We had to stay in town for five days on a visit here from America. Part of this hotel is a new…read moregreen hotel, the Clarion. It has huge rooms, full kitchens with a dishwasher and a washer/dryer in the room. We enjoyed the high-end fixtures, the huge towels and the friendly who made a difficult stay easier for us. There is a restaurant on-site that makes amazing seafood chowder.

From the owner: Relax and enjoy the modern facilities and flexible accommodation solutions of Hamilton's iconic…read moreAmbassdador Hotel located in central Hamilton. Our hotels and motel are walking distance from Waikato Stadium, Founders Theatre, Seddon Park & Claudelands Events Centre, driving distance to Hamilton Airport, Hobbiton, Hamilton Gardens and Waitomo Caves.

This is a really neat hotel, we found it last minute when we got to Hamilton, and for a great…read moreprice. I think it was a little over a 100/night and the room was huge. It is a renovated building with an elegant atmosphere and a convenient location. It is right in the heart of Hamilton on a main street with lots of restaurants and bars in walking distance. A really nice restaurant, Portofino is adjoining the hotel, we ate here that night before going out to the bars down the street. My review of the restaurant is also listed. The service was excellent, everyone was very friendly and quickly got us situated in our room even though we had just booked it online 10 mins before. There is parking in a lot behind the hotel, so don't do what we did and drive around for 30 mins trying to find parking on the street. The room was very nice. Spacious as I mentioned. Elegantly decorated with clean linens and a huge and clean bathroom. There was a mini fridge for sure, I don't recall if there was also a microwave. It was quiet and sleeping was no problem. If I was coming back to Hamilton I would make it a point to stay here again.

Not the best hotel, but certainly not the worst either…read more If you plan on driving, be aware that you'll probably have to park at SkyCity or somewhere else in the area. Additionally, even if breakfast is not included in your reservation, food and beverage staff members may imply that it is included by ushering you into the buffet with no warning and neglecting to show you a receipt at the end of your meal. If you fall into the same trap we did, expect to pay $34 per person per day. The room and facilities themselves were fine.

We recently stayed at the Novotel Tainui for 1 night to attend a wedding. After returning from the…read morereception in the evening, we were getting ready for bed. On pulling the sheet back, there was a large mark on the sheet near the pillow, which seemed to be a sticky gum-like substance. We made a call to front desk (unanswered) and then room service (also a 40 minute wait by the way) to address the issue. We then had to get dressed again and wait for housekeeping - who dealt with it quickly and remade the bed for us. They expressed their regret and apologised. They assured us this would be followed up as it was not a good standard. On checkout the next morning, no mention was made from staff around this housekeeping issue, nor the interruption to our stay (and the feeling that our room had not been setup to a clean standard). I brought up the matter and received a quick and insincere apology before being presented with our parking charges. Whilst we were happy the matter was dealt to - and the housekeeping lady that attended clearly was unhappy with whomever had made up the bed with dirty sheets, we were not happy with total lack of remediation at checkout. Paying what we did for a single night, an insincere apology really didn't cut it. To have such a response from the staff member at checkout was both insulting and completely unsympathetic. To add further insult to injury after we sent feedback, we were offered a free breakfast 'on our return'. Since when does a future discount remediate poor service? I raised this again and the hotel disagreed with any kind of cash recompense. This could have easily been satisfactorily sorted by comping the parking but they managed to make it worse. We won't be back. Hotel is tired and shabby and our floor smelled of Ammonia. Note - Housekeeping response and communication was excellent. It's a shame the same couldn't be said for those whose role it is to be frontline customer service.

A little more expensive than our other hotels but worth the extra money! And it still was a very…read morefair price for the location and room quality. The room that we has was definitely recently renovated and kept up very well. There was a little kitchen with a sitting area and the bed was nice and comfy. The bathroom wasn't huge but it was fine. There was counter space, which is always a problem when I go to other motels. The motel was pretty close to the small town but we ended up driving to another restaurant nearby that we really wanted to go to. After dinner we walked around town a bit. There were some choices for dinner but they were limited so heads up about that. No major problems with the hotel or room and I would definitely stay here again if we ever find ourselves in the city of Hamilton!

Had a room for one night, the woman from the front desk let me use her phone charger because i…read moredidn't have an adapter. Very nice room, solid place

I have had to stay at this hotel twice for quarantine coming into New Zealand. The hotel itself is…read moreok for what is 3 star, I mean its basic, but there are worse places to stay. The Food however - wow, it is terrible, and I dont mean a little terrible - its really bad. I know the hotel has to work within a budget, but I have friends that have stayed in different locations and from the pictures, their food is leaps and bounds over the stuff the Distinction serves up. 9 times out of 10 it turns up cold, it looks to me like they have 2 people (maybe 3) delivering the food to the hotel guests - I have seen the delivery start, yet it can be 45 mins before it would come anywhere close to me so I get the cold - and thats just bad logistics from the hotel. Most of the time its well overcooked, they put a salad in with breakfast nearly everyday (salad - breakfast - by salad I mean leafs). Vegetables are soggy, meats over cooked - and some stuff I don't even know what it is - look, I cant describe it, its just very very poor, and it was the same both times Ive stayed - and remember, we are paying $3100 to stay in a 3 star hotel and crap food - they should do better.

Very run down old fashion hotel. My stay was not helped by a bus load of Asian tourists arriving at…read more2am and taking an hour of loud discussion in the hallway outside my room to get everyone into a room. Lots of better places to stay in Hamilton.

Booked online weeks before. Photos online always look great but this place was better than…read moreexpected. Clean and tidy with comfortable bed and nice clean bathroom. Great for a family of 4 with a single room for the children to share. Was blown away that there was a TV in the living room and bedroom, so reduced the fighting over what's on. Only there one night so didn't use cooking facilities but they seemed fine. Rooms were quiet and off the main road.

Clean rooms, great location, friendly service and reasonable prices…read more My room was smaller than I would have liked, but it was very well-maintained and had a lovely view of the lake. The hotel is within walking distance of the Hamilton nightlife and it's right next door to Palate, which is hands-down THE best restaurant I tried while in New Zealand. (That glowing Yelp review is on the way.) If you're looking to spend a night out in Hamilton, the Ibis is a great little hotel to stumble back to after barhopping. ;) One thing worth noting about the Ibis - in order to turn on the lights in your room (or any of the appliances or outlets) you need to leave your key in the card slot by the door. Maybe it's common in New Zealand, but I haven't seen anything like it in the US. It makes sense (I suppose you wouldn't really need things to be on when you're not in the room), but I almost went back to the reception desk to tell them that the power was out in my room before I (finally!) figured it out...

Nothing fancy but always clean and tidy. Stayed here many times with no problems. Pretty basic,…read morevery comfortable beds and value for money. Great central location, lots of nice restaurants nearby, although the hotel restaurant is surprisingly delicious