Peppers Beacon Queenstown — Hotel in South Island

Honeymoon Stay - Very Disappointing Experience

We stayed at Peppers Beacon Queenstown during our honeymoon and unfortunately, we were very disappointed with the standard of our room - especially given this is marketed as a 4-star hotel charging premium rates.

We did have an incredible view from Room 206, which was one of the few highlights of our stay.

Unfortunately, the overall cleanliness, maintenance, and security of the property were well below expectations. We have photo evidence to support the following issues:

• The outdoor area (including the AC unit and handrails) was caked in black dust - we had to clean it ourselves with wipes.

• The indoor dining table was stained and marked and couldn’t be properly cleaned.

• Furniture throughout the apartment was aged and weathered; curtains in the bedrooms were stained.

• The apartment was generally dusty, with lifting floorboards, torn carpets, stained curtains, and visible stains on both indoor and outdoor tables.

• The kitchen bench had a sticky residue.

• The TV was small and outdated, with no Bluetooth speaker or modern features.

• There were no stools at the kitchen bench.

• Cutlery and glasses were dirty - we had to run two dishwasher cycles on arrival.

• The entry to the lifts from the driveway was messy and covered in leaves - a poor first impression.

• The bathroom was outdated with visible mould.

• Champagne glasses had lipstick marks on them.

• There was no body wash provided - we had to request it, and housekeeping only came around 4 pm. When they did, they swapped out our face washers but didn’t replace our towels or properly clean the room.

• The walls are paper thin - we could hear movement and noise from other rooms all night.

Most concerning of all was the lack of security throughout the property: • No key card was needed to enter or exit the property through the front door or garage. • No key card was required to access the lifts or any floor - a major security concern.

Finally, this was our honeymoon, and my fiancé had arranged for a bottle of champagne to be in the room on arrival. It wasn’t there when we checked in, and when it did arrive later, the glasses provided were dirty.

We even had to purchase our own cleaning supplies just to feel comfortable in the space - something we never expected to do at this level of accommodation.

While the front desk staff were friendly and we appreciated the early check-in, the overall condition, cleanliness, and security of the property left us extremely underwhelmed and disappointed - particularly for such a special and memorable trip.

We sincerely hope that management takes this feedback seriously, as the current standard of the rooms and property security does not match the expectations set by the hotel’s marketing or...

We have been magnificently underwhelmed with our stay at Peppers Beacon in one of the standard rooms and would exclusively not recommend this hotel unless there are no other available offerings. The hotel itself is quite beautiful and the lake-side facade is very attractive and well featured and at first glance it seemed a lovely place to stay. After further inspection upon check-in to a rather cramped room with cleaning solution bottles and dirty towels littering the counterspace, our glowing excitement for our holiday stay in Queenstown was a bit tarnished. Fundamentally there was not one particular thing wrong with the hotel, just a lot of small annoyances, and I first felt I was being a bit too harsh on the place. The list of small nitpicks added up to a somewhat uncomfortable stay, however, and I feel compelled to share with my fellow travelers.

The room had no air conditioning, only a small fan which could barely keep up with the heat input from the mini-fridge and the room was continuously about 5 degrees (C) too warm, leaving us with that unpleasant sticky feeling like being stuck on a public bus at a stoplight at 2 in the afternoon with the windows rolled up. The windows to the room hardly opened at all so it was quite a challenge to extract a breeze from the cooler outside air. The bed was quite springy with firm pillows, all together only good for trampoline exercises and neck cramps. The amenities of the hotel like the spa, gym, and sauna were paltry at best. The spa requires a reservation time, but you only learn that once you've searched the labrynthe of halls to find it in a complex with poor markings and signage and stumble into the most unimpressive collection of exercise equipment ever found in a hotel. The sauna, whose door is fit only for the tallest of hobbits, only stays active for 10 mins at a time, hardly enough time to heat up, and nevermind that there is no where to set towels or other personal items. Additionally, we asked to make a change to our reservation whilst staying and the hotel staff couldn't manage to work out the computer system and we were effectively left with no solution to our needed change in our travel plans.

I could continue, but I hope the point has been made. Overall, my impression is that this hotel cares very much about the outward physical appearance of the facility, which they've executed with fantastic splendor, but on the whole, they are simply not interested in creating a comfortable, enjoyable environment for their patrons and I would not...

Unfortunately we picked the wrong hotel for our stay in Queenstown. We booked a 2 bedroom lake view apartment, and was initially assigned unit 102. It was absolute awful with scaffolding over the side of the unit and workmen walking past every few minutes, leaving no privacy. There was constant hum of the drill from the construction right next to the unit. It is unacceptable and the unit shouldn’t be used until it’s refurbished. There is an issue with the shower in one of the rooms leaks water into the bedroom, wetting the carpet. We hadn’t even used the shower when we arrive but the carpet was damp. We refused to accept the room and was offered another alternative, a room on the 10th floor which is closed, pending refurbishment for a leak in the ceiling, that room reeks of damp smell. We were finally assigned an ‘upgrade’ to a 3 bedroom unit. However this unit is still poorly maintained, and wasn’t clean enough. There were food stains in the dishwasher, stains on the blinds, the kettle had some weird black spots, and the sky tv wasn’t working. I have given up at this point. The hotel recognises Accor gold by giving u a bottle of wine, thank you, however it is truly disappointing that we were assigned a first floor room, with no privacy due to constant stream of cars and human traffic, no way I would feel comfortable enjoying the balcony and view is very much obstructed by trees. I do not feel valued as an Accor gold member at this hotel, I don’t see the advantage of it if they would assign us to a room unfit for stay when we booked months in advance. I’d rather not have a bottle of wine but a clean unit with views as promised and everything in working order. That is the very least a hotel should provide. Our third room also has a leaking dishwasher(just discovered as we are using it right now). The stay couldn’t get any worse and this is the worst decision I made- booking this hotel for our stay in Queenstown. I have to commend the reception staff for being so friendly and trying their best to help. There is only so much they could do if the units are so poorly maintained. This is the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in and I wish I didn’t have to write this review. I’ve rechecked the website and there is no mention of refurbishment work on site, I wouldn’t have booked the hotel if I knew there would be scaffolding next to my room. We have just stayed at peppers blue water and that was excellent and a world of difference to...