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8.5

Excellent

1,537 reviews

1,537 reviews

See map
See map

9.1

Exceptional

Location rating score

Exceptional location
Parking
FREE
Nearby landmarks
The Cabbage Tree Shop 130 m
school playground 130 m
Pahia center parking site 190 m
Paihia Bookshop 210 m
Paihia Harbour 280 m
Post Office 310 m
Bay of Islands Swordfish Club 340 m
Paihia Pharmacy 350 m
Maritime Building 400 m
Bay of Islands Uniting Parish 510 m

Dolphin Motel

69-73 Williams Road Paihia, Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 0200 - See map

The car parking and the Wi-Fi are always free, so you can stay in touch and come and go as you please. Conveniently situated in the Paihia part of Bay of Islands, this property puts you close to attractions and interesting dining options. This 4-star property features spa to make your stay more indulgent and memorable.

Highlights

Check-in/out [express]

Airport transfer

Free Wi-Fi in all rooms!

Daily housekeeping

Shops

Facilities

Airport transfer

Car park

Shuttle service

Free Wi-Fi in all rooms!

Spa

Bicycles

Check-in/out [express]

BBQ facilities

Value for money8.3
Location rating9.1

Rooms available at Dolphin Motel

Very good
Room comfort & quality

8

One Bedroom Apartment
...
  • Room size: 25 m²/269 ft²
  • Courtyard view
  • 1 single bed and 1 queen be...
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Superior Studio with Two Queen Beds
...
  • Room size: 30 m²/323 ft²
  • Garden view
  • 2 queen beds
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Superior Apartment
...
  • Room size: 45 m²/484 ft²
  • Garden view
  • 1 queen bed & 1 queen bed
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Two Bedroom Apartment
...
  • Room size: 35 m²/377 ft²
  • Courtyard view
  • 1 queen bed & 2 single beds
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Comfort Two-Bedroom Apartment - Disability Access
...
  • Room size: 35 m²/377 ft²
  • Balcony/terrace
  • 1 king bed & 2 single beds
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Large Family Apartment
...
  • Room size: 60 m²/646 ft²
  • Garden view
  • 2 queen beds and 3 single b...
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Comfort One-Bedroom Apartment
...
  • Room size: 25 m²/269 ft²
  • Balcony/terrace
  • 2 single beds and 1 king be...
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Superior King Studio - Disability Access
...
  • Room size: 24 m²/258 ft²
  • Balcony/terrace
  • 1 king bed
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Superior King Studio
...
  • Room size: 24 m²/258 ft²
  • Balcony/terrace
  • 1 king bed
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Superior 2 Bedroom
...
  • Room size: 45 m²/484 ft²
  • Courtyard view
  • 1 queen bed & 1 queen bed
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Frequently asked questions

Does Dolphin Motel offer airport transfer?

Dolphin Motel offers airport transfer service upon request! Additional charges may apply. To request, check the box on the booking form just before the payment page.

Does Dolphin Motel offer shuttle service for getting around?

For your convenience when traveling around the city, Dolphin Motel offers None right at your doorstep making it simple for you to get to places effortlessly.

Does Dolphin Motel offer laundry services?

Yes! Dolphin Motel offers laundry service at your disposal for whenever you need your favorite shirts or dresses clean and fresh all throughout your holiday. Please contact the property for more information.

Is car parking available at Dolphin Motel?

Dolphin Motel offers car park free of charge for all guest visitors traveling with a automobile. Please contact the property for more information, or log into your Agoda account and contact the property through Agoda's direct message chatbox.

What bars are in close proximty of Dolphin Motel?

While lounging at Dolphin Motel, delight in your evening or night out at Bay of Islands Swordfish Club or Pipi Patch Bar to get the most out of your nightlife.

How many rooms does Dolphin Motel have?

Dolphin Motel has a total of 11 rooms.

How long do visitors typically stay at Dolphin Motel?

Verified past guests that have stayed at Dolphin Motel had an average nightly stay of 2 nights at this property.

What was the average room rate for Dolphin Motel been in the past month?

The average room rate for Dolphin Motel in the past month is 157.34 NZD, compared to city's average of 283.36 NZD.

What is the average rating that verified Solo travelers' have given to Dolphin Motel?

Past solo travelers that have stayed at this property have given Dolphin Motel an average rating of 8.5. You can look up more detailed customer reviews and remarks by filtering for a specific type of verified travelers down in the review section.

What is the typical rating that verified Couples' have given to Dolphin Motel?

Verified couple travelers that have stayed at this property have given Dolphin Motel an average rating of 8.4. You can look up on more descriptive customer testimonials, and comments by filtering for a specific type of verified guest travelers down in the review section.

What is the typical rating that verified Families with young children have given to Dolphin Motel?

Verified families with young children that have stayed at this property have given Dolphin Motel an average rating of 8.3. You can look up more in depth customer testimonials and remarks by filtering for a specific type of verified travelers down in the review section.

What is the closest airport to Dolphin Motel?

The nearest airport to Dolphin Motel is Kerikeri Airport, 16.0 km away.

See map

Explore the neighborhood

What people love about Dolphin Motel

  • 8.8

    Excellent
    Staff 

    "Good location and staff is friendly."

    Hoiwan

    |

    April 28, 2023

  • 10

    Exceptional
    Location

    "Only a couple of minutes walk to the city centre, lovely sized rooms, and the owner is very friendly."

    Kellie

    |

    July 30, 2019

  • 9.6

    Exceptional

    "Very convenient to all amenities."

    Ravinesh

    |

    December 28, 2020

Property ranking|Compared to 180 Bay of Islands properties
See all rankings
Room comfort score
8/10
Location score
9.1/10
Value for money score
8.3/10
Cleanliness score
8.4/10
Better than
89
%
of Bay of Islands properties
Better than
88
%
of Bay of Islands properties
Better than
85
%
of Bay of Islands properties
Better than
84
%
of Bay of Islands properties
Overall rating:

8.5

Excellent
1,537 reviews
Cleanliness
8.4
Facilities
7.6
Location
9.1
Read all reviews >
More about Dolphin Motel

More about Dolphin Motel

Dolphin Motel

Travelers are guaranteed to have a hassle-free stay with all the amenities and services provided by Dolphin Motel. Stay connected throughout your stay with free internet access provided. To help pre-arrange your arrival and departure, airport transfer services can be booked before you even check in. Your explorations of Bay of Islands can be assisted with car hire and shuttle services available.
Parking is provided free of charge for guests. You'll have no problem planning out your days and transportation needs with front desk services including concierge service, express check-in or check-out and luggage storage. The motel's tours can even help you book tickets and reservations for entertainment and explorations. Wear your favorite outfits again and again thanks to the laundry service offered at Dolphin Motel.
The motel's daily housekeeping will make staying in a great choice. The motel is entirely non-smoking. Smoking may only take place in restricted designated areas.
Rooms at Dolphin Motel are designed with the guest in mind. To enhance your stay, some rooms at the motel come with linen service and air conditioning. The specially-designed rooms at Dolphin Motel offer more than one layout option, including rooms that have separate living room and balcony or terrace. The motel's in-room entertainment is second to none, with television and cable TV provided to guests in select rooms.
You may be assured to know that a refrigerator, a coffee or tea maker, instant coffee and instant tea are available in some select rooms. You can stay fresh and clean with a hair dryer, toiletries and towels provided in some of the guest bathrooms.


Dining and things to do

The motel even has in-house cooking amenities such as BBQ facilities for its most selective guests.
Whether you're looking for an adventure or are just looking for a way to unwind after a hard day, Dolphin Motel has a range of activities that will meet your needs. Warm up at the end of the day with a visit to the spa. No need to go anywhere after dinner -- play with friends or family at the shared lounge and TV area. You can find a perfect memento of your trip, or grab some simple travel supplies at the shops.


Reasons to stay here

Spend less here on rooms than you would at 95% of other accommodations in the city.
Travelers who stayed here really appreciated the location, scoring it better than 88% of the city's other options.
This accommodation beats more than 89% of competition in the city on room comfort.

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Amenities and facilities

Very good
Facilities

7.6

Languages spoken
  • English
  • Chinese [Mandarin]
Outdoor
  • Bicycles
Accessibility
  • Wheelchair accessible
Internet access
  • Free Wi-Fi in all rooms!
  • Internet
  • Internet services
  • Wi-Fi in public areas
Things to do, ways to relax
  • Canoeing
  • Diving
  • Fishing
  • Garden
  • Hiking
  • Horseback riding
  • Snorkeling
  • Spa
  • Spa/sauna
  • Tours
  • Wind surfing
Cleanliness and safety
  • Anti-viral cleaning products
  • Cashless payment service
  • Free face masks
  • Guest rooms seal after sanitization
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Hot water linen and laundry washing
  • Physical distancing of at least 1 meter
  • Protective screens in common areas
  • Room sanitization opt-out available
  • Rooms sanitized between stays
  • Sanitized kitchen and tableware items
  • Staff trained in safety protocol
Dining, drinking, and snacking
  • BBQ facilities
Services and conveniences
  • Concierge
  • Contactless check-in/out
  • Daily housekeeping
  • Elevator
  • Facilities for disabled guests
  • Heating in public area
  • Ironing service
  • Laundry service
  • Luggage storage
  • Shops
  • Smoke-free property
  • Smoking area
  • Xerox/fax in business center
For the kids
  • Family room
Land sports
  • Golf course (within 3 km)
Access
  • CCTV outside property
  • Check-in/out [express]
  • Check-in/out [private]
  • Fire extinguisher
  • Non-smoking rooms
  • Pets allowed
  • Security [24-hour]
  • Smoke alarms
Getting around
  • Airport transfer
  • Car park [free of charge]
  • Car park [nearby]
  • Rental car
  • Shuttle service
Available in all rooms
  • Free bottled water
  • Microwave
  • Refrigerator
  • Satellite/cable channels
  • Shower

Location

69-73 Williams Road Paihia, Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 0200
Exceptional
Location

9.1

Property policies

Children and extra beds

Extra beds are dependent on the room you choose. Please check the individual room capacity for more details.

All children are welcome.

Infant 0-2 year(s)
Stay for free if using existing bedding.
Baby cot/crib may be requested directly from the property.
Children 3-18 year(s)
Stay for free if using existing bedding.
If you need an extra bed, it will incur an additional charge.
Guests 19 years and older are considered as adults
Must use an extra bed which will incur an additional charge.
Others
  • When booking more than 5 rooms, different policies and additional supplements may apply.

Some helpful facts

Check-in/Check-out
  • Check-in from15:00
  • Check-out until10:00
The property
  • Number of rooms 11

Reviews of Dolphin Motel from real guests

Provided by verified guests of Agoda
8.2
/
10
Cleanliness8.4
Facilities7.6
Location9.1
Room comfort and quality8.0
Service8.2
Value for money8.3
High score for Bay of Islands
Rating
9+ Exceptional (16)
8-9 Excellent (10)
7-8 Very Good (4)
6-7 Good (3)
<6 Below Expectation (8)
Time of the year
Mar - May (13)
Jun - Aug (8)
Sep - Nov (8)
Dec - Feb (12)

Show reviews that mention 

Showing 41 verified guest comments
123
10.0
Exceptional
Tarah from New Zealand
Family with young children
Superior Studio with Two Queen Beds
Stayed 2 nights in July 2021

Exceptional”

1st time we stayed there and must say we would definitely be our go 2 from now on.

Reviewed July 22, 2021

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9.6
Exceptional
Ravinesh from New Zealand
Family with young children
Superior Studio with Two Queen Beds
Stayed 2 nights in December 2020

Exceptional”

Best place to stay in very quiet n peace full place. Very convenient to all amenities.

Reviewed December 28, 2020

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9.6
Exceptional
marsha from New Zealand
Couple
Superior Studio with Two Queen Beds
Stayed 2 nights in November 2020

Exceptional”

Beautiful stay

Reviewed November 23, 2020

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8.4
Excellent
Janine from New Zealand
Family with young children
One Bedroom Apartment
Stayed 1 night in January 2022

Excellent”

Nice room, could definitely do with air con though.

Reviewed January 09, 2022

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6.0
Tania from New Zealand
Couple
Superior King Studio - Disability Access
Stayed 2 nights in July 2020

Above average”

Be prepared to be disturbed by other guests.

Reviewed July 08, 2020

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9.6
Exceptional
ben from Australia
Couple
Studio King Spa
Stayed 2 nights in December 2016

Good spot. Value for money.”

Motel was very spacious and staff were lovely and helpful. Read reviews before booking and one or two seemed to be written by extremely fussy people. 100% recommend as the dolphin is a good kiwi motel with good kitchen facilities if you don't want to dine out every meal. Short 2min walk to piahia centre and on site parking.

Reviewed December 21, 2016

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8.7
Excellent
Christine from Australia
Solo traveler
Stayed 1 night in April 2015

Great location, comfortable room. ”

The rooms are very spacious and fully self contained with a great kitchen enabling self catering. The main bed was very comfortable.

I had a great stay; very comfortable and clean room. The motel is in a quiet part of Paihia and just a short walk down to the shops and the pier for trips out on the Bay. The TV channels are a bit limited though.

Reviewed April 04, 2015

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10.0
Exceptional
Brian
Couple
One Bedroom Apartment
Stayed 2 nights in October 2017

Exceptional”

This is an excellent motel. Super clean, great little kitchen as well. It was better than I thought it would be. Would definitely come again when I am back in the Bay of Islands.

Reviewed November 02, 2017

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8.3
Excellent
GILLIAN from United Kingdom
Family with teens
Stayed 2 nights in January 2013

Excellent Place to stay”

Walking distabce to everything

the dolphin motel is a comftable place to stay in.very clean and paul the manager was fantastic nothing was too hard. he will organise tours for you and if you need help finding other accomadation around new zealand he will look for the best deal for you.

Reviewed February 05, 2013

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8.4
Excellent
Andrew from New Zealand
Couple
Studio King
Stayed 1 night in December 2017

Excellent”

the dolphin motel is ok for the price. the staff were very friendly and helpful letting us leave our car there while we went on a boat trip.

Reviewed January 02, 2018

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9.2
Exceptional
Shirley from Australia
Couple
One Bedroom Apartment
Stayed 1 night in April 2018

Exceptional”

For us, this was the ideal motel. Staff extremely helpful and did their utmost to help us. The position of the motel was within walking distance of everything we were interested in and was very quiet. Thank you very much, and we will certainly be recommending this motel to our Aussie friends.

Reviewed April 21, 2018

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10.0
Exceptional
harlem from New Zealand
Couple
Studio King
Stayed 1 night in September 2017

Lovely ”

The room was perfect. Stopped in Paihia for a night on a roadie. Asked to stay a second night and the lovely lady at reception was more then accomodating. We had a wonderful stay.

Reviewed September 21, 2017

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8.4
Excellent
Peter from Australia
Solo traveler
Studio King
Stayed 2 nights in June 2018

Excellent”

I arrived late. A sign on the office door told me my room. Everything was prepared and in order. Although I stayed 2 nights I left very early next morning on a tour, When I returned room had been made up. I didn't actually meet Reception until I was leaving but the lady was very friendly and gave helpful suggestions. District is easy to get around on foot & ferries to Russell are frequent. Only real negative is very poor street lighting outside. Motel is about 400 metres from main road (& bus station). I was not worried by walking up an ill-lit street but it might make some people nervous (absolutely fine during daylight).

Reviewed June 26, 2018

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9.6
Exceptional
Glenn from New Zealand
Couple
Studio King
Stayed 3 nights in August 2018

Exceptional”

We had an amazing stay here for a couple of days in a double room with a king bed. Very clean up to hotel standard with little toiletries provided. Also a small kitchen attached with pots and pans as well as cutlery and a small fridge available. Very friendly staff who let us keep our bags in reception when we didn't want to carry them with us for several hours. Only point of critique is the shower that turns cold after a while even if you don't make any adjustments. If you don't mind switching the shower off and on occasionally this is definitely the place to stay.

Reviewed August 18, 2018

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8.7
Excellent
MATHEW from Australia
Couple
Stayed 1 night in September 2012

Simple goodness in all areas makes a great stay”

Good location; close to restaurants and waterfront; quiet; massive TV channel list

Basic hotel but well furnished rooms of good size and comfort. Amazed by number of channels on the TV (if you use it). Only a short way off the main strip makes it a quieter location, but still in easy walking distance of restaurants, shops, and the waterfront.

Reviewed September 30, 2012

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10.0
Exceptional
Kellie from Australia
Couple
Studio King
Stayed 1 night in July 2019

Excellent accommodation choice”

Only a couple of minutes walk to the city centre, lovely sized rooms, and the owner is very friendly. We were pleasantly surprised with our room, it has an en-suite and kitchen facilities, electric blanket (which were very nice in Winter), and the bed/linen was very comfortable.

Reviewed July 30, 2019

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5.3
Suzanne from New Zealand
Family with young children
Stayed 3 nights in May 2014

Comfortable and adequate.”

closeness to main centre, close to our friend's hotel,

We found the room adequate for a base, however, there were a few points that would have made the accommodation more desirable. There were not enough power points in the main living area for plugging in chargers for devices, phones, heater or hair straightener into, there was no breakfast room service or daily herald available. The dishes (which we rinsed and stashed in the dishdrawer) were not washed for us with room service - had we been eating more at the motel, we would have needed all the dishes available. No sky tv available - I thought that was standard service at all motels/hotels. The beds were not made each day for us - we straightened them, but usually we have found our beds completely remade every day including sheets at other hotels / motels - changing sheets is not necessarily important if they are not soiled, but I would have expected the beds to be properly made for us each day. The spare bed in the lounge was uncomfortable for my husband who has a history of back problems. And we didn't notice any smoke detectors in the unit.

Reviewed June 05, 2014

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6.3
Good
Tyone from Australia
Couple
Stayed 2 nights in April 2012

Motel type accommodation”

Closeness to shops

It was adequate Motel type accommodation. Loacation was good and the manager friendly. As a medium ranked Motel I guess our expectations were too high. Carparking was easy. We felt the rooms could do with a general upgrade. It was priced correctly for what it was. Overall we simply did not feel comfortable.

Reviewed May 03, 2012

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9.0
Exceptional
john from New Zealand
Couple
Stayed 2 nights in March 2015

Great hotel and good value”

Friendly staff, fantastic, large family room and good location.

We enjoyed our stay in a great family room with lots of room including a large kitchen and lounge. The staff were friendly and it was a short 10 minute walk to the wharf.

Reviewed March 27, 2015

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9.6
Exceptional
Robert from New Zealand
Solo traveler
Studio King
Stayed 1 night in October 2018

Great value for money ”

Nice spacious room. Separate bathroom and kitchen. Clean and cosy. Quiet away from main road. Very close to shops and the ferry terminal. Very friendly staff. A great place to stay. The only issue was the shower was either scaulding hot or freezing cold. Hard to get it nice and warm.

Reviewed October 10, 2018

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123
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