Air New Zealand Air Points - ZQN hotel recommendation?

We're spending an afternoon and night in ZQN
and tho we'll have picked up a car I think I'd rather be in a position to stroll around town. Otherwise, we're more interested in pretty environment and well-appointed facilities than budget.

I can usually pick a hotel, but I'm not well calibrated to NZ - a lot of places that call themselves resorts look a lot like Motel 6's, so I thought I'd better ask the experts.

Kia ora,

If budget is not a problem, then you might want to try this hotel
http://www.eichardtshotel.co.nz/index.html

For stuff to do around ZQN, see my recent trip report AKL-CHC-ZQN v.v.

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UA 1P, QF Silver
I like NZ,NG,NH,UA,SK,LH & QF
Star Alliance defecting to Oneworld

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JohnAx:
We're spending an afternoon and night in ZQN and tho we'll have picked up a car I think I'd rather be in a position to stroll around town. Otherwise, we're more interested in pretty environment and well-appointed facilities than budget.
</font>

Eichardt's mentioned above is a fabulous place and in a fabulous central location, but it also is fabulously expensive.

However if you don't feel quite that fabulous you can find a pretty environment, very well-appointed facilites and a good price with a little looking ...

For example, the Heritage is a pretty nice place. It's just up the hill and within a short walking distance from town. The lastminute/standby rate site wotif.com lists a NZ $120 rate (approx US $60) over the next 2 weeks

http://www.wotif.com/accommodation/viewdeal.asp?Pr opID=992&CountryCode=2&PropType=1&Region=South+Island&SubRegion=Queenstown (http://www.wotif.com/accommodation/viewdeal.asp?PropID=992&CountryCode=2&PropType=1&Region=South+Island&SubRegion=Queenstown)

[I should point out that while wotif.com has great deals, some are prepurchase deals with stiff cancellation penalities.]

There are lots of other reasonable possibilities as well.

I've been visiting Queenstown for the last 7 years and probably have stayed at half the mid to upper end properties around there at sometime or another.



[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 06-12-2002).]

If price is no object, the Evergreen Lodge is just about the best (but USD 200 per night, and worth it). See http://www.zqn.co.nz/evergreen/index.html
Lots of alternatives for half that price (better value but not so distinctive).

Well, Evergreen looked like fun until I got to the part about "adults only". We usually come with a rug rat. He's less likely to disturb anyone than about 20% of the pseudo-adults I know, but the hotel is unlikely to buy that unless trade is very slow.

Rydges St. Moritz would be my choice. It's mid priced ... the rooms have great views and are well appointed.

St. Moritz looks like just what we were looking for. It's not clear who owns it, though, not that it matters. Probably not Rydges any longer - accomline thinks it's Novotel, asiatravel calls it Mercure. But they'll all take our money, which is what counts. I think.

I'm spending two days at Wanaka and two days at Queenstown next month. Any experiences with:
Copthorne
Millenium
Heritage
Villa del Lago

Thanks.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JohnAx:
St. Moritz looks like just what we were looking for. It's not clear who owns it, though, not that it matters. Probably not Rydges any longer - accomline thinks it's Novotel, asiatravel calls it Mercure.</font>

Accor owns (or franchises) the property formerly known as Rydges St Moritz. Accor owns both the Novotel and Mercure brands along with the Sofitel and Ibis brands.

(Accor even owns your beloved Motel-6 brand http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )

Some of the Accor related NZ properties have been shuffling between brands with both the ZQN and AKL Novotels lately being reflagged under the Mercure brand. And yes, Accor would like a cut of your money no matter what the hotel called.

The hotel is within short stumbling distance of the Queenstown CBD and is reasonably nice. The place has a few back facing rooms looking at the side of a hill instead of the lake and those rooms are best avoided.



[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 06-13-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by seawolf:
I'm spending two days at Wanaka and two days at Queenstown next month. Any experiences with:
Copthorne
Millenium
Heritage
Villa del Lago
</font>

Which Copthorne? There are two in Queenstown, though the "Terraces" might have been rebranded since I was last there.

The Millenium, Copthorne and Quality Hotel/Resort properties are all related.

I've stayed multiple times at the Queenstown Millenium, the Heritage and both Copthornes. What type of things are you interested in?

I've never stayed at Villa del Lago.

As for Wanaka, the accomodation scene over there is somewhat "grim" to be polite.




[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 06-13-2002).]

The only luxury resort in Wanaka appears to be the Edgewater resort

http://www.edgewater.nz-hotels.com/

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UA 1P, QF Silver
I like NZ,NG,NH,UA,SK,LH & QF
Star Alliance defecting to Oneworld

Hey, igel, I read your recent TR with interest. I don't want to belabor this thread with my personal travel questions, but if you want to email me your comments about what to expect (climate/crowds) in the ZQN area the first week or two of August I'd appreciate it. My wife had some questions about the abundance of cute guys that kept popping up in your narrative, but I'll let her deal with that when I'm not watching.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Quokka:
Which Copthorne? There are two in Queenstown, though the "Terraces" might have been rebranded since I was last there.

The Millenium, Copthorne and Quality Hotel/Resort properties are all related.

I've stayed multiple times at the Queenstown Millenium, the Heritage and both Copthornes. What type of things are you interested in?

I've never stayed at Villa del Lago.

As for Wanaka, the accomodation scene over there is somewhat "grim" to be polite.
[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 06-13-2002).]</font>

Which did you like love/hate the most?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by igel:
The only luxury resort in Wanaka appears to be the Edgewater resort

http://www.edgewater.nz-hotels.com/

</font>

There actually are quite a lot of luxury accomodations in Wanaka. Base on my research, I think what Wanaka lacks is mid-scale. It's either hostel/holiday park or luxury; whereas Queenstown will offer low/mid/high. I'll be staying at the Edgewater but that's because The Moorings and Wanaka Springs are booked full in July.

The "Terraces" is now known as Quality Resort Terraces. I stayed there when I was in Queenstown 1 month ago. 2 Queen-sized beds in a room for 2 is wonderful !

[This message has been edited by Jubilee777 (edited 06-16-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by seawolf:
Which did you like love/hate the most?</font>

I didn't fall in love with any of them, but I'd stay at any of them again.

The Heritage has the nicest rooms out of the bunch, but has the disadvantage of being slightly out of town with a longer walk to town. The Heritage also has the nicest common areas, etc out of the four.

The Millenium and Copthorne are right across the street from each other with both about a 5-10 minute stroll into the CBD. Both properties can get a fair amount of tour bus groups depending on the season. The Millenium has slightly nicer rooms and common areas, but few of the rooms have much of a view. The Copthorne across the street (and closer to the lake) has many lake facing rooms with big windows and decks. The awesome view can make up for the comfortable, but otherwise mundane rooms to some people. Of course, the decks are little more attractive to use in January than June.

The Quality Resort Terraces is slightly farther out from the CBD than the Millenium and Copthorne. The rooms at the Terraces there are comparable to the Copthorne. The Terraces is built in a terraced style with most of the rooms having some sort of view of the lake and Remarkables.

Often the Copthorne, Terraces and sometimes the Millenium will have signs in front of their properties offering very good standby rates. In fact standby rate offers are fairly common at most of the larger Queenstown hotels including the Rydges and the two Park Royals.


[This message has been edited by Quokka (edited 06-18-2002).]

Thanks Quokka. I think I'll be at the Heritage.