Hot Springs Hotels in Otago, New Zealand

We chose this hotel because we expected to enjoy its winery/food. Otherwise, we should have stayed in Queenstown with a lot of restaurants and pubs. As we would arrive in the early evening, we put a note for our hope for experiencing their winery and food (or at least finger foods) when we booked the hotel, and received email that they cannot guarantee but will do their best to serve our need. Since then, no email was sent to us. When we arrived at the hotel around 6 pm, no one was in the information desk, so we had to go to the bistro to find out that they left the key in a safe box without any notice or sending us any email with its password. We had to wait a while for the bistro lady to make a phone call to whom it concerns, which was okay. Worse, we heard that their bistro was reserved for a group event so we could not use the facility at all. We had to drive 15 minutes to a nearby town and bought foods from a supermarket. I think the hotel should have notified us of impossibility of using their bistro/food service due to the group event and we have to prepare for our food. As I checked out, I left a note about the issues, and expected they would send me an email to express their sincere apology. Unfortunately nothing happened so far. Although I liked the room as well as the whole place very much, I think Kinross cottage needs professionalism to run their stay program. It could have been much nicer, memorable stay experience.

I booked this hotel because I was interested in its restaurant. To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed. First, we were given a room on the first floor facing the parking lot. The room was small, and you had to keep the curtains fully drawn; otherwise, with the floor-to-ceiling windows, you'd be exposed to everyone in the parking lot. The hotel itself isn't very large; its main appeal is the beautiful view from the restaurant, but there's a large construction site below that really detracts from the experience. The hotel has a great design aesthetic, and the scented shower gel smells wonderful. However, it probably fell a bit short of my expectations, and I found the value for money to be just okay (it really was quite expensive). Btw, breakfast was delicious!