Tongariro River Retreat

Was here few years ago and it's not what i remembered. Run down and cluttery.

The owner mananger person was friendly and keeping an eye on things daily

Great Hostel experience. Lots of food and shopping options available very close. Friendly staff and guests.

It was adequate but everything was old and tired. The doors to the bathroom and my dorm room would not stay closed unless it was locked.

bit untidy and messy but staff were nice

The attendant is so good, I think his the owner,sorry I did not get his name,he is very accomodating and granted us with our request.

Hostel Manager was very friendly, would have picked us up if we would have been stuck at the Tongariro crossing (we were without a car) close to the intercity bus stop

Highly disturbing, unclean, uncomfortable and somewhat strange. The entrance is locked/not easily findable after dark. There was a man sitting in the shadows that saw us lost and advised us to use a back entrance to ‘get in’. The owner suggested he called us as we were late (******* check in says until 10pm, we arrived at 9pm and didnt receive a call either). The kitchen was nothing like the pictures - it was cluttered and filthy with empty food cans all over the place when we arrived. Our room was even worse - it was cluttered with a folding bed, the sheets had body hairs all over them, we saw spider webs along the ceiling and the window looked like it hadn't been washed in its life - it was disgusting. The room had a stuffy undesirable stench to it too. There are no sockets near the beds to charge your devices either, just one on the opposite side (for our private room was the case anyway). The creepiest thing was, on our 2nd morning, the owner let himself into our private room whilst my female partner was in bed, without seeking permission or with any reason. She could have been changing or asleep, it was 8:30am and checkout wasn't until 10am. We decided to leave straight after this final straw, and having read other reviews by females, its happened to others to. Wish we’d spent whatever it cost to stay elsewhere as this was an eye opening disturbing few nights. No working heater in the cold room either.