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2.0
#6 of 6 small hotels in Taupo
Location
Rooms
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Karaka Tree Motel is an excellent choice for travellers visiting Taupo, offering a family-friendly environment alongside many helpful amenities designed to enhance your stay.
You’ll enjoy relaxing rooms that offer a flat screen TV, a minibar, and a kitchenette, and you can stay connected during your stay as Karaka Tree Motel offers guests free wifi.
The small hotel features newspaper. Plus, Karaka Tree Hotel offers a pool and a snack bar, providing a pleasant respite from your busy day. For guests with a vehicle, free parking is available.
Nearby landmarks such as Wairakei Geothermal Power Station Visitor Center (1.3 mi) and Formula Challenge Racing (1.9 mi) make Karaka Tree Motel a great place to stay when visiting Taupo.
While visiting Taupo, you may want to try some ribs at one of the nearby restaurants, such as Dixie Brown's, SMK Southern Meat Kitchen, or Plateau.
Taupo is also home to Huka Falls tracks, a popular waterfall that is not too far from Karaka Tree Hotel.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Budget
Languages Spoken
English
Location
216 Lake Terrace, Taupo TAUPO New Zealand
Karaka Tree Motel
22 reviews
Getting there
Car recommended
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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The host is rude, no welcome greeting, only a grunt. The room is disgustingly dirty, holes in the net curtains along with dead flies. The spa bath is blue with yellow stains. The cutlery consists of Only one knife and one spoon, for two guests. The light fittings are hanging out of the ceiling and make a buzz sound. The mirrors are smeared. The fridge is turned right down so that it’s warm not cold. Have to push a cupboard door right back to gain access to fridge door. The shower is raised on wooden blocks, so high it’s difficult to get out of. No bath mat which means the floor is covered in water. The sofa is sunken and broken. The last straw was , at 9am, the owner tried to gain entry into our room, using a key, to tell us check out is 9am-10am. Fortunately we had the safety chain on the door!
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Date of stay: December 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Do not stay here
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Would not recommend. Horrible experience. We spent most our time out to keep away. Needs a revamp, and a good clean. We have stayed here previously probably around 7-8 years ago. And it was bad then. Glassware cutlery etc had to be cleaned before use. Mould in shower and pool room. The list goes on.
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The reception man was just lovely. The rest was horrible. Waked into room and found hardly any furniture, threadbare carpet no covers on the beds, the bathroom/spa smelt horrible. This motel needs to shut down and re-furbish from top to bottom. The cost was $170 which to be fair we were refunded after we said we could not stay there.
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Date of stay: November 2021
Rooms
Location
Service
Room Tip:Â Don't stay here
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Doreen Solomon, General Manager at Karaka Tree Motel
Responded 5 Jul 2022
Hi Lou, I'm sorry you had a bad experience, which was before my time here. We're a new team and lots have changed. Give it 6 months and you'll see a difference, for good.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Shocking Not clean Bed wasn't made proply Curtains were all hanging of No tv No lamps Outside area looked like the dump So bad didn't smell nice in reception area dishes all dirty shower was so yuck toilet was not clean one towel there was no where else available I would have rather sleeped In my car
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Date of stay: September 2024Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We were really disappointed with our experience at this motel. The room wasn’t clean and it was not clearly stated anywhere that the motel was providing emergency housing accomodation. When our circumstances changed and we had to leave suddenly, the motel were not very accomodating and did not even consider a partial refund. We would not recommend this place to anyone.
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Date of stay: June 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Doreen Solomon, General Manager at Karaka Tree Motel
Responded 5 Jul 2022
Hi Amber, this room was booked via booking com so you needed to go there for a refund consideration. I don't share what fellow guests are here for and you had no knowledge if i even had emergency housing guests. You stayed two hours, your booking.com review was different from this, I'm not sure now which review I should accept as the truth.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Don’t stay at the hotel, the pictures are about 10-15 years old. Shocking hotel, dirty carpets, leaking hot tub, kitchen bench peeling off. No smoke alarms, we complained and got $100 off our stay which was good. This hotels unsafe and should not be operating.
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Date of stay: February 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is not as advertised. We had the misfortune of staying in Room 9. The deck was covered in paint and rotten to the point of dangerous. The spa was empty except building detritus and covered with rotten and swollen ply. Not the "private patio" as advertised. The room had a smell of damp, probably from the swollen and rotten wood around the sink and units and this stench permeated the beds and seats. You could hear everything from the rooms on either side and above. We spent our time out of the room, only using it to try and get some sleep on the uncomfortable beds. The management were unresponsive and unhelpful. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
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Date of stay: January 2023
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Â Rooms in another motel or a bench by the lake are a better option
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The spa bath is taped all through with black tape but still full of massive leaks and rotten boards. Dirty windows and walls, holes in walls, dirty carpet, condom wrapper under bed, sheet with 5 hairs on it, bugs in room (went and bought bug spray), no remote for TV and terrible TV reception. $197 for 4 people. Staff did remake the bed after we complained and room had clean towels.
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Date of stay: December 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dirty, run down, don’t walk on the carpet without shoes. What a shame because it’s in a great position and not cheap. This could be a great place if the modernised it and steam cleaned it. There is no excuse for uncleanliness. Makes me ashamed to be a kiwi if this is what we put forward to our tourists
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Date of stay: June 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Place was really dirty black long hair everywhere in the bathroom blood on duvets and so much dust no mattress protectors on the beds.
Found bugs in kitchen drawers.
Shower has a very high step in was told there were no cleaner on the to days we stayed.
Found out later our first night the the place is emergency housing and all the first floor holds them and the noise was unbearable.
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Date of stay: February 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Taupo area.
PRICE RANGE
$131 - $168 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
karaka tree hotel taupo
LOCATION
New ZealandNorth IslandWaikato RegionTaupo DistrictTaupo
NUMBER OF ROOMS
24
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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