Tours & Sightseeing - General in Buller

22nd July 2009
We stayed at your resort July 2009. We were very disappointed in the resort for the following reasons 1. Standard of Room - Poor - very old decor, cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, Rattling pipes in the toilet/bathroom, inconsistent water flow and heat in shower, noise transfer from the room above 2. Safety Standards - no lighting on the steps leading to the restaurant, uneven treads on the steps particularly on the upper steps - my daughter fell over on the way back to the room after leaving the restaurant, no light bulbs in any of the under croft areas outside our room leading to the hot pools, poor lighting at the pools with only one light operating in the open hot pool area. 4.Ladies Hot Bath Closed due to maintenance problem My wife and 15yo daughter entered the Male Hot bath area which was operating for both male & female with bathers, and were confronted by one of the patrons in the nude - not really what I want my 15yo daughter to be exposed to. 5. European Menu at restaurant Lamb Shanks - this dish was served to the table with the shanks surrounded by a bed of potato which was flooded in a lake of dark sweet sauce. The meal looked terrible and did not taste much better to be honest. Asked for it to be sent back and replate with Shanks & potato only - NO GRAVY. Sirloin steak - Drop the sauce on the steak would be a good start. People ordering steak are unlikely to want dark sweet sauce interfering with the flavour of the meat. Salmon - My daughter could not eat this dish as it was fishy and I would have to agree. She only ate the salad and the fish was left on the plate. The Japanese Dish we ordered- Excellent was exactly what was expected - no complaints here. After waiting 10 minutes on the Shank dish to return my family had finished eating and we decided to leave the restaurant. Maruia Springs was our last destination after a 10 day Holiday in the South Island which was wonderful. We chose Maruia Springs to relax on our last night before heading home to Australia as I thought it would be a pleasurable one based on the video footage we had seen on the internet. Our expectations were not met and I wanted to share this feedback with other people considering visiting this destination as I could not recommend anybody to visit your resort in its current condition. I sent the above feedback to Maruia Springs resort by email and in hard copy through the post following our stay and received the following response – You be the judge here – their response from one of the owners no less, explains to me why they have a problem. Why did I bother ?? I only wish I had have looked for reviews on Mauria Springs before booking as I would have stayed elsewhere. Stuart Perth Western Australia Dear Stuart We have taken in to consideration some of your complaints. We are always interested to hear customer fed back. The lighting has been an issue and was already in the pipe line for an update. The room rate of 269.00 gives you 24hour access to the pools. If you used the pools as a day visitor you would have paid $72.00. This gives you and accommodation rate of $197.00 for the night. Too date we have had no complaints about the food in the restaurant. In fact we generally get complements about how good the food is. We are sorry you did not enjoy it. In regards to the bath house, everyone was informed about the bathhouse and dresscode at reception that day. We do apologize for this but we had an understanding that everyone understood. We generally have complements especially from Australians who love the relaxation and atmosphere of Maruia Springs especially the hot pools. We are sorry you did not enjoy your experience. Regards, Akira Matsusita Maruia Springs Thermal Resort