Escape To Picton Boutique Hotel, Restaurant & Wine Bar — Hotel in South Island

This small hotel advertises on both the Expedia.com and Booking.com websites (and other associated sites) on the basis you can either pay immediately upon booking OR for an additional amount (about 10%) you can "Pay when you stay".||My wife and I are planning a trip to the NZ South Island and, while visiting Picton, this hotel looked a reasonable choice. As our trip was not for another 9 months after the booking date, we elected the "Pay when you stay" option. All went well with the booking UNTIL a day or so later when I noticed that the hotel charged my credit card for the full amount of our reservation.||Needless to say, I immediately messaged the hotel asking them to correct this error (I thought) and received a reply that it was in fact no error and that they have decided to charge in full bookings made up to 9 months in advance regardless of the "Pay when you stay" condition of the booking which clearly and specifically states "You will not be charged until your stay". The lady from that hotel stated that "As we are small we had alot of false bookings the last two years and cards not working and clients not turning up". So, they advertise one thing and then do exactly what they want. She suggested we could cancel our reservation (if we didn’t concur with this breach of the advertised offer) and they would “immediately’ refund our reservation payment in full.||I cancelled my booking immediately as there was no need for us to put up with this deceptive behaviour.||I was then informed that we would receive our refund BUT, because the bank processing times are slow, it would take yet another 5-7 days for us to receive the funds - what total drivel - we are not in the dark ages of bank tellers with rolled-up sleeves and shaded-caps. If they processed the refund immediately upon our cancellation, we would have received our funds in a day or two at a maximum. It was yet another not so transparent ploy to retain our incorrectly acquired funds for as long as possible.||Needless to say, they DID NOT refund our credit card within the 5-7 day period and we had to ask Expedia to intervene. Clearly Expedia also had problems with Escape to Picton and, after a few iterations and more days waiting, they finally agreed to refund the booking. However (of course) this was not the end of the problem – Escape to Picton advised it would take yet another 5-7 days to refund our reservation and then further advised (because of bank restrictions!) they could only refund $500 each day hence taking 4 days to process all of the refund. ||The hotel still offers "Pay when you stay" - this is clearly false advertising. ||The hotel will probably respond to this review with excuses and blaming everyone but themselves but this review outlines the facts regardless of whatever spin they would like to invent.||Be very careful dealing with these people - a bit to tricky...

Pub food at fine dining prices. Edited to add: my seat cover thing was dirty and I picked food off it. I never sat anywhere else to compare it to, but no doubt mine was left a lot cleaner than I found it. I also gave no verbal feedback on the food to the wait staff because I was surprised and quite disappointed by what I'd ordered and what I'd shared with my partner. He kept responding enthusiastically about his own meal. I, as stated below, was frustrated with myself for not finding the courage to speak up. There were no complaints about the bread. But enormous slices of deliberately dry toasted bread that lacked any butter or moisture does not garlic bread make. And it was horribly dry with a cheese platter.

It seems evident they've recently lost their chef, comparing past reviews. I thought we would be having an elegant dinner on our last night in Picton but we had a really disappointing experience instead. From the moment we sat down on artificial fur-like chair coverings I could feel large pieces of dried food stuck to it! I couldn't help but pick some off and drop them on the floor. Hopefully they'll receive some attention there. The menu was not the same as the one on the entry fence or online. There were slight changes. We ordered oysters, as advertised on the chalk sandwich board/A frame sign outside. They didn't have any. We ordered garlic bread and received two slices of 40 mm thick DRY toast with chunks of burnt garlic and no perceptible butter flavour or moisture. It was just FAT flaky cardboard with burnt garlic. My partner loved his fresh catch of the day main dish. I ordered Marlborough salmon with honey and mustard sauce and received hot smoked salmon with the sauce... Given the salmon farm is just a couple of km out in the Sound I'm not sure why I received a cured salmon. I'm sure it wasn't advertised this way, and I'm sure no chef would serve hot smoked salmon this way knowingly. Either it's not Marlborough fresh salmon or it's not a chef... About $49 for that dish too! Dessert was a cheese board that was supposed to be served with homemade crackers, quince, chutney, dried fruit, nuts, and grapes for $39.50. We got quince, flowers, and more completely dry bread. No crackers, no fruit. Not as advertised, and yet quite the price! We were there from 6-8 pm and saw one other customer in all that time (on a Wednesday evening). Service was ok. I'm ashamed that I let all of this go without speaking up (which I never do) but it's not the servers' fault. Two dishes each, two glasses of wine each, $212 and very disappointing food, regardless...

From start to finish, our stay at this boutique hotel was incredible. The moment we walked in, we felt completely at ease. The staff were so friendly and attentive, and the whole place had such a calm, welcoming atmosphere. Our room was spotless and beautifully designed, with all the little touches that make a stay feel special. The location couldn’t have been better either; we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go and really enjoy everything Picton has to offer.

Dinner on our first night at the hotel’s wine bar and restaurant was easily one of the highlights of our trip. We started with oysters that were absolutely divine, perfectly fresh and briny. For my main, I had the Marlborough salmon, so tender and flavourful, easily one of the best dishes I’ve had in a long time. My partner went for the Surf and Turf and couldn’t stop talking about it! We lingered over a final glass of wine and shared a gorgeous cheese board to finish, the perfect ending to a perfect evening.

We both wished we hadn’t made dinner plans elsewhere the following night because the food, service, and atmosphere were just that good. This place is a real gem. I’d go back in...