My wife and 2 children stayed at the Soffitel for a single night in jan 08. We had an internet reservation through Accor. The check in was efficient although upon arrival the hotel layout is odd with the check in at the rear through some glass doors. The room was absolutely luxurious with 2 double beds, including a beatiful spa bath. We had a coffee machine as well which was welcome as coffee in NZ is expensive. The front desk staff were very friendly but seemed to lack local knowledge. The girl on duty was from Brazil and could not direct me to the post office, The valet parking is a bit odd as I assumed it was undercover but found out that the car was parked on the street. I was quoted $15 per night for that. Overall a lovely experience and a great location but a high price. The next 2 nights we stayed at the Grand Mercure and I would say its better value.The restaurant evening meal was great but again there was an air of inexperience in the waitress staff as they could not tell me much about the meals or the accompanyments. Would stay again but only at the right price.

My brother and I stayed at the hotel on Saturday night in January in Queenstown, the hotel looks great on paper as "the only 5 star hotel in Queenstown" but there are much better options. Some of the issues were;

We checked in at 12, told the rooms would not be ready till 2, came back at 2 and still not ready. So we waited again and came back at 3, we were told that the rooms were ready but on inspection my brothers was not. So I dropped my brother in my room on the promise that they will call when the room was ready. 3 hours later and no call, eventually we called again and the room was ready.... no call no service, hardly 5 star.

When he did get to his room his view in this 5 star hotel, in the most beutiful settings was of a rock wall..... that was his view, a rock wall.

My room also had problems, in my mini bar when I checked in was a half drunken bottle of wine, i let the staff know on 3 occassions and they looked at me blankly.

They also had "Valet Parking" for 20 dollars, a complete rip off as its slow and the guys running it are half asleep and it took longer for them to get the car than if we had parked it out of town. The counter staff also seem very inexperienced and untrained to be working at a 5 star hotel, nice people but a complete lack of training and even the concierge seemed like he started yesterday.

In summary if you are visiting Queenstown please skip this hotel, its poorly ran, the staff are badly trained and the setting is not great. We stayed at the Peppers down the lake the night before and had a far superior stay.

This is an amazing hotel and definitely far surpasses any other Sofitel I've stayed in.

Likes:
- Amazing room
- Real coffee-machine in-room
- Very nice bathroom with L'Occitane amenities
- Good location, very central
- Friendly helpful staff
- Good Restaurant

Dislikes:
- Nothing

We stayed at the Sofitel for a week in November of 2007. The location is superb. It is within a very short walk of several excellent restaurants suiting all tastes. It is also a five-ten minute walk to the waterfront at Queenstown Bay and also the gondola base and nearby hiking trails. We were able to walk out of the hotel, up some stairs, up a short road and we were hiking on excellent trails literally within ten minutes of leaving the hotel.

The room was spotless and very comfortable, and we always had enough towels and tea. The TV had about five channels and no BBC World (but Sky and CNN), which was surprising, but there is a (limited) DVD library at the front desk. We actually bought a couple used DVDs in town. I believe there is decent PPV but we did not look. The staff was professional and polite. Not particularly warm in all cases, but frankly that doesn't bother me as long as they are polite and get the job done. I do know that bothers some guests, though.

A caveat - I booked months ahead at about 495 NZD per night, then a couple weeks before I left got online and found a "smart rate" that varied by day. I ended up canceling the original and rebooking at a variable daily rate that overall saved me about 700 NZD. However, when I checked out they charged me the original amount. Luckily I had copies of the e-mail confirmation of the cancellation and the new reservation. The front desk was polite enough about it although it took a little time to fix. Just a caveat that if you have any sort of discounted rate, bring your e-mail confirms and such, just in case.

We had a fire while we were staying at the hotel. The alarm went off about 5am and we were led out the stairs to the area in front of the hotel. The staff handled the situation well, eventually providing water and blankets. We were able to return to our rooms in an hour or so. The smell of smoke was in the lobby but not up in the rooms. Now, I found this odd - we were all given a letter the next day saying that there was fire (ok we knew that), but instead of telling us what happened it just praised the staff. I agree the staff acted professionally, but it was just a little strange. We were told by one of the volunteer fire fighters (whom we recognized from one of our outings) that there was an electrical fire in the spa, but that they caught it smoldering before it became a large fire. No one at the hotel ever confirmed, but perhaps all's well that ends well. At least we know the smoke detectors seem to work.

A word on the New Zealanders - wonderful folks for the most part, friendly and outgoing just like their reputation.

I have been fortunate to travel all over the world. Queenstown is by no means a cheap place to visit. The nice hotels, restaurants and "adventure" outfitters are relatively expensive. However, I have not been anywhere in the world that offers this sort of experience of having so much outdoor adventure available to you in such a confined area and so conveniently accessed - and the town and surroundings are absolutely brilliant. The outfitters, from our experience, are first class and one gets what one pays for in that regard. But remember - the day hiking is simply phenomenal, and that is free. The Sofitel is convenient to it all. Overall Queenstown is by all means worth it.

I cannot recommend Queenstown more highly, and on balance I think the Sofitel is an excellent place to stay.