Southern Comfort Motel in Christchurch, NZ – A review

Last Updated on: 3rd January 2024, 06:07 pm

This post is a review of 53 Southern Comfort Motel, a self-catered apartment accommodation in Christchurch, New Zealand.

53 Southern Comfort Motel – 8.5/10
Address: 53 Bealey Ave, St Albans, Christchurch, 8013, New Zealand

Location:
In January 2016, we travelled around New Zealand South Island for 8 days with another family, there was a total of 7 people in our group. We arrived in Christchurch Airport. Because we had 7 people, we would have needed 2 taxis and it would have been very expensive, so I specifically chose this motel for our group because it was located so close to the bus stop. We took bus number 29 from the airport. Christchurch international airport is tiny, the bus bay is right outside the exit when you get out of customs after arriving and is not hard to see. If you don’t know where it is, inside the airport there are Spark and Vodafone sim kiosks, outside the airport is a taxi rank along a patch a grass and standing at the airport doors facing the grass, on your left are the buses.

Facilities:
There is free wireless internet with unlimited number of devices. You are given slips of paper with login information.

The apartment we stayed in had 2 levels.

There was a small courtyard outside with tables and chairs. Each apartment had a car space in front of it which is convenient for people who are renting cars. The car space is included in the room rental cost.

Downstairs there was a small living room which was fine but also a small dining table that seated 4 people which made no sense to me since there was enough space to comfortably sleep 9 people, or 7,  if you don’t want to share a bed.

In the small living room there were sofas, couches, a heater, a closet with an iron and ironing board in it, television which we could not work out how the remote works and dvd player.

The kitchen was okay, was a good size, had adequate facilities and free coffee/tea/hot chocolate/sugar, but what was strange was that you had to walk through the kitchen to get to the downstairs combined bathroom/toilet. There were no toiletries like shampoo except an un-labelled empty shampoo/body lotion dispenser on the shower wall, but each sleeping place (ie 2 on a double bed) had a small bar of soap. The good thing was you can open the windows in the bathroom. Hairdryer available.

Bedrooms:
There was one double bed bedroom downstairs, the rest of the bedrooms were upstairs.

Downstairs Bedroom 1

There are 3 bedrooms upstairs, Bedroom 1 had a single bed, Bedroom 2 had two single beds and one double bed and Bedroom 3 had two single beds.

Note: Part of the staircase has no handrails(seen above). I am mentioning this in case there are people who travels with a large family (and hence books a family apartment) and there are elderly or otherwise people who need handrails.

Upstairs, Bedroom 1

Upstairs, Bedroom 2

Upstairs, Bedroom 3

I was in bedroom 2, it had a quaint little balcony with a great view (the apartments had a great timber cottage style with flowers so great cute photo opportunity) and I slept in the bed right at the door. That’s when I discovered that this room was most likely made for 2 beds because my bed was right in the way of the sliding door wardrobe, one of which doors opened to reveal the hot water heater.

(Just stating the facts, doesn’t mean I didn’t like the place or am recommending against it.)

January is supposed to be summer in New Zealand but it was still quite cold. I’m pretty afraid of the cold, but if you are like me you have nothing to worry about, the blankets and quilts were very sufficient, warm and comfortable, a little too hot even, for the weather. Bed was quite soft and comfortable, pillow too high (don’t know why hotels always have such high pillows). Each bed had bath towels.

There is also a separate toilet and shower room upstairs.

All the bedrooms and bathrooms meant there was plenty of space for all of us.

Breakfast is not included.

Price for 7 people for 1 night: $320 New Zealand dollars.

Stay time: January 19-20, 2016

Verdict:
I give this place 8.5 out of 10 for location, rooms, comfort and facilities. Staff was nice (the reception desk had just one staff member when we were there). Overall the bedrooms were very nice and all had their own heaters. The toiletries could have been a little better and the living/dining room was a bit small.

To book this place now, book now with hotelscombined.com via this affiliate link  (what are affiliate links?).

For flights to and car rental in New Zealand, try Jetradar.

Next stop, Moeraki boulders.

---

Whether it is a flight or a hotel, international or domestic, if you travel a lot, or like my blog, or both, please bookmark this page and support my blog by using my affiliate links to make your next booking!

©All rights reserved for all content and photographs, usage on 3rd party sites are forbidden without permission. Photos are taken by author unless otherwise stated.