Novotel Queenstown Lakeside Hotel

For starters I did not book through the official website. I went onto a really cool site that shows special deals and rates (www.wotif.com) and booked through there. I did this because I found that the price for two nights in a room with a king-sized bed for two people was about half the price. I ended up paying 203 NZD for two nights, but I think the normal price is double that. (I've rated the price as good, so people don't think it's cheap even though my prices were!)

Unfortunately I didn't really find the hotel lobby staff very nice. They gave us the wrong room at first and we had to take our own bags all the way up there before finding out it wasn't correct and then had to bring them back ourselves, get the staff to get our booking right and then we had to drag our bags to the opposite end of the building to the proper room. Not very accomodating, especially for two young girls with heavy luggage. Perhaps their cold demeanour was because my friend and I are students. At any rate we felt quite unwelcomed.

The great thing about this place is that the TVs are massive, the beds are really comfy and it's so close to all the attractions in the centre of town. I can't fault the actual building or rooms themselves. There was free internet in the lobby but you'll have to vie for use because every man and his dog wants to use those two computers.

Also DO NOT put the stupid little card key next to your cellphone or you'll wipe the data and end up having to visit reception.

At the end of our stay we checked out but because our bus was only coming later in the afternoon we asked to store our bags there. They said yes, told us to wait for a man next to reception to take the bags to storage. But the man took about 45 minutes talking to an Asian tourist about boats whilst we wasted our precious time. Again, we were not impressed with the staff.

All-in-all, a great hotel but the people running it need a serious lesson in hospitality.