BenA

I don't disagree with this, although I'd qualify it as an Australian phenomenon. Some of my best stays have been in the Meriton Serviced Apartments chain - very nicely appointed and furnished apartments, managed like a hotel, but without all the hotel extras I never use.

For what it's worth, the US does have properties that offer this sort of experience - Residence Inn actually hits the mark pretty well for me. Although it often comes with a lower quality of room furnishings, it still clears the minimum bar. Location is usually the main drawback, but more are starting to get built in city centers rather than in anonymous suburbs (often with slightly higher quality rooms to match).

My experience in NZ is that the average bar is much, much lower than Australia - for whatever reason, outside of Auckland, the Kiwis seem to love their "motor inns". They're clean and perfectly serviceable, but the quality level is a definite step below the average bar of what I've been able to find in equivalent locations in Australia and the management is often less than professional. Perhaps this is influenced by the types of visitors they receive, though - lots of gap year travelers and folks doing the Great Kiwi Road Trip, rather than a steady flow of business travelers?