더 밀 하우스 와이나카루아(The Mill House)

We reserved months in advance. Upon arriving, we found the place empty and a CLOSED sign on the door. We followed the instructions on the sign and went to the other establishment... only to find that there were no rooms there either. The owner ended up putting us in an empty old house. He then came in and wrenched on the hot water heater for a while until he got the hot water running. I asked him if we could get some bottled water. Nope. We arrived in the evening, expecting a hotel with a restaurant and other ammenities (bottled water, etc). We had 2 hungry kids and nowhere for miles to get food. When the Mill House was closed, the owner should've called us. He did not. He could've emailed us. He did not. He could've reached us through the booking agent. He did not. We arrived in the early evening and left at dawn. The owner offered no compensation. We did receive a refund through the booking agent.

We were able to book, and receive confirmation for our stay. Unfortunately when we arrived at the Mill House at 8pm in the evening the property was in darkness and no-one around. A note on the door directed us to make contact with another accommodation provider, who was fortunately able to accommodate us. This experience turned an anticipated night away into a stressful experience. It also meant that we missed our dinner reservation and ended up needing to get takeaways in Oamaru.