We had a lovely stay

My husband and I stayed at the Millenium for 6 nights in September 2005. We really loved the hotel and found the service very friendly and efficient. Because of lack of car parking we had free valet parking for our stay. The room was spacious and very comfortable. Room service and housekeeping were very prompt and professional. We would definately stay at the Millenium again.

Had a lovely stay

We were on an extended road trip of both the North and South Islands, and as there was a special deal available in the Millennium/Copthorne/Kingsgate chain that offered lots of benefits (free wine, free breakfasts, free room) with various numbers of nights, we stayed mostly in hotels in this chain. This Millennium was one of the best of the lot, which makes it hard to understand some of the other comments here.

I guess we were unusally lucky, in that each place we requested and received non-smoking rooms, and only one of the hotels was really bad - the Kingsgate in Wellington. The rest were excellent to above average unless your standard is the Four Seasons, in which case, I can understand being disappointed. But, for reasonably nice hotels, clean, well located, this chain is overall a good one in our experience.

This particular Millennium was well maintained, we received very nice non-smoking rooms, and the free shuttle was great, as the location could have been a bit better. As noted elsewhere it was at the top of a fairly steep hill into town. We did discover a second route that took us through the botanical gardens and some residential areas that wasn't quite as steep, but the shuttle was a nice alternative after dinner when it had started to drizzle.

We found the service acceptable, although not up to the standard of the Millennium Christchurch, which was exceptional. The gym was about a "C" with operational but not very much equipment, but a very nice hot tub.

We very much enjoyed Queenstown, which is lovely, and also our excursion (all day) to Milford Sound. If you do this one, take one of the bigger buses, as we took the "Eco-tour" on quite a small bus which wasn't very comfortable, and also wasn't good for anyone prone to car sickness. The road to Milford Sound is quite twisty and it is a long ride, but worth it. The boat ride on the Sound is spectacular and the bus drivers all take the time to point out the Lord of the Rings sites that are along the way.

We also did the jet boat ride down in town, which was fun, but fairly pricey for a pretty short ride. Be prepared to get pretty wet. There's also a paddlewheel steamer that does excursions out of Queenstown.

A large hotel with little atmosphere

We recently stayed at this hotel for 3 nights on a conference. I was apprehensive after reading the reviews here . It is a large hotel and the room was clean, however ours did have the smell of smoke about it. Also we were put in a room with an adjoining door which when we asked if there were any other rooms told there were not. There were a lot of negative comments about the food for the conference and not the restaurant. Some staff were helpful but $3 for 15 minutes on the internet was expensive. It is a 10 minute walk to the town centre down a steep hill. All in all I would not go back as there seemed to be better places elsewhere in town, not as bad as I thought it may be but my expectations were low.

Service was Awful!

in general -- this hotel is similar to a Days Inn or Radisson in the US. the room was spacious and clean. however, the staff were incredibly unhelpful and often rude. when we asked what the weather would be for the next few days -- the gentleman at the desk said to watch the news! we also had an incident with their inability to call a cab for us. their rates for internet usage were ridiculous -- to use my laptop in our room it was $.68 NZD per minute but when I checked out there were all sorts of extra charges for overages on MBs transmitted...not easy to know exactly how much you are transmitting! this was particularly annoying because it was a slow dial up connection! we did not like any of the millenium hotels that we stayed at -- actually -- we did not like ANY accomodations in New Zealand.

Fantastic

We have just come home from Queenstown and must say that I cannot understand comments made about the hotel. From the moment we stepped in the service and surrounds were fantastic. The staff were very helpful and gave us unbiased opinoins on all the activities and places to go in town. We had a wonderful room with a view of the Remarkables. One morning we woke to the lovely view with a sprinkling of snow. Our room did not smell of smoke. we actually had to go outside away from our room to a balcony to have a cigarette. I would recomend this hotel to anyone and I would certainly stay there again. Cant comment on the food as we ate out.

Disappointing

I have stayed there twice in the last three years. Some of the staff were excellent and others a waste of space. The rooms stank of cigarette smoke (we booked well in advance requesting non smokers as my wife has breathing problems) and the decor very tired. Sevice in the Dining Room for Dinner was a joke. Breakfast was a huge improvement.

Loved the service!

We arrived and were really impressed by the helpful bellboys opening our car door, taking our luggage to our room, nothing seemed a problem. Our room was great with everything we expected, it had fantastic courtyard views. Staff at the front desk were helpful, friendly and knowledgeable on the best places to eat in Queenstown and about the many activities we could book at reception, we loved the recommendations we received. We had a blast there, the spa at the hotel was great and so was room service, the breakfast buffet was nice. Everybody was friendly and helpful in such a busy hotel. The free shuttle service into town was a bonus!

Ok, but not worth the money

We stayed here during the first night of our trip to New Zealand. It was a definite disappointment. It was our honeymoon and definitely not the nice hotel we were hoping for. It was almost $100 and more like a $50 motel in the states. The hot tub was nice, but that was about it. I would look elsewhere for a better deal. We didn't like any of the Millenium or Kingsgate properties that we stayed at throughout NZ.

Not up to standard

Like the previous review for this hotel, we too were given a room which reaked of stale smoke and was very run down. We were offered an alternative room - the room for disabled guests! Great for a romantic getaway - not. The view out the window was that of a tour bus which started its motor at 6.30am each morning and ran for approx 10 minutes to warm up.

The lighting was terrible, so dark in the bed area that I could not see enough to get anything out of my suitcase. I would not recommend this hotel.

Loved queenstown - the millenium was so-so

We knew we were in trouble when our non-smoking room smelled like an all-night poker game. When we asked the management about it, they offered to come in and spray some chemicals in the room so we couldn't smell anything. We declined. They wouldn't move us to a different room despite the fact the hotel was apparently half full. Our package included breakfast, but nevertheless our breakfast was billed to our room as an additional charge. It took several calls to get the erroneous charges off of our bill. On the day before our planned departure, we asked for late check-out. The clerk said many people were checking in, so we could stay only until 1 p.m. The following day, we happened to be talking to the clerk (a different one) in the morning who said we could not stay late and accused us of lying when we did not know the person's name we had spoken to the previous day. We also had trouble ordering a movie on the hotel's pay per view system and were treated as though we were morons when we called to ask for assistance. The irony of the whole stay is that the hotel's motto - which is repeated on all its literature - is that it has legendary service. Every other hotel experience we had in NZ was excellent!