Rooms & Suites
61 rooms in five categories, 24 to 78 m², from NZ$268 a night with breakfast.
01
Which side of the building you are on
Every room here faces one of two ways: south over the Frankton Arm to Kelvin Heights, or north back at the tussock slope the hotel is named for. The lake side costs more. The terrace side costs less and gets the frost, which is the better photograph about one morning in five between June and August.
All 61 rooms were re-carpeted and re-glazed in the 2019 refit. All of them have underfloor heating with a thermostat you control rather than one the building controls, blackout curtains that actually meet in the middle, and Central Otago milk in the fridge rather than the long-life kind.
Rates below are per night for two, and include breakfast in The Kawarau Room and GST. Check in from 3pm, out by 10am. Cots are free and there are eight of them. Two rooms on each floor are step-free from the lift with a roll-in shower and a fold-down seat.
Room types and rates
| Bracken Room | 16 · 24 m² |
|---|---|
| Frankton Arm Room | 19 · 29 m² |
| Bobs Cove Room | 13 · 36 m² |
| Remarkables Suite | 9 · 52 m² |
| The Earnslaw Suite | 4 · 78 m² |
| Total | 61 rooms across four floors |
02
Bracken Room
Sixteen rooms looking back at the slope the hotel is named for — tussock, matagouri and a line of poplars planted as a shelter belt in the seventies. There is no lake from these windows and we do not pretend otherwise. What there is instead is the frost: on a still morning in July the whole slope goes white and stays white until about eleven, and guests who have paid four hundred dollars for a water view have been known to come down and photograph this one instead.
- Queen bed
- Shower, no bath
- Desk under the window
- Tea and plunger coffee, Central Otago milk
- Underfloor heating, thermostat in the room
NZ$268per night, from, with breakfast
Enquire about this room
03
Frankton Arm Room
Nineteen rooms facing south over the Frankton Arm, with the Kelvin Heights peninsula directly opposite and the Remarkables wall behind it on a clear afternoon. The beds split into twins if you tell us when you book rather than when you arrive. Second floor and above clears the willows along the road; the first floor gets the water and also the top of the willows, which is honest rather than ideal, and is why the first floor is the same rate rather than more.
- King bed, or twin on request
- Bath and shower
- Armchair at the window
- Writing desk
- Lake outlook, second floor clears the willows
NZ$342per night, from, with breakfast
Enquire about this room
04
Bobs Cove Room
Thirteen corner rooms with a 6 m² balcony pointed west down the lake toward Bobs Cove and Cecil Peak. The table out there takes two dinner plates, which sounds like a small thing until you have tried to eat off the other kind. A sofa bed takes a third person without the room feeling like it has been asked to do too much. These are the rooms that go first in February and the rooms we can almost always find you in June.
- King bed and a sofa bed
- Balcony, 6 m², two chairs and a table
- Bath and separate shower
- Espresso machine and a wine fridge
- Outlook west down the lake
NZ$418per night, from, with breakfast
Enquire about this room
05
Remarkables Suite
Nine suites along the south face of the third floor, each with a sitting room behind a door that closes properly. Four of the nine — 302, 305, 309 and 311 — kept the original 1968 schist hearth surrounds from the motor lodge, laid by an Arrowtown stonemason whose grandson still does our repairs. The dining table seats four properly rather than as a gesture, and the desk is a real desk with a real chair.
- Separate sitting room
- King bed, sofa bed for two
- Bath with a lake outlook
- Dining table for four
- Original 1968 schist hearths in 302, 305, 309 and 311
NZ$585per night, from, with breakfast
Enquire about this room
06
The Earnslaw Suite
Four suites at the west end of the top floor, each with a 22 m² terrace facing up the lake. On a clear day the whole northern arm opens out and Pikirakatahi — Mount Earnslaw, 2,830 m — stands at the end of it. We have counted: it is visible from the bath on roughly forty days a year, mostly in autumn, and the front desk will tell you on the phone whether today is one of them. There is a reason there are only four: the lift overrun and the plant room take the rest of the floor and there is nowhere to put a fifth.
- 78 m² across three rooms
- Private terrace, 22 m²
- Freestanding bath at the west window
- Kitchenette and a wine fridge
- Checkout at 2pm included
NZ$1,040per night, from, with breakfast
Enquire about this room
07
The small print, said plainly
| Check in / out | 3pm and 10am. Earlier or later if the room allows, and the desk will tell you honestly whether it does. |
|---|---|
| Breakfast | Included in every rate. 6.30am to 10.30am in The Kawarau Room, and from 6am if you are on a boat or a mountain. |
| Children | Welcome everywhere except The Ben Lomond Room and the hot tubs. Cots free, eight available. Under-12s eat free at breakfast. |
| Dogs | Six ground-floor rooms take one dog, NZ$45 a stay. Not in the restaurant, and not left alone in the room. |
| Parking | 48 spaces behind the building, free to guests, and two charge points on the north wall. |
| Cancellation | Free until 48 hours before arrival on a flexible rate. Non-refundable rates are cheaper and say so at the time. |
| Accessibility | Two step-free rooms per floor, roll-in shower, fold-down seat, lift to all four floors and the bathhouse. |
Not sure which one
Phone reservations on +64 3 450 2755 between 7am and 8pm and describe what you are here to do. It is a small enough house that the person answering knows which rooms are quiet in February and which ones catch the sun at breakfast.
Or send the form and someone will write back the same day.
