The Pacific Apartments

I hate to be negative when reviewing my accommodation, but I really was disappointed in this one. The pictures on the website look a lot nicer than my room turned out to be. I think they must have been taken years ago, before wear and tear set it. I had a one bedroom apartment with kitchen, laundry and bathroom. (209) Also a nice wide balcony. The apartment block is in an excellent location, one road back from the main beach, and across the road from the Mount Hot pools. You can see Mount Maunganui from the balcony. It was great to have a washing machine and dryer and a fully equipped kitchen, even if I didn't use it. The water pressure in the shower is great, the towels are big and white, and the bed was comfy enough, but... the pillows were not good. 4 different levels of comfort but they felt old and well over their use-by date. The furniture in the room has seen better days. It definitely looks like it was kitset and hasn't been replaced in a long time. The bedside table was bubbling and peeling, the couch was a small two seater which did not feel comfortable enough to relax on and the TV is a cheap one from The Warehouse that didn't have any features except for Sky TV. It was also quite far away from the couch. I went to use the ironing board and it has a cover, but there is no padding underneath it, so that needs replacing. The balcony furniture has seen better days too. The website claims: "The Pacific Apartments offer quality furnishings and fittings in all apartments, modern decor, superior finish and impeccable styling. " Well, that was not true for my room, which cost me $540 for two nights. It was very bland with little thought to interior design. It was just me staying and I didn't use any of the other on site facilities - gym, pool, conference room and carpark. I'd say, stay here for the location, but don't expect it to be a nice place to relax and lounge in. Sorry. But that is true from my experience.

As a Tripadvisor aficionado, I had naturally read a number of the review of The Pacific Apartments before I went and so forewarned, as they say, is forearmed. I knew to expect a list of rules (that mostly seemed to be about noise prevention - perhaps to comply with some body corporate rules??) and knew that there was an expectation to take the rubbish out at the end so none of that was a big deal. I also knew that there was some remediation work being done on a property next door which blocks the view but was really pleased that the management were so upfront about it that they called me before I came to explain this and to offer me a discount accordingly. As such, we weren't planning on spending a great deal of time in the apartment and so wasn't concerned about that. The two bedroom apartment we had was warm, spacious, had two bathrooms, was clean (but without being flawless) and has the ability to self cater if you wanted. We used the spa pool and my daughter used the gym - and all up we had a good stay at a handy location that's near the beach and five minutes' walk to shops and restaurants.

We had a two bed apartment on an upper floor which had wonderful view over Pilot Bay. The apartment was spotless and everything was in very good condition. The location is perfect and an easy walk to the Mount and both beaches. A relatively short walk into the shops, (Maybe 15 mins or so) and an easy drive everywhere else. Would happily stay there again.