Name: Willowbank Motel
Address: 183 Beach Road, Kaikoura, 7300, NZ

2/10

Poor

01 Mar 2026

Neil

This motel is not fit for purpose. Our room was dirty. Carpets grubby and stained, duvet stained. Outside area full of detritus, and unfinished paving at the front of the room. The host had said that there were only 2 members of staff to clean all the units. The owner was on holiday. This accommodation was well below the standard expected,the photos online were misleading at best, and did not show the poor and dirty quality of the apartment. There were no other rooms available. We left the following morning before 10 am and will be requesting a refund for one night.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

11 Feb 2026

Susan

Instructions via email was clear which room was ours and how to enter the room. Unit was clean and spacious. Close to New World, walking distance. Only downside, it is very noisy with the traffic at night on the main road.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

05 Jan 2026

Fred

Room was clean .

10/10

Exceptional

22 Sep 2025

Charlotte

Was a great stay tidy warm close to supermarket enjoyed it

10/10

Exceptional

22 Apr 2025

Debbie

This was excellent value for the price. It was actually a holiday home. We booked for 3 people however the place slept 12. The manager opened a second room for us to accommodate our daughter even though not required to. Friendly and very clean.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

16 Mar 2025

chao

good

8/10

Excellent

08 Mar 2025

James

inside the unit looks like just refurbished ,free netflix. host was vey helpful

Leisure

10/10

Exceptional

07 Feb 2025

Deirdre

Was welcoming and clean, plenty of room and lovely staff

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

29 Dec 2024

Susan

Tidy & clean, just a bit small but adequate

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

19 Nov 2024

Davina

Loved this property, we had enough room for everybody, each room had its own aircon and tv and we could also watch Netflix on their accounts, each room had their own account which was awesome if you didnt want to watch the same thing, the only thing they need is a clothes horse or clothes line to hang clothes after using their washing machine.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

12 Feb 2024

Melissa

The property was very clean and had good space for relaxing. The bed was comfortable and the kitchen well appointed.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

11 Jan 2024

Meredith

Loved this place and would have loved to have stayed longer than 1 night!

Leisure Family_with_children

10/10

Exceptional

30 Nov 2023

Andrew

Clean and tidy

Leisure Friends

8/10

Excellent

04 May 2021

Andreas

Just what I needed

Great stay great service

Business

10/10

Exceptional

08 Feb 2021

Verified traveler

Great location on main road heading into town. Lovely service, very friendly and helpful. Big room and living areas and nice and clean

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

31 Jan 2021

Peter

Good value for money. Friendly and welcoming manager. Clean room. Oven top a bit slow to heat the pan

Leisure

8/10

Excellent

06 Jan 2021

Joanne

5 minute walk to beach

Friendly service, high levels of cleanliness and great little kitchenette. 5 minute walk to beach and around 20-30 minute walk into town centre. If you're a light sleeper, would recommend ear plugs as walls between units thin/not sound-proof. Not a fancy motel but had everything we needed for our stay.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

20 Dec 2020

Amber

Very happy

Great place. Highly recommend. Tidy easy to access. Will stay here again

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

11 Sep 2020

Verified traveler

The room was tidy enough, but the wall heater broke and the replacement was extremely average. As noted by another reviewer, the room had a notice that all dishes must be washed or face a $50 penalty - not ideal in the time of Covid.

Leisure Family

6/10

Pleasant

06 Sep 2020

Matthew

Expectation to wash your own dishes

The motel until was OK, nothing wrong, but was quite old. Check-in staff was very friendly and helpful. We were surprised at the sign in the kitchen saying if you don't wash your own dishes you will be charged $50. I have stayed at many motels all around NZ and have never seen such a sign. I have even been told by cleaning staff at other motels not to bother washing my dishes as for hygiene reasons they have to clean everything again anyway. We decided to rewash everything before eating on plates as we couldn't be sure the previous guests will have washed the plates well, especially in the current COVID climate. The price was quite high for the quality in my opinion - we stayed in another motel in Picton the next night, the room was bigger, much more modern and very clean for $10 cheaper.

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

22 Aug 2020

Fred

Friendly operator. Clean and tidy. Excellent shower.

Friends_and_family Partner

8/10

Excellent

17 Feb 2020

Sharon

Clean and comfortable

Friends_and_family Friends

10/10

Exceptional

11 Jan 2020

Verified traveler

Excellent location, and price was very reasonable. Staff were helpful and friendly. The motel was very clean.

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

02 Sep 2019

Erick

Comfortable bed and a great shower. Room was clean and staff very helpful. Would stay again.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

31 Aug 2019

Helen

Awesome friendly little motel.

Very accommodating. Driving from Invercargill to New Plymouth with Kaikoura our overnight. Phoned to ask what time was last check in, was quite late and prepared to wait for us. Got there, very friendly had put heater on in unit do was lovely and warm. Awesome friendly service, clean and tidy room and for a very good price. Would stay there again and eould recommend to others.

Partner

2/10

Poor

25 Mar 2019

Nick

The chap who checked us in was lovely. The room is appalling; threadbare carpet at threshold, electrical tape holding electric towel rail wiring together, an odd screening to the main bedroom, mouldy everything everywhere in the bathroom. If we had arrived at this motel 40 years ago on a family holiday we as teenagers would have kicked up a fuss about it. We got up early to leave our third world motel room behind

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

23 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

Spacious room, but in need of some maintenance. Nothing particularly bad but suffers in comparison to other motels in this price range

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

22 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

An older build on motels which could do with refreshing. Okay at the price.

Leisure Family

2/10

Poor

19 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

The place was discussing. In my opinion it would not rate as a Backpacks let alone a Motel. It is a bad reflection on our Country to advertise these premises as they would be extremely disappointing for any Turist on arrival.

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

19 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

The service was excellent. Very helpful young man checked us in. The room was basic and functional. It didn’t smell great but the water was hot and the bed comfortable.

Leisure

2/10

Poor

05 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

The property was that discusting we refused to stay there

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

22 Sep 2018

John

Good reasonably priced motel

My wife and I were impressed by the high standard of the unit, considering the reasonable price of it.

8/10

Excellent

02 Sep 2018

Verified traveler

Just what we needed

The kids loved the bed and the shower. We had a wee fridge for our breakfast and snacks. We were there to sleep and it did the trick :)

8/10

Excellent

18 Aug 2018

Verified traveler

Reasonable priced Motel

The view from the Willowbank Motel to the Kaikoura hills is beautiful, especially in winter with the snow capped mountains. Helpful and friendly staff. We did try to use the iron in the room but were not able to find it, and tried to contact reception as well but no lick. Apart from that a lovely stay.

4/10

Poor

26 Apr 2017

Niels

Way overpriced compared to other NZ motels

The motel was very pricey compared to other motels we booked during our trip. We expected an experience to match the price but were quite disappointed. It's a plain motel with worn furniture that looks like it's been mixed and matched. Not well maintained. The staff was quite helpful though and there are not a lot of other options in town since a lot of hotels/motels seem to have closed shop after the quake.

10/10

Exceptional

06 Nov 2016

sloane

great well priced accomadation

friendly hosts comfy bed,left items behind and they took care of it till we returned to collect.

2/10

Poor

23 Mar 2016

Verified traveler

All the windows were open and it smelled like an entire can of room freshener had been sprayed about. What were they trying to cover? - yuck!

6/10

Pleasant

12 Dec 2015

Verified traveler

I feel internet access should be included in the room rate, not an extra because the room was booked at an Internet rate

4/10

Poor

10 Aug 2015

Gazza44

One Very Cold Night

We stayed one night which was terrible. It was uncomfortably cold. The two heaters had not been turned on and when we did had to do it ourselves, Had to go to bed early as it was so cold but the electric blankets did work. The hot water shower was great but the wash basin was badly chipped. WiFi was $5 for 1 hour so we did not use it, The rooms were very small. Very limited TV on free to air channels. We would never stay there again.
Do have photos and will put them on TripAdvisor asap.

8/10

Excellent

15 Jul 2015

susana

good for money paid

The wall of the rooms are thin. Breeze gets in and freezing cold at night. I was waken up by the cold wind. We had the heater on but it was cold too

Family

4/10

Poor

03 Jun 2015

Sue

Basic motel but cold

I've stayed here before but not in the winter. When I arrived (1 degree outside) all the windows were open and it was like walking into a fridge. While the heater definitely warmed the room up, it was very noisy.

The bedding is completely inadequate for Kaikoura wintertime - one lightweight cover and a blanket. I needed the additional blanket (only 1 provided) doubled over me, plus the electric blanket on all night to be warm enough to sleep. Couldn't keep the heater on over night as it was much too noisy. Won't be staying there again!

6/10

Pleasant

20 May 2015

shazz

sky tv

No sky wouldn't stay again but apart from that all was fine

4/10

Poor

11 May 2015

Robert

Not very welcoming & smelly unit!

Not the best of stays at this motel.
Being the capital of crayfish in NZ unfortunately we believe someone had ditched the shells straight outside the window or managed to get crayfish juice in the carpet...it basically reeked!
We let the manager know but he wasn't too helpful saying he'd just cleaned it but did find a can of airfreshner when I asked for some.
Neighbouring guests smoked straight outside our unit.
The managers/owners were not people persons & we certainly didn't feel welcomed at any time during our stay.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

19 Apr 2015

Verified traveler

I thought the standard off cleanliness not great. Its not one I would recommend.

8/10

Excellent

11 Apr 2015

Verified traveler

Great accomodation.nice location. handy laundry facilities.

4/10

Poor

29 Mar 2015

Leanne Dawn

Dissappointing

Welcoming staff member very abrupt we found our selves wishing we had booked somewhere else. On arrival the
Street appeal was very poor. Bed needs replacing. Quilt yuck.

6/10

Pleasant

22 Mar 2015

Verified traveler

Willowbank, good for one night only

Water pressure was too low in the shower.
Room was not private, had space above wall and sliding doors to bedroom were glass.
Not well insulated, heard road noise all night.

Family

8/10

Excellent

02 Mar 2015

Ronald

Kaikoura

Very peaceful surroundings and nice grounds. Kaikoura is a heavily visited area and it was nice to be out of the busy part of town.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

20 Feb 2015

John

Facilities: Above average, About to be even better!; Value: Great deal; Service: Go the extra mile; Cleanliness: Gleaming, Modernsmart comfortable;
Rural views one way; glacier Mountain views from the windows. Great plans for imminent tennis courts.

Partner

2/10

Poor

22 Jan 2015

Aussie Family

Poor value for money

We stayed in the larger 2 bedroom unit at the back of the property and the room had a terrible smell. We were not impressed considering the amount we paid them. We would not stay there again.

6/10

Pleasant

18 Jan 2015

Verified traveler

Basic

Could use some updating, carpets new but bed covers well worn and faded

6/10

Pleasant

30 Dec 2014

Brook

Fine place to stay.

The staff were really friendly and helpful. They provided milk when we arrived for coffee and gave us recommendations and directions. The location was fine. The hotel was fine. It wasn't anything fancy but fulfilled the need.

Family

8/10

Excellent

21 Nov 2014

Daniel

Facilities: Nice ; Value: Affordable; Service: Polite;

8/10

Excellent

20 Nov 2014

Severino

Facilities: Basic; Value: Moderate; Service: Professional; Cleanliness: Hygienic ;

Partner

4/10

Poor

11 Oct 2014

David

Facilities: Tired; Cleanliness: Clean but smelled damp;
Only think of staying here if it's really cheap

8/10

Excellent

15 Jun 2014

Wilfred

Spoons where serving spoons not desert spoons to big.

8/10

Excellent

04 May 2014

Stephen

Facilities: Nice ; Value: Economical; Service: Good; Cleanliness: Pleasant;

8/10

Excellent

30 Apr 2014

Maureen

Facilities: Tired, Nothing special; Value: Affordable; Service: Courteous; Cleanliness: Rooms not finished off.;

6/10

Pleasant

24 Mar 2014

Robyn

Facilities: Tired, Old, Past damp smell verymusty; Value: Over-priced, Could be better; Service: Respectful, Friendly, Courteous; Cleanliness: Poor, touchables ok. rest dirty;
Fittings were cheap and didnt feeel nice. No smoke alarm !!!

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

12 Mar 2014

Krish

Facilities: Nice ; Value: Affordable; Service: Professional; Cleanliness: Immaculate;
over all happy with everything

Family

8/10

Excellent

22 Feb 2014

Ray

Afordable

Partner

8/10

Excellent

04 Feb 2014

robbie

Facilities: Basic, Unpretentious, Typical; Value: Moderate, Fair price, Reasonable; Service: Professional, Respectful, Courteous; Cleanliness: Hygienic , Clean, Neat;

8/10

Excellent

20 Jan 2014

Linda

Not too far from shopping centre

6/10

Pleasant

15 Jan 2014

Sarah

Value: Acceptable price; Service: Basic; Cleanliness: Hygienic ;

Family

8/10

Excellent

08 Dec 2013

Felicity

Facilities: Good, Modern; Value: Inexpensive; Service: Courteous; Cleanliness: Clean, Neat;

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

13 Nov 2013

John

Facilities: Generally good; Value: Kaikoura quite pricey;
.Mouldy and cobweb covered wall and downpipe that could be seen from kichen window Unit 11) creates poor impression

Partner

8/10

Excellent

27 Oct 2013

Raymond

Facilities: Ordinary; Value: Cheap; Service: Polite; Cleanliness: Spotless;
No

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

22 Aug 2013

Verified traveler

Great Value and comfortable relaxing stay

The motel is a bit away from the town center, but not terribly so. The rooms are folksy and comfortable. The Glass entries would worry me in some places but not here. The area was quiet and overall a good stay

6/10

Pleasant

26 Jul 2013

Susan

Facilities: Tired; Value: Low-priced; Service: Lacking;

8/10

Excellent

18 Jul 2013

Michelle

Facilities: Typical; Value: Affordable; Service: Basic; Cleanliness: Pleasant;
handle fell off of a door, latch off a window, severe condensation and we had to wipe windows as they were dripping water onto carpet and a damp feel

Family

8/10

Excellent

22 Jun 2013

Marice

Facilities: no hot water ; Service: Professional;
Herd the traffic

8/10

Excellent

22 Apr 2013

Sandy

Facilities: Good; Value: Affordable; Service: Sufficient; Cleanliness: Immaculate;

6/10