Tag: New Zealand Hotels
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New Zealand Treehouse Living At Its Finest
Treehouse
When can a treehouse be both glamorous and sustainable? Four words: Hapuku Lodges and Treehouses. Located on the South Island of New Zealand, the property features completely sustainable living, while overlooking the pristine scenery of the Kaikoura region, about 2 hours north of Christchurch.
The lodges and tree houses were the brainchild of a family of architects and designers, so there's no shortage of thoughtful, functional design that looks great. Not only did they want to create a unique hotel that showcases the region's love of nature, they also sought to be an important cog in the local ecosystem.
The main accommodations are treehouses that hang 30 feet above the ground in the canopy of a Manuka grove. Don't worry: there isn't a rope ladder to climb, since each house has a staircase leading up to the luxurious digs. Inside, there are giant windows to take in views of the local mountains and the Pacific coastline, plus natural wood furnishings, all hand-crafted by local woodworkers that happen to be friends of the owners.
Fantasy Friday / New Zealand Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
The Guest List At Huka Lodge Is A Celebrity Overload
Joan Collins. Michael Douglas. Bette Midler. Barbra Streisand. John Cleese. Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, and Queen Margrethe of Denmark. What do all these people have in common?
They’ve stayed at Huka Lodge, one of New Zealand’s most exclusive hotels, and a perfect Fantasy Friday candidate. Located on the Waikato River, near Taupo and Rotorua on the North Island, this is one place that’s on our personal hotel bucket-list.
Hotel Reopenings / Hotel News / New Zealand Hotels / Christchurch Hotels / Ibis Hotels / Accor Hotels / Hotel Woes / Earthquake Hotels / → All Tags
Christchurch, NZ Welcomes Back First Hotel Since Earthquake
Natural disasters, like earthquakes, can paralyze travel plans, sometimes months and even years later. The February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, which pretty much closed down the city to tourism, was no different. But we've got good news--things are bouncing back, including the September 4th re-opening of the Ibis Christchurch Hotel, which has been closed for two years.
The South Island city of Christchurch experienced a 6.3 magnitude quake that caused 185 deaths. Slowly, but surely, the city has been rebuilt and people are moving back to the region.
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5 Reasons We Never Wanted To Leave The Spire in Queenstown
Most people come to Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand, to experience the South Island’s pristine nature—along with a healthy dose of adrenaline—but we liked our hotel in town, The Spire. So much, in fact, that we barely wanted to leave our room! Here are the five things we liked best, in the order in which we experienced them.
1. The Welcome Amenity: After a long, tiring day and the drive into town (and yes, it was a bit difficult to find the hotel since it's down a little pedestrian lane in the middle of Queenstown), it was relief to hand over the keys to our rental car, be walked upstairs to one of the hotel’s 10 enormous rooms (all are about 650 square feet) while someone parked our car and brought our luggage, and find a little tray waiting for us with a half-bottle of Champagne, handmade chocolates and apples, a welcome amenity that each and every guest receives. That’s part of our number two favorite thing…
Cubicle Dreamin' / New Zealand Hotels / Hotel Spas / Photo Gallery / → All Tags
What Happens When Our Cubicle Dreams Come True: The Farm at Cape Kidnappers
All this week, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen takes us on a tour of New Zealand’s hotel scene.
About a year or so ago, in a Cubicle Dreamin’ fantasy piece, we told you about one of our all-time dream hotels, The Farm at Cape Kidnappers in the famous wine-making region of Hawkes Bay on New Zealand’s North Island.
Well, in one of those amazing twists of fate, we actually got to visit the gourmet golf resort over the holidays this year, and here are a couple of our photos and impressions of the resort, which we can only describe as world-class.
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Inside Wellington's Museum Hotel
All this week, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen takes us on a tour of New Zealand’s hotel scene.
Today on our New Zealand hotel scene roundup, we take you to the nation’s capital, Wellington, or “Windy Welly” as the locals call it thanks to its typically blustery weather, to show you around our room at the city’s Museum Hotel.
Wellington is about one tenth the size of Auckland, but we were still white-knuckling it as we drove along the busy one-way streets all the way to the harbor-front where we found the austere, black façade of the hotel across from one of the country’s most visited museums, Te Papa. Aha, so that’s where the hotel’s name comes from!
Auckland Hotels / New Zealand Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
Why We Needed To Use the Restroom at Westin Auckland Lighter Quay
All this week, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen takes us on a tour of New Zealand’s hotel scene.
So far in our mini hotel tour of Auckland we’ve taken you to the Langham, where we stayed, and over to the Hilton, where we popped in for an impromptu tour one day. Now we’re going to take you to the newest of the city’s upscale chain hotels, the Westin Auckland Lighter Quay.
We had to settle for another quick guerrilla tour of this harborfront property because we weren’t actually staying there, and couldn’t take any photos inside. But we did manage to get a good look around and thought it was worth mentioning here anyway. And if you really need the visual aids, you can check out our Flickr shots of the hotel here.
Photo Gallery / Auckland Hotels / New Zealand Hotels / Hilton Hotels / Hotel Pools / Death Defying Rooftop Hotel Pools / → All Tags
Inside The Hilton Auckland, Where The Pool Hangs Off The Roof
All this week, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen takes us on a tour of New Zealand’s hotel scene.
Though we stayed at the Langham during our three days in Auckland, we took the opportunity to visit a couple of the city’s other premier hotels including the Hilton.
The first thing that struck us as we dropped off a couple friends was the architecture. The hotel is on a renovated wharf, and was designed to look like a cruise ship, though it had more of an oil tanker aesthetic if you asked us. The one cool feature was the pool suspended four stories above the driveway, and you know how we like our dramatic hotel pools.
Hotel Video Tours / Photo Gallery / HotelChatter Reviews / Langham Hotels / New Zealand Hotels / Auckland Hotels / → All Tags
Inside The Langham Auckland
All this week, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen takes us on a tour of New Zealand’s hotel scene.
Though it’s the biggest city in New Zealand, Auckland is still a small place, with just about 1.4 million souls, so the hotel scene isn’t quite as big as we’re used to.
Still, we found a few options to talk about based on our recent trip down to city of sails, including the Langham Auckland, where we stayed for three nights, and which we’d venture to say is the city’s most established luxury hotel based on what we saw while we were down there. Check out the photo gallery and room video we made to find out why.
Hotel Deals / Intercontinental Hotels / Australia Hotels / New Zealand Hotels / → All Tags
How To Save By Heading South For The Summer... Er, Winter
The view from the Intercontinental Sydney. It looks like this in winter, too!
We may be rubbing our hands in excitement about the coming summer here in the U.S.—but down in the Southern Hemisphere it's almost time for winter. Or should we say "winter". They may call it that, but in places like Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, the months of June, July, and August can be just as balmy as wherever it us you usually spend your summer vacation. Which is handy, because IHG hotels want you to head south for the summer... or "winter"... with its South Pacific Early Bird Special.
The deal offers up to 50% off stays at select InterContinentals, Crowne Plazas, and Holiday Inns in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and French Polynesia between June and August. And with flights more competitive than ever in this region, it could be a great time to go.
Cubicle Dreamin' / New Zealand Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
Wine, Nature and Golf at the End of the World
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Eric Rosen travels to the end of the earth for a luxury stay. Enjoy.
Summer has not even ended yet, but the crush of autumn obligations and work has already started to feel suffocating. As longer hours, shorter days and colder temperatures threaten, I have been casting my eye around for a way to get away from it all—to the very ends of the earth if necessary—and to find a way to extend summer indefinitely. That is how I settled upon my far-flung destination of The Farm at Cape Kidnappers in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand’s North Island.
With airfares dropping on Qantas and Air New Zealand thanks to new competition from Virgin Australia, it seems like a great time to take advantage of the chance to fly halfway round the world to Auckland…and then take another hour-long flight (or six-hour drive!). Finally, we’re starting to get somewhere.
Cubicle Dreamin / New Zealand Hotels / → All Tags
Queenstown's Matakauri Lodge Might Get Even Better
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving company's dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway; at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
Despite living in Australia for a whole lot of my life, I've never actually been to New Zealand. (It's actually pretty far away when you live on the west coast of Oz – that's my excuse and I’m sticking to it.) Of course I definitely want to check out this beautiful country and a resort that's just changed hands seems like a nice spot to stay.
Near the tourist hotspot of Queenstown on the South Island, the Matakauri Lodge has just been bought by billionaire Julian Robertson. He already owns The Farm at Cape Kidnappers and Kauri Cliffs but he's moving south and extending his family of luxury Kiwi resorts.
