Cathedral Cove Cottage

Very well located, spacious cottage and comfortable.

I have not been to Hahei in years and had some business meetings in Thames earlier in the day, so figured, if not now, when, so booked this property at fairly short notice. The communication could not have been better. I had no idea that the carpark to Cathedral Cove had been moved to the outskirts of town now (understandable!), so this property comes with parking, making it one of the closest places one can stay at along the walkway to Cathedral Cove. So that would be a bonus, I guess. I did not make use of that bonus but did walk down the stairs to the local "other" beach. The property is well maintained and has a Queen Bed, a large open plan living and kitchen area with a full fridge/freezer and a small stovetop oven. Everything one could possibly want for a mini beach break. There is a carpark right outside, reserved for the unit. I only stayed the night, but I truly enjoyed that one, especially for the location.

I can't think of anything at all

Perfect for our one night

Nil

If you type Cathedral Cove Cottage on google map. You will find the location entirely different from the actual location. The picture of the place is also totally different. That was why when I used google gps to locate the place, I was brought to a place on google map, located on a road named Cathedral Ct. I did not notice that on Booking.com, the actual address turns out on another location far away called 78 Grange Road. How can such a thing happen for so long and no one realized it? So imagine, I was in the former location desperately trying to contact the owner and she did not pick up the call even though I left messages. She only answered much later and during which I had to call booking.com thinking I had been scammed. Next, the actual property turned out to be pretty basic. If booking.com goes through my 10day itinerary, I had booked similar homes and they were much cheaper but facility wise & location were so much better. I really didn't know what the premium covered. The home was like a furnace when I entered at 5.30pm. And for NZ320 that I paid for just 1 night, there's no air conditioner either. Even the tea offered were in generic bags while the coffee came in a big bag of powder instead of individual sachets. All these pointing to trying to economize where possible, but you don't do so when you are charging a premium. Next, while a notice there did say to expect bugs, I was thinking mosquitoes or other flying insects. Seeing a cockroach in the room is quite another matter. Cockroaches represents the lack of hygiene. The insecticide available in the kitchen was also one against mosquitoes and did not work for cockroaches. I know because I sprayed on it, following it all the way from the kitchen to where it finally hid under the bed. Last but not least, it seemed like the internet is shared by a few units and it stopped operating some time about 11pm all the way till the following morning.