ThePassportPrincess

Stayed: July 2017 (2 nights)
Room: Deluxe Room
Overall Rating: 9/10
Price Range: $$$$ from NZD$199 – $1534 a night

My lovely boyfriend and I spent two wonderful nights at The Langham Hotel, Auckland in July this year. (Very very late review I know) I’ll start this post off by saying it was definitely one of the best stays I’ve had at any of the hotels I’ve been to in my life!

This time I wasn’t in Auckland for work, more of a weekend away with N where we didn’t really have any plans but to relax, chill out and do a bit of shopping.
I chose The Langham Hotel as I got a good rate through work and they had the well-known Eight Restaurant at the hotel. (A restaurant with eight cuisines and unlimited dining!) which N had been wanting to go to for awhile.

Arriving at The Langham around 7pm, we were amazed at how big and beautiful the lobby was. The smells of ginger flower, rose and jasmine hit you as soon as you entered the room and the grand chandelier hanging from the lobby ceiling really showed how grand the hotel was.
At check-in, we were upgraded from their lead-in Superior Room to a Deluxe Room which was nice of them to do. I personally don’t think there’s too much of a difference between the rooms apart from being higher up in the hotel (better views) and the bed being a bit bigger but we were very thankful for the upgrade.

There are 411 guest rooms throughout the 10 levels of the hotel which aren’t overly large but definitely enough room for two people! The Langham is a very classic hotel, all beautifully furnished with dark wooden furniture, large king or twin beds and big windows with views of the city. The room we stayed in had everything we needed and more. They also had Executive Rooms and Suites which you can stay in which are so much more luxurious and spacious than your usual rooms if you desire.

I Loved:

• The turn-down service they provided every night. They closed the black-out curtains to ensure a well rested sleep, folded back the covers and placed a Whittakers Chocolate bar on each side of the bed for us. Such a nice touch!
  
• The bed – it was comfortable and so big I didn’t even feel like I was sleeping next to anyone!
• The toiletries – they didn’t have your typical small hotel sized shampoos and body wash, they provided decent sized Body wash, Body scrub, Shampoo, Conditioner and Body milk in the bathroom for guests to use which were from the hotels own Chau Spa. Not to mention the amenity box in the bathroom was full of goodies from your usual sewing kit to a toothbrush, shaver and shower cap.
• The staff!
  This was probably why I enjoyed my stay so much. I always recognize good customer service when I stay anywhere (or eat anywhere for that matter) and I have to say that The Langham Hotel has some of the best staff I have ever come across. Everyone from the valet workers who greeted us when we arrived and offered us an umbrella when it was raining, to the waiters in the restaurant who remembered our faces and asked us about the rugby game they knew we were watching.
  I had enquired about seeing some of the other rooms or suites during our stay to one of the Front Desk staff who ensured if I came back the next day they could try and do something for me. The next day, the gentleman I talked to the night before about seeing the rooms, he hadn’t even started his shift yet but still came up to us to make sure we’d checked out some of the rooms and we’d been taken care of. I just felt everyone went out of their way to make sure we were happy with our stay and we had no problems whatsoever with anything.

Hotel Facilities:

• The Langham Club – When you stay in one of the Executive Rooms or Suites you automatically get to enjoy the facilities of The Langham Club. These include fruit and mineral water delivered to your room daily, complimentary pre-dinner drinks and canapés served in The Langham Club Lounge, a butler available for packing, unpacking, shoeshine and the pressing of three garments and not to mention a large breakfast selection for your hunger every morning of your stay.
• Chuan Spa – With an extensive treatment menu, Chuan Spa is the ultimate in relaxation. From massages to facials, the professional therapists offer it all. 

• Jacuzzi & Outdoor Pool – As part of the Chuan Spa, hotel guests are allowed to use the outdoor jacuzzi and heated pool as they please. It was raining when we where there but we still enjoyed relaxing in the large Jacuzzi outside. 
• Gym – As everyone knows, I love a hotel with a good gym. I didn’t get to use the one at The Langham, however I did have a quick peep and it was spacious, modern and everything seemed clean which is a big plus for me!
• Event Rooms – According to their website, they will help you with small cocktail parties to large corporate dinners and everything in between!

Dining:

Now this was a massive highlight for us. The breakfast was an all-you-can-eat buffet served daily which N and I definitely took advantage of. We even set our alarm so we wouldn’t sleep in and miss out! They had everything from bagels, cereals, toast, croissants, muffins, fruit, waffles, pancakes, yoghurt and an Omelette station where they had someone making omelettes. I haven’t even covered half of what they were offering so hopefully my pictures will show the yummiest of it all!

Dinner was even better, the Eight Restaurant is based on having Eight Cuisines from Asian to Western food and it’s again, an all-you-can-eat buffet. They have a chef at each station cooking up the most delicious meals.

At the Pasta station, you choose your own pasta and what you sauce you’d like and they make it right in front of you. You can select your own seafood and have it arranged into whatever you’d like at the Seafood station. If you love your meat, there’s about 8 different meat selections you can choose from and have cooked to your liking in front of you. They have Beef, Chicken, Venison, Kangaroo and even Alpaca! Personally I stuck with the Chicken.

Once you’ve enjoyed dinner, there’s all these desserts available for you to eat! I’m not gonna lie, I think I sampled everything. I started off with sticky date pudding and apple cinnamon crumble and finished off with cheesecake, salted caramel mousse tarts and macaroons.

The restaurant costs $119 per person, so it’s definitely a lot more than your usual dinner date however it’s quite the experience! It’s also open to the public for Lunch and the Dinner so if you’re staying at the hotel make sure you book Breakfast with your stay and organise a night to enjoy the dinner so you don’t miss out!

Overall I had a wonderful time. As I now work in the travel industry, I always recommend it to clients of mine that are staying for a couple of nights in Auckland. It isn’t super close to the airport (about a 45 minute drive away) so if you’re just stopping in Auckland for a night it’s probably a little too far to travel as a quick stay. 

I know they’re currently doing a renovation of the hotel to make it more ‘modern’. Personally I like it how it is but while we were there we got to have a glimpse of a mock – up room. To describe it in a few words “fresh, white, clean and classic” is what springs to mind with and “touch of glamour”.