Pinetrees Lodge — Hotel in Lord Howe Island

I highly recommend a visit to Lord Howe Island it is like travelling back in time when life was simple. I have never felt so relaxed during a holiday and having no wifi, phone coverage or a tv really does make this place a true gem for a reset. However at $1450+ per night this lodge offers no value for money.

The Good: Basic and Beautifully decorated Rooms.

Overall good service and friendly staff.

Picnic Lunches were my favourite meal - I recommend you order this which gives you flexibility to eat it anywhere at anytime on the island.

The Food during the week was exceptional - you won't go hungry!

The Bad: The rooms were extremely hot without air conditioning and the ceiling fans barely work. You can request a portable fan however expect a few sleepless nights in Summer as the rooms don't cool down and are hotter than outside.

The beds are also extremely hard (good if you have a bad back but painful if you are used to sleeping on pillow top mattresses).

I stay in hotels around the world more than half the year for work and this was the laziest housekeeping I have ever seen. The bed was only made half of the time and the bath robes which were on the beds were thrown on the floor every day. The tissues, toilet paper and soap were not replenished throughout our stay and no surfaces were wiped down.

The staff make you feel like you can't have a day to sit around and relax at the lodge. The ground's were nice but there is no play area for the children so they tend to run around and use the tennis court as a playground. The service area is also too close to the rooms and you see a bit too much "behind the scenes" stuff.

The food on the weekend was average with poached eggs over cooked, burnt toast and the dinner meals seemed lazy and lacked imagination.

Drinks and Coffees are extra. At a minimum the Barista Coffee should be included for the price you pay to stay here. Also you can only get a Barista Coffee between 730am and before 9am.

Meal times are strict and there is no flexibility. It felt like being back in Boarding School.

I do not recommend the BBQ Lunch - the quality of food was very poor (including white bread) and they pick it up early (230pm the day we had our lunch) without specifying what time they will come and get them. At breakfast we told the staff we were not attending dinner and would be having our BBQ mid afternoon. When we hadn't finished it by 230pm not only did the staff member get angry at us who came to pick it up but the next day at breakfast (our last full day and we had ordered a picnic lunch already) Fran went off at us in front of other guests that they had to send someone back out at 4pm to pickup the BBQ Items. He was extremely rude and it was embarrassing - aren't we the guests paying a fortune to stay here and how could we know we had to finish it early if you don't give us times.

We saw senior staff telling off other staff members during service in front of guests a few times. One occurrence happened during dinner service when they were short on staff (extremely obvious) and one of the young girls made a mistake with the orders (not a big deal it happens). She was "schooled" in the middle of the dinner service by another staff member and the poor girl was in tears.

The review was hard to score as some aspects of Pinetrees Lodge was amazing and other areas were truly...

From the moment we landed on Lord Howe Island and were met at the airport gate by one of the amazing staff members of Pinetrees, we knew we were in for a treat. Lunch was almost over, but the buffet was replenished for the six of us who arrived on the plane. Following lunch we were taken on a drive to get our bearings on the island. We then returned to the resort where our Transit Hill room was ready with our luggage delivered. Excellent room with a king size bed,kitchenette, desk, bathroom and a verandah at the back with comfortable chairs where we could sit and relax with a quiet drink each day after hiking to the many amazing places there were to see on the island. The entire place was well set up. very clean and functional as well as comfortable. We needed to do all the hiking because we were fed so well every day with breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and 5 star dinners each evening in the dining room. The food was excellent with plenty of variety and we learnt a few new ways that we will try with presentation of meals at home.

The staff, from the time we first checked in, all knew our names and treated us like long lost friends although it was our first visit to the island. This made us feel as though we belonged (part of the family) and certainly made our time on the island special. Apart from this all staff members were professional in their duties and, if we had any questions, they were all well-informed and able to help us with our queries and give us tips for activities we could do and places that we really should see.

We could have hired a car or bicycles for transport to the start of the many hiking trails, but Pinetrees is central to everything so we walked everywhere.

If (when) we return we will most likely go in Summer, as the water wasn't quite warm enough for us to swim or snorkel in during late September/early October, especially being Far North Queenslanders. However, we had been experiencing cooler than usual weather at home during August and September, so other years the weather may not be so cool on Lord Howe Island at that time of year, and ... with excellent food and warm, comfortable beds, the weather didn't really matter.

For those interested in sports other than walking/hiking/climbing or water sports, Pinetrees has a tennis court with all the equipment free for use.

For those who want a more relaxing time they have a library/ reading room where you can settle with...

We recently spent a week at Pinetrees on Lord Howe Island in March, and it was once again a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The staff are exceptionally warm, hard working and attentive, striking that rare balance between professional and genuinely interested in how your day has been. It’s that kind of thoughtful hospitality that sets the tone for a relaxing stay.||The Transit Hill room that we stayed in was clean, thoughtfully designed, functional and comfortable – particularly the bed, which made for a great night’s sleep after days spent exploring the island or snorkelling in the lagoon. For the few times you find yourself back in your room during the day, sitting on the porch watching the wood hens go about their business on the lawns and in the brush is a quiet pleasure in itself.||The food deserves a special mention. Meals are served on a lovely patio, and the quality is consistently excellent across breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. There’s also the option to take a picnic or have a BBQ lunch delivered to one of several stunning locations around the island – everything is taken care of, right down to your choice of drinks.||While much has already been written about the beauty of Lord Howe Island, it’s worth noting that with so few people on the island at any one time, the beaches feel wonderfully uncrowded. Another highlight for us is the absence of mobile reception, television and wi-fi at Pinetrees. It creates a different kind of atmosphere – guests talk with each other, share stories, and often gather at the boat house with a drink in hand to watch the sunset. Those evenings were among our favourite moments.||This was our third visit to Pinetrees in recent years, and it continues to deliver a consistently high standard of service and experience. We’re already looking forward to...