Heritage Hotel

Centrally located, the Heritage Auckland is a lovely hotel in a converted department store. Beautiful Lobby Bar area – with frustrating evening food offerings, more on that later – and spacious, ceilinged rooms, many of which overlook the atrium restaurant area.
Check in was smooth and efficient, but there were NO bellhops manning the entrance, which normally wouldn’t be a problem for me but I was solo with several suitcases, laptop cases, and shopping bags for two people at the end of a long trip. I couldn’t carry everything into the hotel alone, so the taxi driver had to help. Internet is not included, and is rather complicated if booking packages; pretty dumb if you ask me. One night included 100 mb free lobby wifi and the 2^nd night included 500 mb in my room. Had to wait until midnight to get the 500 mb in room. Really? What kind of 5 star hotel is this… additionally, the package came with valet parking, but we don’t have a car. Just give us the internet already!
In room amenities are as one would expect, but a bonus touch is the french press and ground coffee – most excellent! Fresh milk in the fridge as well. Great selection of Dilmah teas, and the minibar prices are actually close to reasonable. Bathroom is spacious with nice wall tiling, but the floors are hideous. The towels are thin and rough, but the spa products are excellent and well curated.
The hotel has two gyms, an outdoor terrace pool overlooking the city, as well as an indoor lap pool. The spa pool/​jacuzzi is big and I almost missed it! It’s next to the lap pool, but up a little…
Breakfast in Hector’s is incredible, though some of the western hot dishes weren’t so hot – ie, the pancakes. The miso soup bar is great (I’m an addict), as are the raw selections and fresh juices, kombucha, inter alia. More on that in a separate review.
i went to the bar for a drink, and hoped for a light dinner, but all they could offer was a selection of vegan tapas. I’m totally on board with the vegan thing, but I’m still not sure why the chef refused to make a vegan tofu-​mushroom wrap that’s on the lunch menu. They claimed they were too busy with only one chef, but this was sunday evening and there was exactly nobody in the entire restaurant – I could see this out my window! – and only one other person in the entire bar besides me, drinking a glass of wine. The chef was indeed busy sitting by himself in the restaurant… They offered to make anything vegan from the dinner menu – which included tofu and mushroom based dishes – but would not make the wrap, which frankly sounded the most delicious. So, instead of ordering another drink and enjoying a light dinner in the hotel bar – a favorite hotel past time – I stepped outside and enjoyed a perfectly delicious tofu dinner down the street for ²⁄₃ the price of the wrap and ¹⁄₃ the price of a main. This was not a cost-​conscious move on my part, but if you can’t give me what I want at a purportedly 5-​star hotel, then I shall go elsewhere, thanks very much.
All in all, a solid urban hotel with some hip touches, but also some niggling oddities: a lack of porters, complicated internet, and an idiotically-​trained chef unwilling to serve his clients what they want, but who was perfectly happy to have a sit in full view of the hotel.

I had high expectations when we booked in here. We had a suite in the old part of the hotel and it was dark, dingy and full of odd angles and internal glass walls that reminded me of an ancient academic institution. Not exactly romantic.
The furnishings were luxurious enough but the rooms were filthy with dust literally caked onto skirtings and other people’s yuckies in the bathroom.
We went up to the gym but immediately regretted it; the gym is right next to the outdoor pool where a big bunch of 20-​somethings were hanging out being noisy and drinking beer. Determined to be undeterred (as it were) we used the tiny gym but were unwilling to face the scrutiny a second time in our togs so never did use the pool.
The group of mainly young men acted like they owned the place and other guest groups with children looked equally intimidated and unimpressed. Seeing them getting in and out of the lifts in their boardies with bottles in hand, we deduced they did in fact reside there in the tower apartments. Hmmmm, not sure how five star that whole student hangout look is.
We had a pretty awful sleep that night and (here we go again) felt an uneasy energy about our room and were glad to get out the next day.
The one highlight of our stay was sneaking up to check out the ballroom upstairs which I have fond memories of as the old Farmers Playground. It’s still beautiful but the whole place is just way less cool which is really disappointing: (

This really is a great Heritage hotel hence the name as its one of Aucklands most recognisable historic landmark buildings.
I like a number of things about this hotel, firstly it has the old wing for those who love heritage, high ceilings and wooden floors — this part is known as the Hotel Wing. Then you have the Tower Wing which is the more modern side of the hotel. Some people like both — I do, and others have a strong preference for one over the other.
It also has 2 pool areas, one inside one with a spa and sauna, and an outdoor one which also features a spa area and really nice for summer time. Also outside is a tennis court — great for some outdoor exercise or just a bit of fun.
The location of this hotel is also great as its in the middle of the CBD. The restaurant area — Hectors restaurant is also very nice as its in an atrium and has a really nice feel to it, you feel like you are outdoors but you aren’t. They also serve up High Tea here which is a really nice treat for you and your mother or friends.
I would stay here again in a heartbeat.