Testimonials
Wonderful hostel, very clean with great help with accommodations. Thanks!
Tommy and Tori 10-March-20
Dorset House is thrilled to have achieved the Qualmark Enviro-Bronze Award this month. This reflects our work across a range of environmental initiatives, including energy efficiency in electricity, gas and water usage, community donations and recycling initiatives. We aim to continually improve within the bounds of our lovely old house, and welcome any guest suggestions.
In March we received some special visitors - Margie and Patience, some of the granddaughters of the Way family who built Dorset House in 1870 (then known as 'Remuera'). They were kind enough to share some stories with us of their family's memories of life at Remuera in the late 19th century, (then at 112 Park Terrace, before part of the garden was sold). They were also kind enough to offer us some wonderful historic photos of the family at Remuera - so much has changed and yet this grand old lady is still recognisable. We were given some tea cups from the house's original tea set - lovely delicate items that were part of the mrorning tea ritual. As part of the house's history, we will eventually put these on display. We will be framing the historic photos and information and putting these up around the hostel in the next few weeks. Thanks to Margie and Patience and we hope you enjoyed having a look around the lovely old home that your grandfather built - please do come back and see us anytime.
Dorset House has donated four boxes of brand new duvet inners to the City Mission this week. These will be distributed by the City Mission to those in need this winter. These were donated as part of our Community policy.
Dorset House staff have been watching with interest as a tent village grows and grows in Hagley Park, opposite the House. It's the Ellerslie Flower Show again, with new exhibits taking a full month to be built (and grown) in time for the opening of the Show tomorrow 10th March! Running until the 14th, this show was extremely popular last year and is bound to be packed again this year. Highlights include Wearable Floral Art, Englishman's Retreat Garden, Floral Photo Comp - take a look at the website: http://www.ellerslieflowershow.co.nz/
Dorset House flew through our 2009 Qualmark inspection, retaining our four-star rating with the improvements made to the House over the last year. We continue to strive to make Dorset House a great place to stay - we welcome your suggestions!
Dorset House recently donated three large bags of towels and clothing to the Christchurch City Mission, which they were pleased to receive. The City Mission supports, cares and advocates for people who are less well off and disadvantaged in the community, operating a night shelter, foodbank, detox and alcohol programmes. This donation was a combination of towels and items from Dorset House, as well as items donated by our travellers for charity. We will continue to collect linen, useful clothing and towels for the next donation.
Dorset House enters the winter season with some fantastic special deals on accommodation. Weekly rates available - just ask our staff. We'll have our annual closedown between July 4th and 20th - some time for our staff to recharge their batteries. Cross your fingers for some winter snow!
Dorset House is proud to have been congratulated by Hostelworld.com, a 'Top Rated Hostel' for 2008 as voted by our guests. We look forward to working with Hostelworld.com for 2009 - striving to continually improve and provide a fabulous stay in Christchurch.
Christchurch is packed with people all enjoying summer right now, there's heaps to see and do. Dorset House is ideally located to take advantage of some of the free summer activities on offer. Step across to Hagley Park for assorted free concerts, Twilight Cinema showing nightly (take a picnic!), free theatre and music events (Shakespeare, comedy theatre, lazy Sunday classical, jazz and band music) and coming soon: the Ellerslie International Flower Show debuts March 11-15, for the first time in Christchurch. Just steps from Dorset House - your ideal base for summer fun in the Garden City.
Happy New Year everyone! Summer is well and truly here and it's a warm one, with temperatures in Christchurch at 28 degrees today, 35 yesterday, and 37 the day before...perfect weather for travelling, camping and swimming around our beautiful islands. (We measure our temperatures in celsius - that's 82, 95 and 98 degrees fahrenheit for those of you who work that way!). Beach swimming is generally very safe in New Zealand with a dose of common sense. Surf lifeguards patrol the busier beaches, and the quieter ones...well you might get one of those to yourself! Watch out for rips and currents, and swim between the flags. Escape the cold, we'd love to see you come enjoy our summer soon.
Dorset House aims to make life easy for you! We've just implemented automatic SMS booking confirmations. Just enter your mobile number when you book online with us, (or give it to our staff over the phone) and we'll send you an SMS message confirming your booking dates, room type and the daily door code - it's that simple!
To celebrate the arrival of spring (finally!) and some warmer weather, room 1 has had a facelift, with new carpet and lots of new paint. That's just one of the many upcoming improvements planned for Dorset House this spring - no time like the present!
Dorset House has just had our yearly Qualmark inspection, and passed with flying colours, retaining our four-star rating - 
. This means our quality is rated "Excellent. Consistently achieves high quality levels with a wide range of facilities and services". We are always striving to improve, and welcome any ideas you might have about how we can make your Dorset House experience even better.
The fabulous crew at Wicked Campers have provided Dorset House with our very own Wicked Camper to trundle about in this winter. Reuben has already tested 'Big L' out this past weekend, and pronounced the camper experience a lot of fun! Dorset House staff are lining up to pile on the duvets and hot water bottles and get out and about exploring the South Island this winter in our Wicked Camper!
Dorset House had its annual close down for 2 weeks break so we all can re-charge our batteries in time for the winter season.
Dorset House had a gas heater installed in the Sitting Room so we can keep everyone warm and smiling during the winter months as we are no longer using the fire as Dorset House is supporting the Clean Heat Project.
Dorset House has upgraded one of the upstairs bathrooms with the rest due to be completed during the colder winter months.
Qualmark recently visited Dorset House for our annual inspection and Dorset House has maintained a 4 star rating
BBH results from the annual BBH Survey which guests completed in February; Dorset House now has a new rating of 86 % up 4% from last year
Michelle and Sarah loaded up the truck with the old linen from Dorset House including duvets, sheets, pillows, towels and tea towels and delivered it to Cholmondeley Childrens Home in Governors Bay, Christchurch. Lynn and Chris showed Michelle and Sarah around the complex and introduced them to some of the children in their care. It is a great facility and they were pleased to receive the linen, particularly the towels!
Cholmondeley Children's Home provides quality short-term residential care for children in need and support for their families. As well as providing a special haven for children, we run a popular community-based outreach programme for parents. Cholmondeley is supported by contracts provided to Government and health agencies, and donations from the community, which pay for their operating expenses.
