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Finding an ideal family-friendly small hotel in Palmerston North does not have to be difficult. Welcome to Ambassador Motel, a nice option for travellers like you.
Ambassador Motel offers guests an array of room amenities including air conditioning, a refrigerator, and a kitchenette, and getting online is possible, as free wifi is available.
The small hotel offers a picnic area, outdoor furniture, and baggage storage, to make your visit even more pleasant. The property also features a pool and barbeque facilities. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking.
Nearby landmarks such as The Square (0.6 mi) and Te Peeti Te Awe Awe (0.6 mi) make Ambassador Motel a great place to stay when visiting Palmerston North.
If you like pubs, Ambassador Motel is conveniently located near Brew Union Brewing Company, La Patio Cafe & Bar, and The Brewer's Apprentice.
During your visit, be sure to check out popular attractions like Victoria Esplanade Gardens (0.4 mi), Robertson Holden International Speedway (0.9 mi), and Dugald MacKenzie Rose Gardens (0.5 mi), which are all within walking distance of the small hotel.
Ambassador Motel puts the best of Palmerston North at your fingertips, making your stay both relaxing and enjoyable.
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
Family
Location
167 Fitzherbert Avenue, Palmerston North 4410 New Zealand
Ambassador Motel
50 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
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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Probably paid to much for a room with mould in the bathroom,sliding door not working properly,kitchen cupboards hard to open.The outside needs quite a bit of work just like the inside.It did have a comfortable bed though.
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Date of stay: January 2016
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Drive to the next motel.
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.
As a regular guest at this Motel over the last two years it was always well maintained and clean, however my last two visits have been disappointing.There has been a change of Management and on my most recent visit I discovered hairs on the sheets, and they didn't smell clean, cobwebs all over the walls, Urine in the seat lid of the loo,. Not wanting to sleep in the double bed so thought I would try my luck with the spare single bed. Saw a dark stain under the sheet and discovered a unwashed bloodstain on the mattress protector,very dusty, no chain on the door,and on a previous visit in another unit, someone tried to enter, fortunately I had a chain on the door. Turns out it was a guest checking in and they gave them the wrong key.They allow dogs in the rooms.Oh and I could've vacuumed the floor myself and come away with a full bag of dust. Will not stay here again......
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Date of stay: March 2011
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
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.
Response from paul k, Owner at Ambassador Motel
Responded 13 Dec 2012
I find it amazing that you call your self a regular guest when you have been here twice in three years-what you failed to mention was you were running a business from my room and failed to tell us and we had dozens of people coming and going all day upsetting genuine guest The only dogs we allow are with genuine reasons ie guide dogs so this women should get her facts straight and we make no apologies for this. All our rooms have chains on the door and are vacumed after each guest leaves. This review was done out of spite because i complained about her running a commercial venture from our room and having unsavoury type people wandering in and out. People like you like to free load and poor shop owners cant compete with fly by nighters who pay no expenses but get all the gains-try being honest with the next motel you stay at and you might get a better response
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Photos advertising this complex online must have been taken years ago. Rooms shabby & dirty. Grounds unkept. Pool dirty. Linen certainly needs to be replaced or at the very least a good soak. Pillows , blankets , etc all very grubby. Overall a very poor , substandard Motel. As I had prepaid online I was forced to stay there , but slept on a blanket I had in my car. Buyer beware..
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Date of stay: February 2012
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
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.
Response from paul k, Owner at Ambassador Motel
Responded 17 Dec 2012
i have real problems with people who hide behind nasty reviews and say what they like -all our linien is sent away and commercially cleaned-we are one of the very few motels that does actually have grounds and they are maintained on a weekly basis- with over 15000 people through in the short time we have been here i find that the seven complaints we have had are from small minded people who have nothing better to do with there lifes -real complaints are dealt with -fictisous ones are just that
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
First thing we did when we got in was put the jug on and make a cuppa. The first cup I picked up hadnt been washed from the last person that used it. The room was not clean like I expect in any motel. All very superficial bench wiped etc. Glad we only booked one night.
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Date of stay: May 2016
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 a motel to stay away from. we spent 1 night here. the rooms are dirty, have broken fixtures and fittings. The lock on the top of the sliding door was hanging by a thread, the carpets filthy, the bed not great, hard uncomfortable and grubby blanket on top. Pillows lumpy old and smelly. Bathroom full of mould, broken rail in bathroom. Rubbish around the complex, mattresses left in the rain overnight outside by a shed. Light fittings full of water, dodgy power plugs, they barely hanging on. No smoke alarm in the unit - really is this even allowed??? It was a cheapish motel, but not the cheapest, we stayed at one down the road after this for the same money and far better condition. Stay away from this motel. Other moteliers in Palmerston North know all about this place and pity you for having stayed there. If we had not paid in advance and arrived quite late, we would have walked.
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Date of stay: March 2016
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 have stayed in the lot of places but this one by a long shot earns the tittle of WORST MOTEL EVER. Photo's looked good, Price was good. But really it was bloody horrible. Don't trust the photo's they must be at least 10 years old. It once was probably a nice place but it is no longer. Was booked for 3 nights but left at midnight on the first night after being run out of the place by people in the room next door drinking and partying. Which the owner did nothing to control. But if the party goers hadn't gotten us first the plague growing inside the room would have. Unable to find the owner on the night to inform him on what was happening we return the next day, he apologised saying that he received several complaints from other guest and said I quote " Someone will be paying for this room and It won't be you guys". A few days later he billed us for the room anyway and he basic told us it was "Tuff luck". My recommendation go 100m down the road toward town to the Kingsgate, the basic rooms are a tiny bit more expensive but worth every dollar. The room where clean and it was quite. If that is out of the budget sleep in your car even the gutter if you have to. You will be glad you did.
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Date of stay: December 2013
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
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.
Our stay was less than pleasant. I advised at time of booking that my husband has mobility issues and was advised we had been allocated a spacious bathroom on that account. First impressions were that of shock. Shock at scruffy exterior which was further evident on most aspects of the interior. I booked for a couple, plus our adult daughter and our 12yr old granddaughter. The unit had two rooms, the bathroom being one of them. A set of bunks and a queen bed were available; no access for upper bunk which was accessed by climbing on to back of nearby sofa as it was unusually high. The linen seemed clean. There were 2 facecloths for 4 people and only 2 replaced on 2nd day. A very large cobweb swung from the ceiling, there was a general 'musty' odour throughout. Two chairs for dining on a bench style table. Cutlery mismatched, crockery chipped and mismatched; no sink bench despite sign on roadside stating Äll units have full kitchens" A grey plastic basin and no dishwash liquid was available for washing up, which we did not do! It was all very tired and very unpleasant. Please do not imagine that a large bathroom with open shower area without any hand rails or any form of support can pass as being suitable for a person with mobility (and balance) issues. Because we only showered, slept and breakfasted was why we stayed for second night and enjoyed being hosted at other daughter's very pleasant motel unit elsewhere. I have learned that excessive research before booking will be time well spent but that photo shots of facilities may not mean a great deal. The photos for this motel are misleading. Our unit was No 833. The reviews for this motel are very mixed in nature of comment so conclude that there is a mixture of quality available. Not right! How would a business of other commodities survive with this level of inconsistency, and no difference in the price charged?
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Date of stay: October 2014
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
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.
After explaining to Petty the receptionist that we were really not satisfied with the cleanliness of the room and were going to stay elsewhere (we did this in what I thought was a polite and respectful way, in no way rude and blaming her), she became rather spiteful and refused to refund us. She did explain that a refund was none of her business and had nothing to do with her, and that we will have to go to her manager. I then asked for her managers contact details, and she replied with “absolutely not”. I explained that I myself work in a hotel, and this low level of cleanliness AND service that we have received is absolutely shocking. Petty then admitted that herself and her manager are actually the ones that clean the rooms (im not sure why you would admit to this considering we had to have our hand towel replaced on arrival due to the fact it was used and dirty), but she went on to accuse us of lying about the clump of long hairs that we found on the bath towels, the mould in the bathroom and the cigarette butts and bottle tops on the deck.
Furthermore, our unit did not have one single Sky TV channel. Silly me for thinking it would, after seeing it advertised outside the motel, in the reception, and having a Sky magazine sitting right in front of me in the unit. After asking Petty about this, she said there should be something on the wall, although she didn’t quite know what this something was. Sure enough, there was nothing on the wall.
From personal experience working in the same industry, I am trained to always treat guests with respect, listen to what they have to say and make their stay as pleasant as possible. But to be told by Petty that she doesn’t believe we will get a refund and that we don’t deserve one (yes she did have one valid point that we did see the room before confirming our stay, but really, are we supposed to check every item in the room to make sure its clean before we say yes?, Afterall, they would probably charge us by the minute if we asked to inspect it this closely before agreeing, as this could take hours). After expressing my disgust in her service and her negative response to our simple requests, she told us she didn’t care.
We then departed. Judging by the past Trip Advisor reviews (some similar to our experience), I am not very hopeful that we are going to receive a refund, or an apology as a matter of fact. However, maybe I can’t be too quick to judge, the owners/managers may just have a conscience and realise how their paying guests are being treated in their absence, and that it is simply not acceptable if you are trying to run a successful and respectable business. We will see.
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Date of stay: June 2014
Value
Location
Cleanliness
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.
It was a small place maintained by a family. There was no extra staff. Rooms were well maintained and clean. Kitchen, bathroom facilities were good. You can't expect much friendly supportive attitude from the management.
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Date of stay: November 2017
Value
Rooms
Service
Trip 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.
I liked the fact that I was contacted with a pin to get my key and directions to the unit as we were arriving after reception closed. When we arrived there was no milk in the fridge and the fridge shelves were cracked. The instructions to get Sky on the Tv were stapled to the wall. There was freeview on the Tv and only three sky channels and only two of them were working. As we had arrived after hours we could not access the wifi as you needed a code from reception. This meant we had to go out to get out pizza as we had no menu. My bed had crumbs in it which I had to brush out. Once that was done the bed was comfortable and I slept well. My son was woken by drunks being noisy in the early hours of the morning. The spa bath was nice. One of the chairs had been damaged and taped up. Both beds were in the same room so there was no privacy. There was no sink to wash dishes in. It was a spacious unit, but I have stayed in others of a comparable price which have been much better. The cooked breakfast arrived on time and was very nice. Overall I would not stay here again, and would not recommend it either.
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Date of stay: September 2014
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled on business
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 Palmerston North area.
PRICE RANGE
$155 - $171 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
New ZealandNorth IslandManawatu-Wanganui RegionPalmerston North
NUMBER OF ROOMS
14
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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