Have you ever tried to find a hotel in a city that you've never been to . . . at night . . . in the rain . . . after a 13 hour flight . . . driving on the opposite side of the road than you're used to . . . and with your google maps acting up? Welcome to my world when we arrived in Queenstown. (My wife did a great job navigating btw, otherwise it would have been a very long night.)
Despite all the above being true however, once we arrived, our experience was absolutely EXCELLENT.
I was greeted immediately by a young lady with a smile and hello. This was already a great start - especially since in my experience, hotel desk persons at 10pm on a Sunday night typically aren't very pleasant in the least. She found my reservation within seconds, told me that we had been upgraded to a nicer room (thank you Expedia). She explained that while our reservation was upgraded, it didn't include the breakfast option, which I declined ($22 per adult is super expensive even with the conversion from USD, although my 7 year old twins would have eaten free.) She also explained that the car park fee was also not included. This is a typical fee for city hotels/resorts, so I wasn't surprised.
I offloaded our luggage, sent the family up to the room, and parked the SUV. Parking was probably the ONLY real negative here.
The room was fantastic - two double beds (although queens would have been better, but that wasn't an option.) Great view of the lake. Very clean and roomy. The beds were super comfy, but when you've had a full day of travel, a travel cot would be comfortable. The room was getting a little old and needing some light TLC, but all in all were are EXTREMELY happy with our booking.
I would recommend visiting Rydges during your stay in Queenstown. read more