Hotel Review: Quest Serviced Apartments, Auckland

When Rochelle and I were planning our trip to New Zealand there were many things to decide on. Do we want to go to the North or South island? What areas will we go to since our trip was only 13 days? And one of the most important was where were we going to stay?

We looked at several hotels online for Auckland, our gateway and first stop in New Zealand. After seeing the high rates for the nicer hotels we decided to look at alternatives.  Since we had a very nice stay at serviced apartments when we went to Margaret River and Perth we limited our search on Trip Advisor for that kind of lodging.

Because of the excellent reviews online as well as pictures that showed well maintained units we chose Quest Service Apartments. The next decision was what area in Auckland to stay in since Quest had several properties in the city. I initially chose Quest Auckland on Queen St. which was in the heart of the city’s CBD but my friend Teye who lives in Auckland convinced me to stay in the quiet suburb of Parnell instead. I was glad I listened to her since our apartment was just a few steps from a long street lined with good and diverse restaurants and it was just a bus ride to the city and nearby attractions. Parnell was indeed more quiet and peaceful than the CBD yet it wasn’t lacking for places to eat and a church was within walking distance from our apartment. 

Before leaving Manila we already booked a taxi van to pick up our group of 5 at the airport to take us to Quest Parnell. This was a cheaper option instead of taking the bus for our group. 

 

This property had only 2 levels of apartments. 

See that long horizontal cement structure on posts below? That’s their lap pool. 

You can access the pool from the gym which was on our floor. 

From below you’d never think there was a swimming pool right?

Room 34 was a two bedroom apartment which cost us about NZ$275 or US$230. That cost less than a regular hotel room in the city or in Viaduct Harbour. 

The apartment was furnished simply and the size was just right for us. 

The view from the living room was this office building that’s why it was really quiet in our apartment at night. 

A big advantage in staying in a serviced apartment is the fully equipped kitchen specially the refrigerator and freezer. If you’re from the Philippines like us you will definitely be buying lamb chops to take back home. We filled up the freezer with lamb, sausages, cheese and other foodstuff a day before our departure and everything was perfectly frozen to pack in our luggages. 

We used the microwave, toaster and water kettle almost everyday. 

 Two twin beds in the master’s bedroom was enough for two adults and a child to sleep on. Each room had a tiny closet. We placed our big luggages in the living room since there wasn’t any space in the room. 

Our favorite part of the room was the washing machine and dryer. We didn’t need to bring that much clothes since we can do the laundry as often as we want. That means more luggage space for food! 

I found the bathroom a bit too sparse though. The vanity was small and there wasn’t any hooks or bars to hang our clothes, towels and toiletry kits. The apartment was serviced daily except for Sundays when they don’t clean or replace towels. The front desk told us to get towels from the gym and we did so this wasn’t really a big issue. 

The second bedroom had two twin beds. 

I liked the larger bathroom and shower right across the second bedroom. 

The gym was small but it had all the necessary cardio equipment. There were more machines not pictured. 

 

If you’re planning a trip to Auckland I recommend staying at Quest Parnell. You will not regret the apartment and specially the location. 

Quest Parnell
8 Heather Street, Parnell
Auckland Suburbs 1052 New Zealand
Tel +64 9 337 0804
website