Te Ra Beach House - Paihia Holiday Retreat

The view was the only good thing

The advertised state of the property in no way reflects its actual state, it’s entirely inappropriate for a property in this state of dilapidation and unacceptable maintenance to be rented out as a holiday home. The hygiene was appalling - basic bed linen missing , oven filthy , urine smell in bedroom carpet, filthy washing up and wiping cloths ( property manager then removed) lack of general cleanliness, lack of provision of clean unchipped plates for catering in a house for four as we had booked. This was amongst a long list of issues raised. Despite highlighting the inadequate maintenance and provision along with the poor hygiene and health and safety it took a lot of our time to get basics sorted. We were left with a week spoilt by the state of the property and dilapidated facilites. Our New Zealand relatives who were visiting with us for the week had never seen anything this bad in their Bach or holiday rental experiences ever. The property failed to live up to the reasonable expectations generated by its 4 rating on booking.com.l and to the comparison with previous rentals over the last couple of weeks in New Zealand. The bachcare staff who were the liaison agency failed to remedy all the issues identified within a timely matter and especially at the beginning of the week. They even insulted me after speaking to me by calling me a different male name and addressing me as Mr when I repeatedly told them I was female and asked for my complaint to be escalated.

Plenty of parking and bedding at the property. Kitchen has various cutlery/crockery/pots to allow for family cooking, however we had to clean a lot of stuff before using. Oven/stovetop needs a big clean as they all smoked when used. Having couches in the conservatory was great to watch the water/boats and fireworks at New Years. Although we were told there'd be no servicing, they kindly dropped off clean towels part way through our visit, as well as providing dishwashing stuff, including tablets for the dishwasher. Communication through expedia was non-existent, so luckily they phoned us the day of check in and texted us the code to get in. No messages back and forth worked through expedia website so recommend calling if you need to communicate.

The location was ideal. It sits right across from a sandy swimming beach. It is far enough out of the busy wee town but close enough to get to everything either by walking or driving. Loved out stay. Thank you.