mi-pad Queenstown Hotel — Hotel in South Island

Where do I start? The hotel industry is so stale and mundane that this seems like a disruption level change very much needed in this industry.

Before I get into what I like, I'll get into what I dislike. The bathroom design and layout in my room, was awkward and does not provide a place for you to hang your change of clothes or a space for you to change. I sure hope you're travelling with your other half who you're romantically involved in, because the shower are glass and can be see through from the top or bottom sections. SO ARE THE TOILETS. No locks, just sliding glass doors with zero soundproofing of any kind. Cue toilet sounds. They're also literally right next to the bed. You also have to step out of the shower in full view of the room to change into clothes. Also, sensor lights in toilet/bathroom are hilariously short and you'll find yourself waving arms to keep them on, nostalgic of public toilets with timed lights. I'm also not a big fan of the sink being right in the entrance of the room. It's awkwardly place in my opinion - it's like brushing teeth in the hallway. The bathroom design is awkward rather than futuristic, and some additional thoughts need to go into this for future hotels. This makes it IMMEDIATELY UNSUITABLE for anyone other than solo travellers or couples.

What I loved. In the room: Room cast. You can use Chromecast in the room. BRILLIANT!!! You can cast your own YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, etc. We watched game of thrones casted onto hotel tv. I like the small finishing touches, like sensor lights under the bed. Hair straightener comes standard in room. So are 'expensive' hair dryers and expensive toiletries according to my other half as she Googles them. Bed and pillows are comfy. No bedroom slippers. No tea making facilities or fridge (see next paragraph). Room just a tad on the smallish side but it didn't bother me.

Hotel wise, I loved the extra features. Lounge. Board games. Books. Lounges. Lots of lots of lounges. Rooftop lounge is a highlight. Basement lounge makes me regret not bringing my laptop. Feels like a startup office. Absolutely love them. Free vending machine with free drinks on every floor, guess to make up for no tea making facilities.

Location wise, it's fantastic. Literally 1 min walk from the main street. 2 hour free parking 8am - 6pm Mon- Fri. Not unlimited. There's lots of spots in front of the hotel but it's not unlimited and Queenstown parking inspectors are ruthless so please follow the rules to the letter. We parked at a nearby 10 hour parking at recreation park carpark for $1 a hour (must vacate this carpark by 6pm latest) and then moved our car back to the hotel for overnight parking. DO NOT PARK ON BROKEN YELLOW LINES anywhere in the city.

Love the futuristic idea of checking in on a phone app. Still needs refinement and lots of work. App is still pretty slow but does work. Control lights, room DND status, and a/c from the phone is gimmicky, and sorta works BUT overwrites existing room status. E.g. if I change just one setting of lights on my phone, all my settings in the room would be completely reset, including my air conditioning to heater instead of cooling. This still needs work. But opening the door with the app works fine (and this is the most important thing). Seems like black magic to me as it doesn't appear to use nfc. Being able to check in, get my room number, and open the room door with my phone means no wasting 15 mins at reception just trying to check in if you don't want to.

All in all, I love this hotel and would love to see more of this. I reckon this could be the new Uber in the hotel world. Well done, mi-pad, start your own chain, with competitive prices and I might not stay anywhere...

This hotel is quite new and in an excellent location. The facilities resemble those of an upmarket hostel rather than a hotel. There are no refrigerators in the room or tea/coffee making facilities. There is a tea/coffee machine and ice machine on each floor, but the ground floor coffee machine was not working while we were there.

The rooms are very small and quite dark, but adequate. The beds were very comfortable. The toilet and shower cubicles each have semi-opaque glass doors opening directly beside the bed, so I wouldn't want to share the room with someone with whom I wasn't very comfortable.

We were booked into this hotel for two nights as part of a tour. We planned to arrive in Queenstown a day early so I phoned the mi-pad Queenstown to find out what sort of room had been booked for us so that I could book an additional night in the same. Once I had booked the extra night online I emailed the hotel just to confirm that we wished to stay in the same room for the three nights.

I was therefore very annoyed to be told on arrival that we would have to move out of our room the next morning before 10am and wouldn't have access to another room until after 2pm!

The first room we had on the 6th floor was quite pleasant.

The room on the ground floor we were given for the next two nights had very little natural light and the automated 'smart' lighting system kept turning off the lights at apparently random intervals e.g. 15 seconds up to 11/2 minutes. To be able to see well enough to find things in our bags, one of us had to stay near the light switch and push the button again every time the light went out. the movement sensors did not appear to be working. I notified staff and it was fixed the next day but there were no other rooms available for us. Another person in our tour group had a similar issue with the lights in their room, so it seems this may not have been an unusual problem.

The communal lounge areas on the ground floor and rooftop were the best feature...

TLDR - This is NOT a four star hotel, it is a comfy bed and shower in a convenient location. Not sure you can classify this place as a "hotel" based on the amenities (or lack thereof).

First the good, location is good, they have good safety measures, bed was comfy and staff are friendly.

Unfortunately that's where is stops. I understand that there is a staff shortage but I really cannot excuse the issues here. Nothing works - not the app, not the in-room heating, not the appliances, not the vending machine for hot drinking water, the WiFi is too slow for video calls. The shower in my room was leaking, shower gel not filled up (despite me telling front office to) and there is no daily housekeeping. When telling front desk I need help with heating and wanted my room serviced (it was my 3rd day since I checked in), they did send housekeeping so I went to the common area to wait for them to be done but housekeeping was done in less than 5 mins. Basically just made the bed, no linen/towel change (with a pamphlet I had accidentally dropped on the bed still on it) and cleared the trash. I just hope my room was properly cleaned before I checked in.

My room was opposite a staff/housekeeping room and they were so noisy till late at night, I was constantly woken up by that door opening and closing.

There is no easy way to contact front desk if you need help and don't want to incur data roaming charges by dialling a NZ number.

The colorful lights and added appliances (like hair straightener) is great but I would prefer the basics like having a regular cleaning service and in-room heating.

I also don't understand how this is a "smart" hotel. You cannot even cast/stream Netflix on their TV.

I will not stay here again if things don't change and frankly I contemplated daily if I should change hotels. Basically what staff said and what actually happened didn't add up and that was very...