The Beachcomber Hotel - Tāhunanui

I don't know why but going by the photos i expected something different, more relaxed, more beachy....it was clean and everything it should be but incredibly noisy outside (traffic). It is closer to kfc and macdonalds than the beach. The beach reserve is absolutely worth it though. Mini zoo and lots of relaxing space. We found a list of do's and dont's in the room that was abit much. It spoiled our mood to the point were we felt less comfortable. Honestly nothing wrong with the quality of accommodation or service. Spa bath was great and good quality pillows.

This is a beautiful Motel, so clean and everything you need. Within walking distance from McDonald's and KFC

It was a good stay be that as it was only over night. Their facilities were good and the room was well presented and serviced

The receptionist Hannah was lovely on the phone. Room bigger than I expected, great location. My partner and I would stay again

Good base to explore Nelson from. There is a pool on-site, and it is close to Tahunanui Beach. Also a short drive to Nelson centre. The rooms were basic but had everything we needed. Staff were also very friendly and accomodating with our needs and requests.

Good clean units, only a bit dark. The pool is great. But of real concern is the lack of security and privacy with the general public using the car park as thoroughfare from one street to the other, peering into everything and commenting loudly. Even had groups of motorcyclists roaring through, for heavens sake. They urgently need security gates at both ends.

The BeachComber - The Good, the Bad and the UGLY. (In reverse order) In summary, I felt this Motel was all about making maximum profit and COVID-19 provided a further excuse to lower their service. THE UGLY. On the 9th of May 2021, I reached out to the BeachComber Hotel and made a reservation for a 5 night Christmas stay, arriving on the 24th of December. I advised them that I would be with my wife and infant child. After seeing a Spa unit with Kitchenette on the Booking.com website, I reserved this unit and booked directly with the Motel as I knew that doing this would mean more money in their pocket and less in that of a large American corporation. The booking process was relatively stress free, they obtained the credit details and that was the end of the process. The day before check-in occurred on the evening of the 23rd of December, Lisa from the BeachComber contacted me to confirm arrival details and also wanted to advise me that the BeachComber was now a Vaccine Only Hotel and that we would have to prove we had all received a double jab before we would be allowed entry. When I queried this, I found that they had become Vaccination Only on the 3rd of December, however had failed to let all of their guests know. - How incredible is that? Unfortunately for me and my family, we had received the JAB to keep our jobs but I truly felt for the holiday makers that were going to be looking for new accommodation options on the Eve of Christmas, as Nelson was fully booked. - This is an absolute disgrace by any business standard. THE BAD. As previously mentioned we had advised that we would be arriving with an infant child and the BeachComber provided us with a portacot at an extra $15 per night. That is unfortunately where their thoughtfulness stopped, as they also decided to put us on the top floor, with no other option than a multitude of stairs to reach our unit. - As a result of this, our pushchair had to be disassembled everyday and kept in our vehicle, as we didn’t have the capability to traverse the stairs with both a child and a pushchair. The unit was dirty and dusty. The cleaner must've be quite short, because anything above 5ft was dirty and dusty, including the top shelves and cupboards in the kitchenette The hot water must have been shared between a lot of Motel rooms, as every time someone turned on a tap, the warm shower you were having would turn cold. This would happen multiple times a shower, every shower. There was only one entrance into the Motel. From a security point of view this was probably a good choice, but the problem with this is that people checking into the Motel seemed to think it was alright to park in the entrance way whilst they went into reception. This meant that you couldn’t enter or exit the complex until they came out and moved their vehicle. This happened twice. As mentioned above, whilst only one of the entrances was accessible, and the second had a chain across it, I assumed that this was done for security reasons. - I didn’t see a single security camera at the Motel during my stay. - You would think that in this modern day it would be nice to have at least a couple of cameras. It would have definitely made me feel a bit safer, knowing that a great deal of my property was left in our vehicle overnight as we couldn’t/or didn’t want to bring it up the stairs. The Motel also had some sort of horrible policy about rooms being serviced. In summary, they wouldn’t do it unless you requested it in advance each day. They put this down to COVID-19. Seemed strange as they were a vaccination only facility. - Furthermore, every time I saw a staff member or cleaner, they were never wearing a mask, this included the cleaner that was in our room at one point. For a place that is so cautious about COVID, you would think that masks would be worn when cleaners are servicing rooms? THE GOOD. Both cleaners that I spoke to were very kind and friendly. The Motel had excellent curtains which were high quality blackout ones. This was great when we were putting our child down for daytime naps.

I stayed here for a single night after completing the Abel Tasman great walk. Booking only the day off. Staff were very quick to help and sort me a room. I stayed in the “Spa Unit”. It had lush thick blackout curtains, the bed was very comfortable. There was a fan and a heater in the room, as well as generous tea/coffee facilities. A fridge, a microwave, a hairdryer. For a motel, and the price of the room, I was thoroughly impressed and overall very satisfied. Also a very convenient location, able to walk to dinner, beach, or late night snacks within minutes. Will be returning if I’m ever in the area!