Hereford Central Apartment

Location was excellent.Buses and supermarkets were close by.Layout of the apartment was good. It was easy for third parties to find

Only the sheets, Quilt cover on the bed

The apartment was very spacious, nicely decorated, in a central location and had everything I needed for my stay. Check-in was very easy, having the electronic door lock made it easy to come and go without having to find keys each time. There was plenty of information provided by the host in their apartment guide which was helpful.

There is construction nearby and it's on a busy street so it was a little more noisier than I was expecting. A couple of suggested improvements : - add curtains in the bedroom in addition to the roller blind as the lighting in the carpark behind comes through the sides of the roller blinds. - a little map on the instructions about where the rubbish shed actually is would be helpful.

Close to the city, very clean with lovely decor. Comfortable bed and lounge area. Lots of light. Heaters worked well. The combination lock was very easy to use.

Code access - unique to me. Very easy.

My wife and I travel constantly year-round and world-wide. We’ve been wandering New Zealand almost 3 months as of this writing, and in that time have stayed in roughly 25 apartments and hotels all over North and South Islands. Comparing Hereford Central to others in its class in this country, I would describe the apartment as above average. Nothing special in configuration (sort of a divorcée pad or first flat for a young professional), it has the advantages of being spanking new in a small city still bootstrapping itself from its terrible tectonic past. The apartment is comfortable, even if muted gray-white soulless. It does offer an ample deck overlooking the boulevard. We were comfortable. Perfect Stays’ housekeeping staff certainly has very high standards. Upon entering, the impression is that the place has been staged for a photo shoot, which is pleasant, if slightly unnerving given the substantial deposit paid in advance. In their booking confirmation letter (oddly headed “Congratulations” as if we’d won a prize), Perfect Stays sent us the link to info about entering the apartment. This included an incorrect door code which barred our entry. But they quickly rectified the problem on the phone and subsequently offered an apology.

Nothing wrong with the apartment itself or the small amount of actual personal contact we had with Perfect Stays. However, if asked, my advice to Perfect Stays would be two-fold: First, don’t collect personal information, passports and mugshots from your guests. It’s excessive, insulting, invasive and unnecessary. Coupled with the high deposit, the guest feels from the outset like a miscreant juvenile on probation. Might seem attractive to your property owners, but not your actual customers. You are not an airline. Second, I’d recommend that you lose the Enso Connect software or similar solutions (Hostaway, Guesty, etc.) that communicate distrust and disdain for hospitality guests. The intermediary layer makes you seem ruder and more uncaring than you probably are. The Boarding Pass gimmick is primarily an add-on sales site charging for things that most lodging providers offer as courtesies. It’s not the way of the future or tech-forward; it’s more of a blast from the 2000’s when everyone was trying to figure out how to monetize and automate everything and minimize the labor of assisting customers. Perhaps some guests dream of interacting only with machines, but we’re not impressed.

Great location, very clean and tidy, some really nice touches like fresh flowers, a block of chocolate and hand written note. Nicely furnished and spacious.

Excessive security checks, I had to provide a selfie and a copy of my drivers license, as well as fill in my personal information again, a $500 hold for damage while we were there. No parking included, which was not clear on the ad.