Matakauri Lodge

Emily Shiang★★★★★★★★★★3.05 months ago

I think another review below hit the nail on the head. We stayed in the Lakeview Deluxe Room, which was basically an attic off of the lobby. You can hear everything going on downstairs. There is a bizarre exit sign and another set of stairs right in the room — unclear where that led. The shower is tiny and basically a small wand. We had dinner at the restaurant once. The food was great but the service was off. There were instances of people asking about things multiple times, so it just felt a bit uncoordinated. And maybe it was because it was New Years but the pacing was slow despite there only being two tables including us. Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience, and everyone seemed well intentioned and the room was clean. However, for the price point, the experience was not on par with what you would expect for the Rosewood or comparable brands, and I think we came away somewhat frustrated that our money was probably better spent elsewhere.

Clint Barnes★★★★★★★★★★1.03 months ago

It pains me to read Davide's response to past negative reviews because his promises of learning and improving ring so empty. We are familiar with nicer hotels, but are not regulars in this air of luxury spaces. We booked Matakauri as the capstone to our honeymoon trip in NZ. The rooms are nice, the views are absolutely breathtaking, the staff seem truly invested in our stay, but something is just . . . off. We have stayed at hotels for a fraction of this cost where we feel truly cared for (shout out to Sofitel). Amongst other missteps, we had a very disappointing dinner. It dragged on for hours, after which point I requested that our entrees be cancelled if they were not ready. The staff did their best to recover, informing us that our meals would be ready in 3 minutes and we could take them in our room, if we would agree to it. Meals arrived cold, in our room, about 15 minutes later. We ran into Davide the next day. He told us our entrees were comped (the ones we were talked into accepting) and intimated to us that mistakes happen, but he feels good because they made things right in the end. I work in a luxury customer service space. Mistakes do happen. I have looked my clients in the eye and admitted to them, I messed up, I can't make them whole, but asked what I could do to get them as close to whole as possible. I feel like the staff really want to serve the clients here to the best of their ability. Whether it is local leadership or a failure of Rosewood, I don't think they are equipped to provide the stay that is expected with this type of investment. My wife and I spent the 11 days leading up to this stay traveling NZ in a campervan. We are not tremendously fancy or pampered people. However, we believe that if we choose a place like the Rosewood, we should have the stay equivalent of a Michelin star meal. Needs should be anticipated, we should not have to have awkward conversations about where things fell short. We should not receive empty goodbye letters hoping that we had a magical stay when we obviously did not. We came here expecting a truly memorable stay, a place that we would love and return to in future years. Instead, we're now scanning the north shore of Wakatipu looking for places with similar views that won't make us feel duped.

Adam Nagy★★★★★★★★★★5.04 months ago

Though we didn't stay at the hotel, we only dined in Amazing on all accounts, food, service views This is a rare find, and something that must be experienced at least once. Been in town for 20 years and gutted I've missed out on the place for so long, this is a truly A+++++ experience

Bianca Santos★★★★★★★★★★1.05 months ago

The food and initial service were very good. Unfortunately, the experience was ruined at payment. Despite my card being approved, I was followed to the car park, asked to pay again, questioned unnecessarily, and my card details were noted. I was later called to confirm the payment had in fact gone through. This was embarrassing and not the standard expected from a luxury hotel

Louise Clark★★★★★★★★★★5.0a year ago

We dined at Matakauri Lodge on Saturday to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. I honestly cannot recommend this experience enough. We treated ourselves to the 5 course set menu and it was absolutely stunning. Each dish surpassed our expectations, everything was melt in your mouth delicious and seasoned to perfection. To top it off the view from the dining room was amazing and the service was on point! Thanks to the team, for helping us celebrate this occasion in style.