Peppers Beacon

We stayed here for my wife’s 55th birthday so decided to come back 10 years later, mainly for the amazing view from the lake view apartments. While the view was amazing many other aspects of the apartments were poor. The apartments are really in need of an upgrade and some of that seems to be happening. Carpets and vinyl flooring had been laid the day of our arrival however it was a shame that they didn’t finish the job and replace the skirting boards in the kitchen and clean under the shelving. Cupboard space was minimal. In addition the furniture was really old and worn, glassware was cheap and had cracked edges, the cookware was sparse (i.e. cheap frypans, no kitchen scissors, no microwave suitable bowls, no baking tray, no colander for draining rice or pasta, or spatula - for eggs etc.). The balcony was dirty and had cobwebs and moss. There were only 2 BR apartments available on the website, which is what we paid for but the second BR was locked until we asked for it to be opened. We also had to pay $30 a night for parking on top of the expensive room rate. You can get a much better deal for the price elsewhere in Queenstown.

We booked a two bed/bath apartment for a five night stay with another couple, followed by a two night stay in a hotel room after our friends flew home. We love the location of this property as it’s just a couple of hundred metres from the city centre and a flat stroll. We have stayed here each time we visited Queenstown but mostly in apartments hosted by Airbnb rather than those managed by the hotel. Honestly, the Airbnb/Stayz apartments were vastly superior in fit out AND cleanliness than the hotel managed apartment we were allocated. There were barely enough plates etc, the carpets were stretched to the point where there were lumps at the skirting boards, the fireplace didn’t work throughout the five day stay and the clothes dryer would only stay on if you had max 3 tshirts in it. The lounge was pretty new but the coffee table, dining table etc were not really up to standard… scratched surfaces and outdated. The second bedroom was quite stuffy as there were no windows and no separate airconditioner. Hubby and I found it uncomfortably warm and stuffy and had to sleep with the door open. The servicing of the apartment was pretty ordinary… they made the beds daily, sometimes removed the rubbish and changed the bin liners but in the five days they never used a vacuum or swept the kitchen floor at all. Now that would be fine as long as a small handheld vacuum was supplied but there was nothing so by checkout day the floors were pretty yucky. I’m adding photos here of one of the showers which was gross with mould etc. The Apartment was 704. Now when we checked with Reception each day re repair of the fireplace the staff were apologetic and twice gave us a bottle of wine. They also said they would waive our parking fee but we were parking on the street anyway to avoid the nightly $30 parking charge. Now to the Hotel Room… It was delightful. The bathroom was lovely and clean, the room was light, spacious and well appointed. The bed was comfy too. Highly recommend the hotel room… we were in 801. Staff at the property were exceptionally polite and as helpful as they could be. We’ll definitely stay here again but will look for an apartment on Stayz or similar next time as they’re better appointed and parking is included in the charge.

Great location and friendly staff who are up against it. That's the end of the good stuff. My wife and I travel frequently and are ACCOR members. We recognise the Peppers Brand as accommodation that we respect and trust as quality. This place is anything but. Stained carpet, small room, broken furniture, flickering bedside lamp, water damaged vanity bench, broken bathroom tiles, and a broken vanity door. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea. I wanted to complain directly to ACCOR management as I'm sure the Peppers Beacon manager is just trying to hold the sorry place together whilst renovations are undertaken. I tried to complain directly by Email to ACCOR by using their complaint form, but nothing seemed appropriate for a formal complaint. Hence I'm utilising TripAdvisor. We acknowledge that we were travelling over Easter and expected to pay a premium, but $420AUS p/n was excessive for what we got. What a rip off!!!