Winter 2019 - NZ 29 Jucy Hotel

NZ 29   Jucy Hotel

First thing to do today was to return our rental car at the airport.

Our flight to Tasmania is actually at 5 AM the next day, but we have to return the car the day before our very early flight, to the office for the Jucy Rent-a-Car Company

because the return is not open that early on the day of take-off, so it’s best to return the car a day ahead. I don’t mind being in a hotel near the airport, that way we can get to our terminal with a fair certainty. 

All went well when we returned the car and we had booked a Queen bedroom on line with Jucy Hotel. Yes, the same company has a car rental chain and a hotel chain. I thought it makes perfect sense to keep it all in the 'family' so to speak.

So, since we had to return the car before noon, we asked if the rental car company could bring us to 'their' hotel. Of course, no problem they told us and sure enough by about 11 AM or so we were at the Jucy Hotel in Christchurch.

I know it’s a bit early to get into a reserved room but many hotels understand that we are not always in control of time when we travel. Circumstances or tight planning creates issues in some cases. 

So when we walked into the lobby of the Jucy Hotel in Christchurch they told us in no uncertain terms we could only get into our reserved room at 3 PM, not a minute earlier.

Now what do we do?  We looked around the lobby and there were bean bags on the floor with others lounging on them, I guess they were waiting, too.

We found a bench without a back and sat for a while, suitcases and knapsacks at our sides watching the goings on in the lobby.

Picture Taken From Brochure. This Lounge Area Was So Hot,  It Was Empty. All Were Waiting in the Lobby.

Nobody paid attention to us, I felt like an intruder with the young people squirming on the bean bags, the receptionists on their cell phones, the noise and in general busy in and outs of people. There was no place else to sit, the internet did not work well. So now what do we do? No, the lobby does NOT look like the room you see in above webpage under Jucy Hotel, in fact, it is far from that picture. 

After about 15 minutes of sitting on the uncomfortable seats I asked the receptionist if there is a way to get into the room earlier than 3 PM.

Well, she said, if you are willing to pay $ 30, we can make an exception and let you in to the room about noon.  I was a bit astonished but OK, I gave her the 30 dollars but we still had to wait until our time to occupy the room arrived.

Not a second earlier, but just past noon, we were given the key to our room and we moved our entire luggage down the hall to room 110? (I don’t remember the exact room #).

Size of Bed and Table. No Closet, 1 Hanger. 

As soon as we opened the door I could not believe what I saw. No way would I take this room. Small, packed with just a bed, a chair and some small table it had a Double-sized bed (advertised as Queen-sized) but the bed was against 3 walls. You literally had to crawl into the bed in order to sleep. I could immediately see me at night, trying to use the washroom… NO THANK YOU, I thought.

No, sorry, I did not pay for a bed like that.

I went back to the Receptionist and asked for another room. "They are all like that", she exclaimed. "That is how we have all the rooms; in fact your room is one of the nicest we have. Sorry I cannot give you a better room".

Foot of Bed Against the Wall

Now what?  I went on the internet and found a hotel within walking distance and reserved a room there. Sure it was not as cheap as Jucy but it was a Hotel, not a playpen or shoe-box with IKEA-like furniture.

I walked back to the receptionist and returned my keys, asking if I could get a refund. “No” she said, "We do not give refunds". And, I was not allowed to rent it to some of the people in the lobby who were waiting for a room. All the receptionist did, after I gave her the key back, was return the extra $30 I paid for an early entry to the room.

I never had this happen to me, but I guess Jucy was perfectly OK with their behavior. It seems it must have happened to them before, they certainly acted like it.

The new Hotel, just behind Jucy was nice. We received a very nice room; the hotel even drove us the next morning, as early as 3 AM to the Airport. No charge for the early car ride to the Terminal. Sure we paid more but NOT that much more than at Jucy…

So, if you ever get to Christchurch or if ever you are in NZ, I do NOT recommend you have anything to do with Jucy, Car Rental or Hotel.

Naturally it’s your choice but my experiences tell me to NEVER deal with them again.

Our flight to Hubbard, Tasmania was uneventful, we arrived on time, all is well in Taz, but I will write about Taz in my next blog.

Forget Jucy……. it’s NOT a good place!  Believe me!