All Seasons Christchurch Cashel St

Yes, it's a pod

I stayed at Hotel So Dec 9th-12th. Only the 6th floor was open to guests. I was actually one of the first people to book a room when their website went live. I was in a double room which basically had a bigger bed.

I will say this, this hotel will not be for everyone. Personally, it suited my needs. It had a ensuite bathroom, a refrigator (which is common for NZ motels/hotels), a comfortable bed and TV with both cable and 'webchannels' where you could see folks in the bar, the computer room (with 4 Macs for guest usage at no cost) and a sidewalk shot. The location is great and I didn't feel it was noisy.

Only disappointment was the laundry. It had only be opened one week and, apparently, the washer did not automatically put in the detergent and the dryers did not have heat (I tried 4 times to dry my clothes to no avail). However, the hotel credited me the $10 I used on the machines and I was able to go to the hotel next door and use their machines so it was all good.

New concept hotel

I bit worried about booking as we knew the hotel was only due to open 3 weeks before our stay, but luckily it was all finished. The only problem we had was that the card didn't work the door a couple of times and there were some teething problems with getting into the car park. Stayed in a standard room, which is very compact but well arranged. I would suggest that you need to know each other very well if sharing as the bathroom is only seperated by a frosted glass screen!

Really liked the sleep/wake system where a lamp gradually dims to send you to sleep or brightens to wake you naturally.

The bar/cafe looked good but we didn't use it.

Overall, a good new concept and I would stay again.

Neues Konzepthotel

Ich hatte mir wegen der Buchung ein paar Sorgen gemacht, da das Hotel erst drei Wochen vor unserer Anreise Eröffnung feierte, es war dann glücklicherweise aber alles fertig geworden. Das einzige Problem war die Schlüsselkarte fürs Zimmer, die ein paar Mal nicht funktioniert hat und es war auch noch nicht ganz so einfach auf den Parkplatz zu kommen.

Wir hatten ein Standardzimmer, das recht klein, aber gut geschnitten war. Sie sollten sich schon gut kennen, wenn Sie dort ein Zimmer mit jemandem teilen, denn die Badezimmertür war aus Milchglas!

Mir hat das Schlaf/Wecksystem dort gefallen. Beim Einschlafen dimmte das Licht langsam runter und am Morgen wurde es langsam natürlich heller.

Bar/Cafe sah gut aus, wir waren aber nicht drin.

Insgesamt ein gutes neues Konzept und ich würde wieder hier übernachten.

A fantastic hotel - I'm a big fan

I'm constantly back and forth between Sydney and New Zealand for business and wrote a review about Hotel SO when I first stayed there, a couple of days after it had just opened in November.

I've now had the opportunity to stay there two more times and wanted to write another review. Quite simply, and I've stayed at many hotels around the world (yet never felt the need to be an advocate for any of them), this is the best hotel in its price range that I've ever come across.

Every time I've been back I've been made to feel welcome by the friendly staff who already know me by my first name. Yes, the rooms are very small, but as I said in my first review, that's to be expected - they are after all charging me $89 a night, a price that is cheaper than most dive motels and on par with most backpackers. And this is a brand new hotel, not a backpackers.

The rooms are packed full of features. Comfy bed, the technology is great (flat screen TVs and a plug for my iPod), and it has an alarm clock system that is quite possibly the coolest I've ever come across. The food at the restaurant/bar is great, I've had breakfast, lunch and dinner there, the breakfast was especially fantastic.

When I first stayed there they were having some teething problems but in my two visits since nothing's gone wrong. If you're after a huge room with a balcony or something like that then you should think twice about booking - Hotel SO is probably not for you. If you're after a hotel room for an unbeatable price, then this is the one for you. Quite simply, I don't think that you'd be able to find a better hotel for the price around New Zealand or Australia.

What can I say? I'm a fan of Hotel SO. And will definitely be back.

Worst hotel I have ever stayed in!

This hotel is a complete shambles. Rooms are small and claustrophobic. Most are without windows. Lighting system in rooms quite often not working. Staff have no idea what they are doing, I was sent to 3 rooms on one occasion (one not made up, one broken units and third was twin and should have been double). On getting the correct room it was clear that the cleaning staff had given it a quick spritz over and not a proper clean. This hotel was already looking shabby after only 2 weeks of opening. I dread to think what it will be like after a month. Location was good but there are much better hotels around to choose from.

Good value hotel for gadget lovers

This new hotel is close to the shopping district of Christchurch and has lots of modern technology such as the in-room lighting system. The large wet-room shower was also really good. They have done without some normal hotel basics to keep costs down though, such as a wardrobe or drinking glasses so may not be the best choice if you are staying for more than a few nights. The only issue we had was a significant amount of noise during through the night, most likely from the hotels own bar, even though we were up on the 5th floor.

Technology as never seen before in hotels

We stayed in this hotel for 1 night & it was a beautiful experience....we were very lucky as the hotel had just opened on the day we checked in....we really wished we had some more time to enjoy the room.....the room had various mood lighting's & a wall mounted LCD TV.....this hotel is particularly good for people who have trouble waking up in the morning....15mins before the alarm there is artificial sunlight to help you wake up & the TV switches on automatically with mood sounds to help you wake up ..(would love to have @ home)....perfect for Jet Lag.....there is so much this hotel has to offer although i must say the rooms are a bit cramped up......friendly staff & good location as its in the city center.

Haven't seen a hotel quiet like it .......it's definitely a MUST experience !!!

Technologie, wie ich sie in einem Hotel noch nie gesehen habe

Wir waren für eine Nacht in diesem Hotel und es war ein wundervolle Erfahrung. Wir hatten Glück, denn das Hotel feierte bei unserer Ankunft gerade Eröffnung. Wir hätten wirklich sehr gerne mehr Zeit im Zimmer verbracht. Das Zimmer war mit diversen "Stimmungslichtern" und einen an der Wand montierten LCD-Fernseher ausgestattet.

Das Hotel ist besonders für Leute geeignet, die morgens nicht aus den Betten kommen. 15 Minuten vor dem Wecker geht langsam ein künstliches Licht an, um einem das Aufwachen zu erleichtern und der Fernseher geht auch automatisch an und auch relaxte Musik hilft einem beim Wachwerden (das hätte ich gerne Zuhause). Perfekt für Jetlag. Das Hotel hatte wirklich recht viel zu bieten, die Zimmer waren allerdings recht klein.

Freundliches Personal und gute Lage, da es im Zentrum liegt.

Habe so ein Hotel noch nicht gesehen. Das muss man einfach einmal erlebt haben!!!

So hated it

No double glazing on windows and one side of the hotel has a really noisy bar - kept me awake from 2.30am to 6.00am and I was on the 6th floor. I asked for a room change for the second night and was offered the room next door but without a window. This room was like a sauna because the air conditioner was stuck on hot only. I opted to stay in the noisy room and had another sleepless night because they wouldn't refund as I had booked through wotif.

Ich habe es gehasst

Keine Doppelverglasung der Fenster und auf der einen Seite des Hotels gab es eine recht laute Bar - ich war von 2.30 bis 6 Uhr wach und ich war im 6. Stock untergebracht. Ich fragte nach einem anderen Zimmer für die zweite Nacht und mir wurde ein Zimmer nebenan ohne Fenster angeboten. Dieses Zimmer war wie eine Sauna, da die Klimaanlage nur auf warm gestellt werden konnte. Ich blieb daraufhin in dem anderen Zimmer und verbrachte dann noch eine schlaflose Nacht dort, da wir vorher über wotif gebucht und bezahlt hatten und sie uns das Geld nicht rückerstatten wollten.