If you're looking for a comfortable stay with the most lovely people I highly recommend Brian and Susan's home.
It's very clean and the bathroom is huge, they eben have a large bathtub!
They drove me to all the places I wanted to go and start the amazing walks that you can do there and picked me up and drove me to the Bus Station.
And they even invited me to join the dinner they hosted one night.
I would come back any time, whakatane is such a nice place to chill at the beaches and hike up the Mountains to get a fantastic view. And also because of the most genuine and kind people I stayed with. We had such great conversations and they gave me the best advices for my Trip and even helped me to Plan my next steps!