Wanaka Springs Lodge

I am giving this 4 stars as the location is great, the garden lovely, and the rooms could be fine, but…this is totally dependent on other guests. One group left all their dirty dishes in the communal kitchen for me to confront for my breakfast the next day. The guests in the room next to ours left their TV on all hours of the day - sort of defeating the purpose of a quiet garden retreat. They had it on until midnight every night and as we are early sleepers, we could not get to sleep before then. When I asked the woman why they had the TV on all the time, she just told me they liked it on when they were in the room, but I noted, you are in the kitchen having dinner and it is on, and she said, yes, they just left it on. When I said it was disturbing our sleep, she just smiled and said they like to stay up late. Needless to say, we got only a few hours of sleep while here.

This is a very comfortable place to stay and a great location for a good price. We had a nice deck off our room and it was an easy walk into town. There is a hot tub (though it needed cleaning) and a large communal kitchen with a fridge and cooktop which was perfect since we had an early start up Roy's Peak and needed place to store our food for the hike. The only negative - there is no staff on site and we only had a glimpse of someone who probably worked there. It feels more like an Airbnb. You need more towels? You have to call. Any questions about Wanaka etc, no one is there. Overall, it just felt a little strange.

Although this is a lovely place and very clean it is expensive without breakfast. Hot tub was lovely. I would like to say however there was an officious and unfriendly manager who was not a welcoming host, but only critical about parking ( we never blocked anyone in ) and turning on the heating etc. This was unecessary and unwelcoming.

After dawdling through the alpine beauty of Haast Pass, and descending down SH6, passing-by Lake Hawea to Wanaka, we were challenged to find our accommodation. The lodge is positioned in the south part of the town, off Ardmore St, the waterfront, driving up Helwick St. passed several shops on both sides, crossing two roads Brownston and Upton, to Warren Street, down sharply on the left. We were given a spacious room, with a large king bed, and an outside seating area with views towards Cardrona Resort and Mt Aspiring National Park. There were a couple of areas, the kitchen/dining room and a sitting room/lounge, shared with other residents and a reception manned mid-afternoon until late afternoon/ early evening. Access later was via a secure digital locked door. The arrangements were unusual, but perfectly comfortable and quiet on the edge of the town centre, with restaurants and shops within easy walking down Helwick Street. We had time to swim in the lake on the two days we stayed in Wanaka, both days hot around 30c in mid-afternoon, relieved by plunging into the icy lake wqters. The experience contrasted with the daily cold-water swim our daughter had introduced us to back up in the Bay of Plenty, it was noticeably clearer, not buoyant like sea-water.

We stayed at the Wanaka Springs for 2 nights - booked through an agent as part of a New Zealand fly/drive holiday. I don't see how it can be classed as a hotel with no dining/bar facilities (communal kitchen to cook your own food). Our room was small, the bed uncomfortable and the shower temperature lukewarm most of the time. It is well situated close to Wanaka but otherwise very disappointing