Chateau Backpacker & Motels

The bathrooms were kept fairly clean. Pillows were good. The make-it-yourself pancakes were good.

I booked the budget single room. The room was dingy, musty, and felt damp. The bed was just a thin mattress on a shelf. The room was under the kitchen so I had to listen to people stomping on the ceiling all night and day. I didn't get much sleep. Every surface in the communal kitchen was grimy. While washing dishes, a mouse ran past my foot. When I told the staff, they said something like "oh someone must have let him out of the cupboard". There were always flies in the kitchen. The evening soup smelled like burnt garbage one night and the next it was pretty much a broth that was at least edible. The room did have a heater but it was difficult to set it so it didn't boil the room at night. Since there was only one blanket although the climate is cold so I had to ask for another. This place was much like Franz Josef itself- run down with nothing to do. Literally the worst place I've stayed at across NZ. Do yourself a favor and go to Fox Glacier which is nicer.