Staff and guests of a Rotorua motel are feeling shaken after tending to a man who said he had been stabbed in the chest.

Police and paramedics were called to the Ace Motor Lodge on the corner of Sumner and Fenton St around 12.05pm.

A police spokeswoman confirmed a person had been stabbed.

"The person has been taken to the hospital. Police are conducting enquiries to locate the offender.

"Police are actively seeking the offender and the person does not pose any immediate threat to the public."

A guest of the motel said he was going to his car when a man came running towards him from the street, clutching his heart.

"He said, 'help, I've been stabbed' but I didn't believe him at first because he had a hoodie on.

"But when he took it off, there was blood gushing everywhere and you could see the cut just above his heart."

Ace Motor Lodge manager Yuri Yu was in the office above when he saw the man running towards the building.

He quickly called 111 and went down to check the man's condition.

"There was blood everywhere, all over his jeans and the cut was very deep.

"I was shaken but I feel okay now. It was not nice to see him like that."

By 12.45pm the last police car had left.