 2 of each single and double bed type on each floor.
The public outdoor pool fence can be seen on the right hand side.
Downstairs bedroom. This is opposite the bathroom.
Upstairs bedroom, single bed by the ‘half-wall’ or on the ‘balcony’ next to the living room chandelier. The half wall blocks most of the direct light from your face but is still pretty bright as the chandelier, which lights up the ground floor, is hanging nearby. This was my bed.
View from bed
Chandelier with actual chains
Upstairs double bed
The ground floor bedroom and a separate combined toilet and bathroom were in a part of the apartment that was separated from the rest by a large wooden door (which I did not take a photo of unfortunately), this means the bedroom itself doesn’t have a door and if you close the wooden door, other people won’t be able to access the toilet, but that’s not much of an issue.
I didn’t see our friend’s room, but when one of them came and saw our room, she said it was like a mansion compared to theirs. I felt it was quite large, for 4 people which was a good thing, however there was no outside balcony, unlike the first place we stayed at. The windows were openable.
Location:
This place was in the city of Christchurch, with restaurants within walking distance.
Facilities:
Free wireless internet with unlimited number of devices, however connection not accessible upstairs in the loft. You are given slips of paper with login information.
There is a car space in front of each apartment. The kitchen is clean and maintained well, the cookware is simple. The combined living room and dining room is good sized and roomy, with a solid timber table, television, sofa, coffee table, DVD player. There are free coffee and tea facilities but they are placed in its own box along with a tray of “mini bar” style snacks, with a price list, so make sure you read the price list before touching anything, just to make sure you know which ones are free and which ones are paid.
‘Mini bar’
The kitchen/dining table
I saw a lot of these stoves that were placed next to the wall. I don’t get why they do this because there is no room for the handlebars of the pots so that means they all have to face one way meaning you can only fit 2 pots at any one time on a 4 burner stove.
The bathroom here is the only bathroom that we came across on the entire trip that had a bathtub which was great if you prefer baths (although I don’t expect to see bathtubs in cheap to mid-range hotels to save space). Basic toiletries were supplied as refillables on the wall (body wash, shampoo and conditioner).
There is an above ground pool right outside our door, there was also some nice umbrella covered tables and seats by the pool with nice plants growing around.
Tv under the stairs with DVD player
The living room has 3 sofas and an armchair, a rectangular timber coffee table and windows with curtains.
The reception has a small DVD library with a good range of popular movies, from Harry Potter to Kill Bill and Under the Tuscan Sun. You can rent them (for free I assume) and watch it in your room’s DVD player.
Breakfast is not provided.
Total price for 2 apartments for total of 7 people for 1 night: $370.60 New Zealand dollars. This is $50 NZD more expensive than Southern Comfort (but this place does have a pool and DVD library).
Stay time: January 25-26, 2016
Verdict:
I give this place 9.5 out of 10 for location, rooms, comfort, style and facilities. Staff was nice (the reception desk had just one staff member when we were there). The toiletries could have been a little better but were okay (this is a non-essential trivia issue).
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