This is difficult to write completely. Te Waonui bills itself as a five star luxury hotel with a five course degustation dinner. Nothing could be further from the truth. While the waiters do wear white gloves, that’s all you’re getting. The food is frozen and then thawed and cooked. It’s just terrible. It’s basically a place for huge tour buses to stop for the night and have a ton of tourists spend the night at a “5-star” luxury hotel and they probably entice customers with that offering. And while it might be the better option in Franz Josef, the hotel is just not how it’s described. It’s dank. No one meets you outside (not that we needed that but it’s also on the website). The dining room is truly depressing and the staff just do their job. For our three night stay, we decided it was just a place to sleep after long hiking days and deal with the really bad mattress and pillows. It was so humid that anything we washed for laundry took the full three days to dry. We skipped dinner on nights 2&3 and ate out instead (Alice May & Monsoon). So much better to eat out with the Franz Josef visitors. Such a great eclectic group. For breakfasts, after viewing Te Waonui’s offering, we went to Full of Beans every morning. Amazing breakfasts there with quick and attentive service. In the end, while Te Waonui wasn’t a particularly awful experience, it’s just a place to sleep. Don’t eat there and don’t expect anything close to luxury. If you go in with that in mind, it’ll be fine for your Franz Josef stay.
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