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U.S.FTC GUIDELINES PLEASE NOTE: we act as an affiliate for several companies that feature on our website. In some cases we may earn a commission from referrals to those companies. For further information please refer to our Privacy and Disclaimer policies which can be found in the "US" tab.
Vacation Queenstown Review
by Dave
(New Zealand)
Hi everyone,
we stayed at Peppers Beacon in November 2025. It's been a regular favourite of ours for the last 15-20 years.
We love Peppers Beacon for its wonderful location and variety of rooms, particularly the lake view apartments. If you are there for an extended stay, or with a group, the apartments are an excellent choice because they have full kitchens and laundry facilities. The outdoor balcony offers wonderful views out over Lake Wakatipu and on to the Remarkables.
Unfortunately, on this visit, we were informed shortly before we arrived, that the building was being painted, and "Peppers Beacon Queenstown will undergo exterior painting from October 2025 to May 2026. While we aim to minimise disruption, guests may notice increased onsite activity. Thank you for your understanding as we work to maintain our high standards."
This caused us some concerns as we had a group of 13 and had 3 lake view apartments and a hotel room booked. Our rooms were paid for so we had no other options. From previous visits we knew that the top building, which is higher up the hill, has better views. So we contacted Peppers and asked for more information and were told that the bottom building would be the first to be painted, and that scaffolding was being erected. So we asked if we could be housed in the top building.
Peppers originally refused to guarantee this, and would only say that they would endeavour to meet our request. Out of frustration, we approached the General Manager, and received an assurance that our rooms would be in the top building.
When we checked in, we thankfully received 2 apartments and a hotel room on level 7, and another apartment on level 8. All of these were in the top building. The bottom building was encased in scaffolding, which also covered the entry. Rooms in the bottom building looked through the scaffolding towards the view. Not ideal.
Our rooms were wonderful, as always, and we spent hours on the large decks overlooking Lake Wakatipu. Nights were still cool, so the gas fire was "stoked" every night.
In summary, Peppers Beacon Queenstown is a wonderful place to stay. Just be aware of the external renovations, which are scheduled to last till May 2026.
regards
Dave
Vacation Queenstown
