Resort Lodge

Resort Lodge, a BBH hostel, is located on a little, quiet street, but is still near the main road of Shotover Street. If you are traveling by Intercity/Newmans coaches, the hostel is only two streets away from their bus stop along Athol Street. From there, you walk along Shotover Street toward Stanley Street where you can see a Four Stars Supermarket. The next street will be Stanley Street, although it is not clear as the road sign indicating the street cannot be seen. The road sign you will see is Gorge Road -- Resort Lodge is easy to locate from that point as you just need to turn right from Shotover Street and you can see that the hostel is not far into Henry Street. The street may not be well lit, but at least the hostel is.

Resort Lodge does look resort-like with its multiple large-panel windows, plant boxes, flowering plants, and al fresco lounge at the rooftop. The interior is painted in bright pastels with fittings in similarly bright colours. As you step in the front door, you can see the reception straight ahead -- ring the bell if there is no one there. Beside the door, there is a side table stacked with brochures for activities in and around Queenstown, and town maps.

The rooms inside the hostel are arranged interestingly. Rather than rows and levels of rooms, they are grouped in clusters/sections. In each cluster, there is a bunch of rooms which may be bunks or private rooms. Each cluster has at least a toilet with shower facilities. Some clusters even have a kitchenette. There is a main kitchen on the first level and two other kitchenettes on other levels.

Rooms are decent-sized, even for bunks, with generous space to move around. There are not more than four beds in each bunk and every room has a TV. The facilities are more than sufficient with a separate laundry area, a spacious TV room, dining, and chill-out area at separate levels, and an Internet area with two computers that work on Internet cards dispensed by a coin-operated unit next to the computers. Overall, it is a clean and pleasant environment that is also very well located.

The ever-popular Fergburger is a short five minutes' walk along Shotover Street. The location of the hostel is also good, with the supermarket just a street away and a short walk to a few of the grooviest pubs in town.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review