Name: Crash Palace Backpackers
Address: 1271 Hinemaru Street, Rotorua, Rotorua, Rotorua, 3010, New Zealand
Rating: 8

Smoke-free property

Heating

Ticket assistance

Garden

Terrace

Outdoor furniture

General

Non-smoking rooms

Locker

Rooms

Accessibility features

Accessibility

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Common kitchen

Vending machine

Bottled water (at extra charge)

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Car rental

Transfer

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Barbecue grill(s)

Billiards

Nightclub

Hiking

Picnic area

Sun Deck

Recreation

Parking

Free parking nearby

Free Parking on Premises

Spa tub

Pool and beach

Fax and copy machine

Business

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hostel

Rotorua International Airport

Tauranga Airport

Crash Palace Backpackers

Rotorua

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

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35-beds

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38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

This is by far one of the best Hostels I stayed in and I have been backpacking nearly 3 years and have stayed in that many backpackers. It is still in renovation but it looks great and modern with a bar and a friendly vibe. Chris the owner we more that decant with us and went out of his way to make sure we had everything we needed. He gave us more blanked when requested and looked after us throughout our stay. Good value for money. There is even real coffee available from the bar wich is a big plus, it's not the cheap instant stuff, its a proper coffee machine. Thanks for making our stay enjoyable. The hot tub was relaxing too

Amazing Hostel

I needed a place to sleep for entire 2 weeks and was really lucky to find this hostel. The beds are comfortable, rooms nice and clean. For some of the rooms, the bathroom might be a little far away, the room I had was however pretty close. Also I had special requests for cancellations/extensions in my bookings and they were really helpful and made everything possible. Over all, friendly staff, who would also arrange bookings with tour operators for you. I can definitely recommend Crash palace and would stay there again :-)

Great place to stay

The beds are comfortable, rooms nice and clean. Friendly staff, who would also arrange bookings with tour operators for you. I can definitely recommend Crash palace and would stay there again! Chris the owner is very helpfull. We had a great time here!

Friendly spot!

Stayed here only one night,  however we found it more than adequate. 
Great host,  well educated on health and wellness which we found fascinating. Will be great when renos are done.
 Basic stay with a good sleep. 
Good music vibes too.!
Keep up the good work Chris.


Happy days

Stayed here with 1 travel buddy who arrived separately 

+ nice terrace is really nice 
+ good location
+decent price 

But you can tell when a hostel doesn't actually like backpackers... 

- charged my freind more than me for no apparent reason 

-had to ask for sheet and Blanket twice
-kind of paranoid : have to hand in id+cash deposit for a key, but there is no one to give it back in the morning, so forget checking out before 8.30

- fridge turned of at night 

- tv room is in the middle of the lobby and connected to the bar, so you can't actually watch anything. 

- no cutlery in the kitchen. They gave me some, but didn't give my freind a set. 

- freinds had to wait at the counter for almost an hour before anyone came over to check them in (about 2pm)

- stuffed everyone into 1 room. Within their right, but shows their attitude. 

- when they say "free parking" they mean "sneak into the hotel parking lot next door" 

Weird. not in a good way... 

My friend and I stayed here in a private room with a shared bathroom for 2 nights. The hostel is undergoing what appears to be major renovation works and so the dining room was out of action and the whole place just looks a bit run down. 

There are only 2 toilets and 2 showers for all the girls in the hostel which is not enough. The showers are the worst I’ve ever experienced. They are either freezing cold or scorching hot and every time someone goes to the toilet no matter what temperate the shower was, it tries to boil you alive. The water pressure was also terrible, so if you have thick hair, good luck washing it! 

Our room was tiny but came with a massive fan and the bed was comfy. However, our room was right next to the kitchen so it was incredibly noisy, especially as there’s no dining room. 

The location was good, it’s about a 10 minute walk to Eat Street. The staff were friendly but you do need to hand over some ID and a $20 key deposit so be prepared for that. There are also no laundry facilities on site but a member of staff can do it for you for $10.

Hostel under renovation with horrendous showers

It currently does not exist. We booked and it took our money. Luckily, we had seen the reviews on here so we knew something shady was going on. When we got there, a nice man and his daughter were living in the hostel and they said it has been under renovation for quite some time. We never received any email correspondence warning us of this. He did offer us a refund and we got this within the week, but it was a major inconvenience having to find new accommodation at the last minute. 

DO NOT BOOK CRASH PALACE 

In January, I booked a private room for three nights for my arrival in ten days. Upon booking I received an email confirmation. And, they charged my credit card for all three nights. A week later I had an email from the hostel that they still did not have their certificate of occupancy and wanted my credit card number in order to give me a refund. I have sent them multiple emails and they still have not responded nor, do I have a refund. 
I found a room elsewhere but while I was in Rotorua, I walked to their deserted building. As I was leaving, a contractor showed up and said the owners were out of the country. 
I still don't have a refund or a response. Don't make a booking with Crash!!

DON'T BOOK CRASH PALACE

I booked the hostel in September, prior to my stay in the end of November, and had confirmation from hostelworld that the booking had gone through, so i had no reason to be suspicious that anything would be wrong. However, on arrival in November, the place was deserted. 
The front door was wide open and there was still an iMac and card machine on at the desk, but no one there. There was a sign on the desk saying to press the button for assistance.. but no button. I called out several times, and there was no one, only piles of rubbish strewn everywhere. I went through to the bar side as the door was open and again called out but to no avail, only more rubbish.

After 15 minutes I simply left and went to Planet Backpackers instead, luckily they had a room. They informed me that Crash Palace had changed hands recently, which explained why no one was there, which is fair enough. But the fact no one emailed me from the hostel, even after the booking had been confirmed and a reminder from Hostelworld had been sent, is completely unacceptable. If you are open to take bookings, you need to be ready to receive guests, and if you are not, you cannot allow bookings to be taken, or at least cancel and sent an email to booked guests. I'm sure the hostel once was, and will be, a nice place to stay, but I cannot give a positive review for somewhere that was not hospitable to stay in, despite me booking (and paying a deposit for) a 2 night stay, with no prior warning about a closure.

Place was deserted, no information given

I have stayed in many Backpackers across New Zealand and this is by far the worst I have ever been too.  After arriving we made to wait for 20 minutes before being given the keys to our rooms. We understood the place was under renovation but overall tidiness of the place was unacceptable and we went somewhere else within one hour. The owner was arrogant and seemed much more concerned about his precious bar than anything else. 

The most disturbing part of the experience began when we got to our rooms. He warned us there some rubbish in the hallway but did not mention the large wet patches on the floor and the smell of vomit. After taking my shoes off my socks became rather soaked. Chris tried to defend this by saying the room has just been steam mopped at 5.30pm which is well after our check-in time. I proceeded down the hallway to find the only set off bathrooms for the dorm rooms. Once I opened the door, I was horrified to find vomit on the floor and a bathmat and toilet paper in the shower. We took a photo as we were truly appalled by the state of the room. There was a mop in the room, so the place clearly knew of the mess but had no priority to clean it up. Chris would likely have had the arrogance to ask his guests to clean the place.

Lastly, we asked for a refund as we felt that this was not to an acceptable quality. He said “You think it is bad today, You should have seen it yesterday, there were mouldy sandwiches in the rooms”. The discussion got a little heated before Chris said NO REFUNDS and walk away as if everything was our fault. 

The place advertises trips to Hobbiton but at this backpackers you can get the experience of living in Golems Cave! 

DO NOT VISIT – 1 Star

Crash Palace Backpackers

Main amenities of the hostel

Location

Available rooms

Location

Description of the hostel

What other amenities are there?

General

Rooms

Accessibility

Services and amenities

Meals

Internet

Transfer

Tourist services

Recreation

Parking

Pool and beach

Business

Pets

Policies

Check-in terms and conditions

Additional information

Payment