3-Star Hotels in Albert Town

The accommodation options in Lake Hawea are limited to the hotel (closed for the night we wanted to stay), The Camp, and private rentals. Normally we would stay in Wanaka but we wanted to avoid the larger townships due to Covid, and it was just one night passing thru on the way to Haast. Our stay at a cottage was on a small rise. I felt the cottage could do with a spruce up as it was rather dated and wasn't really value for money. Just needs a refresh. The Camp itself is geared towards campers and glampers and motorhomes, thus the name, and a classic Kiwi holiday style. The Camp is on the shores of Lake Hawea, nice watching campers enjoying their watersports, and campers doing their camping ”thing” - ie just sitting around relaxing / taking it easy. Despite no full view of the lake, it was nice sitting outside on the cape cod style chairs just soaking up the warm autumn weather after a long day travelling.

I would probably hesitate to recommend this place, as it still has a way to go with the small touches that make you overlook larger issues. We booked a one-bedroom apartment, and when we showed up, were given a one-ROOM studio with a door leading to kitchen and lounge facilities shared with six other studios. Absolutely not what we booked; we are not backpackers and would never book something with shared anything. To be fair to property, this appears to be a *********** error with the description rather than the property’s fault. And the lady at reception was genuinely lovely and helpful throughout our whole stay. That said, it was a bit grim. The studio was SMALL, and had a bar fridge - with the previous occupant’s half-eaten food still in it- (!!!!) that rattled and buzzed so much we turned it off. No space for anything but one small bag. We were then asked if we’d like to upgrade to the only remaining apartment; a two- bedroom affair that cost another 100 dollars. We chose yes, obviously. Much more spacious, but several issues. The living room had air con but was missing any blinds, and with sunset not till 9pm this time of year, the sun blared straight in and made the TV unwatchable till dark. An otherwise well-stocked full kitchen was missing oil, milk, cold water, any kind of water jug, and anything at all to clean with after cooking - the only cloths on the room were tea-towels. The listed washer and dryer were not present at all. All manageable till bedtime. The bedrooms - jeeeeeez. No air-con upstairs, and what feels like no insulation. I have a travel thermometer. The bedrooms were stuffy and hot as hell- 28 degrees celscius with no way to cool them down. No air-con, not even a standing fan. A tiny window that could only be opened a few centimetres. After several sleepless hours I went downstairs and tried to sleep on the couch in the living room. Which due to the missing blinds was lit up like a Christmas tree by the streetlight directly outside. I got three hours sleep. I appreciate that the property was trying to rectify an error not of their own making, but that townhouse was not ready for guests and we should not have been offered it until their furnishings and fittings were complete. BYO fan, I guess.