As I mentioned in a prior post, I booked this hotel the day before our stay when we decided on the fly/cruise/fly option to Milford Sound and I then needed a place to stay instead of the motel in Te Anau I had previously booked. Sofitel is a higher end brand within Accor and I had previously done a status match from Bilt in 2025 that gave me Accor Platinum status. In 2026, I was downgraded to Gold status, but the two suite night awards that I had received with the status match stayed in my account. I used one as the only room available at the Sofitel was a junior suite. The regular room rate was around US$350 and the suite was US$800. The suite night award allowed me to book the junior suite at the regular room rate. I then used 16,000 Accor points to pay for the room when I checked out.

We arrived around 4pm and our suite was available. I was also informed that we had complimentary breakfast in the restaurant, two complimentary drink coupons and lounge access. To be honest, I never actually figured out what lounge access entailed as we ate breakfast in the restaurant.

Our suite was more like a full suite than a junior suite with a separate living room and huge bathroom. A note and welcome gift of chocolates and macarons were left on the dining table. The hotel seemed very new or recently renovated as everything was in great shape.

My wife took a snooze and I explored the hotel a bit. The gym and spa was on the first floor but it was only reachable by a separate elevator. I didn’t use it, but it had a good selection of equipment.

The hotel also had several restaurants and a nice bar. The lobby area was beautifully decorated.

That night after dinner, we stopped in the bar for our complimentary drink. There was a limited menu for this.

The cocktail of the week was a gin old-fashioned. I asked the bartender if he could just make me a regular bourbon old-fashioned and he said that was fine.

My wife enjoyed her pinot noir and I had a great chat about soccer and the World Cup with the two bartenders who were from Argentina and Colombia.

The next morning, we had a fantastic breakfast at the Left Bank Bistro. There was a buffet with a full cooked breakfast and other options as well as an a la carte selection from which we could order per our breakfast benefit.

My wife got the pancakes and I got the brioche French toast. The coffee was great as well.

We also enjoyed the pastries and other options from the buffet.

For a last minute stay, the Sofitel turned out to be a great option. Valet parking was NZ$50, but when we went out around 10:30am, we left the car there for the day and left our bags with the bell desk as we were not able to check in to our next hotel (about 100 yards away) until 3pm.

I need to start looking into Accor properties more as their flexible points (2.3 cents per point applied to the cash price) can provide great value. If you can’t get a reservation at Eichardt’s (or don’t have Hilton points), the Sofitel would be a great choice for Queenstown especially if you can get a rate that includes breakfast.

Up Next: Queenstown Activities

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