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The Shepherds Arms Hotel & Speight's Ale House is a Boutique Hotel offering a warm and friendly stay in Wellingtons oldest historical village. Close to all Ferries, Train Station, Botanic Gardens, Parliament, Katherine Mansfield House, Cable Car and Wellingtons vibrant night life. A full restaurant and Bar is available downstairs offering great Kiwi hospitality with fantastic meals and the best range of quality NZ Beers. Free car parking, internet, laundry is also available. We look forward to seeing you soon.
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
Historic Hotel
Quaint
Languages Spoken
English
Location
285 Tinakori Road, Wellington 6011 New Zealand
Shepherds Arms Hotel
226 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
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A quaint hotel in the heart of Thorndon. Be aware no lift to the rooms. They replaced the towels the following day but the tea cups were not cleaned and the beds were not made up. No facility to do the cups ourselves. The window required 2 of us to push it up to hold and insert the locking pin. Asked for a fan, which they did provide but it was very small and noisy. Great to have a view over the street but the boy racers at night did not help. One of the curtains needs serious repair and is a health hazard if you tripped over it.
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Date of stay: January 2021
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
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.
Large friendly bar/restaurant area. Not a large menu but it covers most needs. Our beer drinker friend said that the selection of ales was goodStaff are efficient enough and helpful. Would certainly go back again. .
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Date of stay: December 2022
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
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.
I think the room was undergoing some sort of refurbishment, but this wasn’t mentioned when booking. It was shabby, ceiling in bathroom was mouldy and peeling, bathroom door had writing on it and was dirty, and there were blue (full) laundry bags outside our room on arrival which were still there the next day. The room didn’t look the same as the picture. Sure it was cheap and you get what you pay for, but had no idea it would be as shabby as that. We’ve stayed here before and it was quite ok.
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Date of stay: July 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.
Reception and housekeeping were friendly and housekeeping was done to a clean standard, with toiletries provided. Location very convenient to Thorndon, Botanical Gardens and western suburbs. Onsite parking.
The bad bits:
1. TL;DR charged for 3 rooms instead of the 2 used due to an error at check in. Manager is refusing to reimburse us for unused room. Seriously doubt they would have sold the vacant room later than our 7pm check in.
We booked two twin rooms for our group. On being checked into just one room at reception (lovely friendly receptionist) I checked my booking.com email and then queried reception, showing them my email. Both bookings were listed in my booking.com email and neither of us noticed that the second room was booked under the name of my partner. The receptionist therefore didn't realise that the other room our party had booked was ours. Honest mistake on both parts. She said there were no twin rooms free and offered us a slightly more expensive queen room with ensuite (which I agreed to and paid for on the spot).
Later we discovered that the hotel had set aside a second twin room (in my partner's name). Booking.com had charged the hotel the booking fee and later the hotel charged the room to our credit card.
I phoned to sort this out (left a voice mail, got no response). I followed up by email when we got back from travel and asked to be refunded for our unused room (which was cheaper than the room we ended up paying for).
The response was rude. The manager said the refund couldn't be made because a non-refundable booking fee had been paid to booking.com. I said I was happy to cover the fee and otherwise be reimbursed either for the room we didn't use or the room we didn't book. Roughly 2 weeks later, still no response. We were open to solving this without loss to the hotel. (Again, it is highly doubtful at 7pm that they would have sold the empty room if available to anyone else). Manager refuses to engage and I now see that the hotel is currently not taking bookings through booking.com.
2. The rooms were clean but in need of repair. We booked cheap and you get what you pay for. But having moved to a slightly more expensive Queen room with spa tub, we wouldn't have wanted to use the that feature (spa tub) because of rotten wood surrounds. Also, we couldn't sit in the chair because it was at risk of collapse.
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Date of stay: December 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip 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.
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Several problems in this hotel complicated our stay. The room itself was good, however, the bathroom had a shower where the paint was coming up. The lack of ventilation had caused a lot of mold on the ceiling of the bathroom and parking was very limited. The taps were separate, hot and cold, making hand washing unpleasant. The bathrooms really need to be redone. In addition, the floors are noisy and the hotel is insufficiently soundproofed. The reception was poor. Throughout our stay there was almost never anyone at reception and we had to contact the restaurant. The parking lot was very small. Even if we request a late arrival, no one is there to welcome us.
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Date of stay: November 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
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.
If you go to the effort to make a reservation to book a room, and even if you get an e-mail back confirming that your reservation is confirmed as being all correct, I STRONGLY suggest that you telephone them first to make sure all is okay rather than assume it. We made a booking several weeks in advance and drove 2 1/2 hours to Wellington only to be told that they have "computer issues" and that sorry, but no room for you two. AND yes it is impossible to find reasonable priced accommodation in Wellington at 3.00pm in the afternoon !!!!!!
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Date of stay: May 2021
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.
Response from , Owner at Shepherds Arms Hotel
Responded 25 May 2021
Hi Mark, Please contact booking.com re this issue. Please find attached the reason why your booking was not in our system. Please ring the hotels direct to make bookings as this way we are responsible and not a third party with no care. Hi Greg, Carolina from Booking.com advised that they had an internal bug that affected the modification of this reservation been sent to STAAH. Below is a screenshot of her reply. Booking.com were made aware of this issue but did not reach out to you. Shepherds Arms Hotel is sorry for the way Booking.com have treated you .
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Location good and room itself adequate. But, don’t stay in a room connected by a door as noise travels under and hotel take no responsibility for rowdy guests plus if the room beside you is smoking and smoke wafts IMO your room, still hotel takes no responsibility. If the room beside has early morning guests checking in at 5am and they’re noisy, again management sorry but take no responsibility. Get the picture ? And that night manager number to call in the night for assistance seeing you paid money for a reasonable sleep ? Goes nowhere and hotel sorry but take no responsibility. Tip: stay somewhere else. Homegrown weekend was the excuse. That’s BS. We went to Homegrown and didn’t behave like f*wits.
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Date of stay: March 2021Trip 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.
Ok, the pros… Awesome value for money in central Wellington. Bed was really comfortable and entire room was clean. Downstairs they had great food, big selection of drinks and a very cool pub atmosphere
The cons You are sharing the toilet and bathroom with the entire floor not just next door room. I stayed ona Saturday night and the noise from sleeping above a bar wasn’t too bad, but you know what I mean.
They say you have a carpark but it’s really if one’s available
Would I stay there again…?. Absolutely
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Date of stay: May 2022Trip type: Travelled solo
Room Tip: Don’t count on a carpark being available however there’s always street parking
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.
Staff were friendly and the beds were fine. We couldn't use our ensuite bathroom because the sliding door was so broken you could barely get in and out. Also had no ventilation. Thankfully there was a seperate shower and toilet down the hall, but that shower didn't drain. There were no hand drying facilities in the toilet. Wouldn't stay here again.
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Date of stay: September 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Â Low Budget quality
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.
Great place to eat with family and children. I had the fish and chips (with groper) and it was all tasty and cooked well. Friendly staff and nice atmosphere, only slight complaint was a member of the party ordering a Thai beef salad with only a few strips of beef which was a bit disappointing considering the price. Overall, great experience and would come here again :)
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Date of stay: January 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.
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND488 contributions287 helpful votes
Parking is off street right next to(just before) the hotel on the left.
They have their own car park area - first come, first served- free and is quite safe.
There are more places to choose from in the Wellington area.
PRICE RANGE
$96 - $123 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
New ZealandNorth IslandGreater WellingtonWellington
NUMBER OF ROOMS
243
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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