Stoneridge Estate Queenstown — Hotel in South Island

Stayed here for 3 nights at considerable expense for a honeymoon stay. The check in experience left something to be desired as we were simply showed to our room and not told about the various shared facilities and how to book/use them. The room was sized well and very comfortable and had an absolutely spectacular view however the window was pretty smudged in spots. The bathroom has an excellent shower and bath and dual sinks but the toilet was quite close to the two sinks. There was a window directly above the bath and opposite the shower that provided a spectacular view out to the mountains and lake however the blind that they had installed was completely see through which was a bit disconcerting for the lack of privacy during a bath or shower. We decided to try the restaurant on the first night of the stay and chose to "trust the chef" menu with wine pairing. I have no way to know for sure but it seemed like they were using a mix of frozen, canned/jarred things and pre-prepared heated up things as well as some very good quality, fresh cuts of lamb and beef. There were some nice wines in the pairing as well as just ok ones but was pretty good value. I would be shocked if the meal was prepared by an actual chef and the first two courses were particularly bad as well as the desert with things coming out cold and lukewarm in spots and completely overcooked and dry in others. The lovely server kept asking how everything was at every opportunity and neither of us had the heart to say anything as it was so bad we didn't really have any confidence that there would be some improvement and didn't want to make a scene. The next day at breakfast which was of a similar terrible standard with overcooked cold poached eggs and undercooked somehow dried out cold bacon and untoasted bagel slapped together it was too much and when the lovely server came over to ask how everything was we told her. They comped us a bottle of wine and gave the feedback to the kitchen and to their credit the breakfast quality improved the next two days. The infinity pool which was aesthetically gorgeous looking out over the lake and mountains was essentially unusable as it was the ambient temperature and so, too cold to practically swim in with no heating to speak of. Not really the fault of the estate but there was patron operating a drone from their balcony and I know during my check in I wasn't explicitly advised not to operate drones but again was a bit annoying. The spa bath (which needed to be booked so they could turn the heating on) needed to have the cover manually winched up and the jets didn't work nor were any instructions provided it was a great temperature and also had an incredible view. The daily cheese board and wine were very nice and well enjoyed. All in all it was a good stay with nice staff and unrivaled views but some disappointing aspects that could be improved. Giving such a detailed review here as booked directly and wasn't given the opportunity to provide detailed feedback on...

We had been travelling in New Zealand for 6 weeks before we stayed at Stoneridge Retreat. It was the reset we really needed.

We stayed for four nights in the retreat section. We had such an amazing stay and wish we could have stayed longer. The views from our window and balcony of the valley and mountains were incredible. It was a truly special way to wake up in the morning. The room was very spacious, extremely well designed and very comfortable. We made full use of the pool and sauna. Which was a very nice way to end the day.

But what really made the stay was the service staff and little touches. We loved having the cheese platter in the afternoon every day. All the staff were extremely helpful and polite throughout our stay.

In particular Suzanne was amazing and made our stay perfect. We were travelling with our 5 month old daughter and she made the whole experience a delight. From arranging our wine tour. To sorting out our massage packages (I would highly recommend this if you have the time). To sorting out our trust the chef experience. As well as all our other needs. Like having a baby cot already set up in our room. It made our stay from start to finish so enjoyable and completely stress free. No request seemed to small for her and she responded to our emails quickly and efficiently.

The other person we wanted to mention was Rebecca who was our sommelier and server when we had our trust the chef experience. She is extremely knowledgeable about the wine pairings for our courses. She is also such a lovely person. She made the dinner such a special and a truly enjoyable experience. Due to her and the food being delicious. We decided to do another two nights of the chef experience.

In short we had an amazingly stay at Stoneridge. The staff couldn’t have been more helpful and that mixed with the views and Stoneridge itself made for a truly special four days. We will definitely be...

We organised a heli-wedding with Stoneridge estate and whilst the wedding itself was perfect and the support from the wedding coordinator was amazing, there were a few things we found disappointing with their contract/policies.

I chose to book my heli-wedding with Stoneridge due to the ability to upgrade to a 9 seater helicopter so I could bring a few guest for an additional $700. After receiving confirmation that the 9 seater helicopter is available on my chosen date, receiving and signing the contract for said helicopter and paying a 50% deposit, I was advised that the 9 seater helicopter was not available anymore and I would now need to pay $1,500 to have a second helicopter. I was advised that nothing could be done to reduce this additional cost, despite having signed a contract and paid the deposit.

Further to this, when receiving my final invoice, I was charged an additional $133 for emails! 5 hours of wedding planning time is allocated to organising the wedding, 2.25 of that was to complete the wedding run sheet and the rest 2.75 hours, was allocated to emails, which is a total of 16.5 emails based on their hourly rate. Any additional emails are charged at $12.5 per email! Stoneridge track and bill your emails from your very first inquiry to find out more about their wedding services, to confirming a date, to their emails to suppliers to organise the wedding for the package in the contract.

There was nothing excessive about my wedding/emails, besides the unavailability of the 9 seater helicopter so I assume that I not only had to pay the additional money for the helicopter, I had to also pay additional money for the emails regarding the issue!

At no point was I notified that I had used up all the allocated time and that any additional communication would be charged for, they just whacked it on the...