It's hard to complete a proper review because I was in New Zealand for a wedding and the only time I spent in Auckland was from 8pm until 4am the next morning. However I can only comment on what I saw and it seemed like the kind of place that I would like to visit again.

All Party no peace!

Hostel was OK but definately not in the top 50% of hostels I've stayed in in NZ. On arriving into the 8 bed dorm room it was impossible to know what beds were cleaned - in fairness staff came up & cleaned all beds in doubt but the room was not clean. Noise from the bar would prevent an early night so left after 3 nights of partying to stay in another hostel (Southern Laughter) which for $2 more per person per night got us a double room, tv & loads of showers and bathrooms available!

• Insider tip:The travel agency at base is great though for discounts & staff were brill

Aspen hotel auckland. Don't look at the pictures, of course I didn't expect to get what I saw but something similar. My room was like a prison cell. T

Don't look at the pictures, of course I didn't expect to get what I saw but something similar. My room was like a prison cell. The towel they gave me was ripped, the sheets had holes in them, even the carpet was torn. The mattress springs were gone, so my back was pretty sore in the morning. The toilets had 2 to each floor, the toilet itself was separate to the sink which meant if someone was having a shower I had to go to a different floor to wash my hands, and so I ended up washing them in the laundry room! which had sheets thrown all over the floor. My window rattled everytime a car or someone went past. There was no security, there was notices up to lock our doors, I noticed that only one window in my room had a lock and because of the type of window someone could easily have broken in. The emergency exit door was constantly being used despite notices to the contrary, which as my room was right next to it, the banging door was very annoying, they should get it alarmed and install CCTV. There is no lift so there was a lot of noise with people dragging there bags up and down the stairs. This is far from a modern hotel, they had the names of the people to check in written on pieces of paper. I couldn't understand the guy on reception. I would expect more from a hotel but I have had far better facilities and service in a hostel.

• Insider tip:don't stay here

while the hostel itself was quiet the street outside was really noisy, and as there's no air con we had to leave the windows open all night barely getting any sleep. i was glad to leave.

No problems with base, only the key cards, i had 3 different keys for a 3 night stay because they wouldn't work, which isn't really annoying, but if you have to go down to reception in the morning still in your pyjamas its a bit embarassing. but apart from that i like base.