New Zealand Hotel Passes

[casarose]

Hi fellow answerbankers! Just wondering if anyone has any experience of hotel passes for use in New Zealand? Am going next February and my travel agent has offered me a scheme whereby I pre-pay for hotel passes for use at designated hotels. Apparently the cost of the accommodation will be cheaper than if I booked on line or direct with the hotel. Has anyone used something similar to this and would they recommend them? Not sure what to do. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[dzug]

I tend to be wary of this type of offer.

they may be cheaper for the particular hotel (or maybe not - it could be marketing hype) but that doesn't mean there aren't other, cheaper hotels available

they are inflexible - there may not be a designated hotel where you want to stay or it may be full

there may be restrictions on refunds if you don't/can't use them

I'd read the small print carefully before deciding whether they are for you or not.

[casarose]

Hi Dzug. Thanks for that. Have to admit that I hadn't thought about the fact that there may not be any qualifying hotels in a chosen area. On reflection, I think I will avoid the hotel voucher system and as you say, there will be plenty of hotels to chose from via the internet etc. Thanks again.

[jno]

you can always ask them what hotels exactly are included and check them against your chosen itinerary (if you have one). However, high summer and the worst of the school holidays should be over, so accommodation shouldn't be too scarce.