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Reviews of Te Waonui Forest Retreat

5 out of 5
Te Waonui Forest Retreat
State Highway 6, Franz Josef Glacier

Reviews

9.2

Wonderful

Rating 10 - Excellent. 93 out of 131 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 23 out of 131 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 8 out of 131 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 5 out of 131 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 2 out of 131 reviews" "

9.8/10

Cleanliness

9.4/10

Staff & service

8.6/10

Amenities

9.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

9.6/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Ittipol

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Recommended
Stayed 1 night in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Daniel

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Fantastic property. Very quiet and secluded (even though it is in the heart of Franz Josef).
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Cheryl, Tiburon,

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Coco

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This is my favorite hotel during this New Zealand trip. Room is spacious, has a private balcony facing lush green plants. The canopy restaurant provides breakfast buffet and 5 course dinner. We definitely will stay there again.

10/10 Excellent

Jon

Travelled with partner
Friendly staff in a relaxed atmosphere. Hotel grounds were lovely.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Alan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Morgan

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Just stayed here one night but it was amazing. Service was top notch and the 5 course dinner was awesome. Service by all employees was superb.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Akshat

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Engel

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Dee

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Enjoyable and relaxing stay in this large but quiet resort. Staff very friendly and meals nice. Day spa had good services and not as pricey as some hotels. Easy walk to the township.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

4/10 Poor

Rod

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The dinners weren't great - for example rock hard cheese and some inedible dishes, the staff at the food hall's customer service was inconsistent. No gym, pool or fitness centre. Plus the spa was full booked with a massive waiting list. Bit odd as it was a 3 star place at best. Some nice people on main reception but there are some real challenges in this hotel.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Julie

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nice deluxe room and amenities. Friendly staff. Parking a bit tight.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Long

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We had an excellent experience! Loved the facilities and the food at the restaurant was delicious!
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Jamie

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing space , service was absolutely impeccable, beautiful welcoming environment and room. Dining room meals were beautiful. Expensive stay and I found the bed very uncomfortable but the staff were amazing the surroundings amazing , food was amazing.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 2 Dec 2023
Dear Jamie,We are glad to hear that you enjoyed the Hotel, rooms, service and the food during your stay with us. Our beds have a feather topper which can be easily removed upon request.We all wish you the best for your travels around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

8/10 Good

Ranveig

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful forrest retreat. Rooms include a five course dinner and breakfast that were both very nice. Only issue was the boil water notice and lack of bottled water in the room.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 24 Nov 2023
Dear Ranveig,We would like to thank you for your great comments about our rooms & the food. Unfortunately, the whole town had been on boil water notice and we were made aware of the notice quite late, with almost 1,000 water bottles being given to the guest we did run out of them. We apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.We all wish you the best for the rest of your travel's around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat team

10/10 Excellent

Rebecca

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The tropical setting was really nice. The food and customer service was excellent.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 24 Nov 2023
Dear Rebecca,We really appreciate you comments about the Hotel surroundings along with the food and team.We all wish you the best for the rest of your travel's around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

Shanene

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Magically getaway in Franz Josef
The rainforest retreat was very special and beautifully presented. Staff were very welcoming and friendly. The hot towel and kiwi juice in arrival after a long drive was heavenly. The rooms look over the rainforest and feel secluded. Rooms are quiet, big and clean. Bathroom was spotless with great shower and separate bath. We were lucky enough to have the 5 course dinner and was not disappointed…highly recommend. The buffet brekkie was great too with lots of different options.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 24 Nov 2023
Dear Shanene,We are delighted to hear your great comments about the Hotel, food and the team. It is comments like yours that keep us motivated every day.We all wish you the best for your travel's around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

2/10 Terrible

Rong

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 2 Nov 2023
Dear Rong,We really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review about the hotel.We wish you all the best for the rest of your travels around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

James

Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 2 Nov 2023
Dear James,We really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review about the hotel.We wish you all the best for the rest of your travels around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

Sarah-jean

Travelled with group
Love staying here! ♥️
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 24 Nov 2023
Dear Sarah-Jean,We really appreciate you taking the time to give us such great rating.We all wish you the best for the rest of your travle's around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

John

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Only one night but great.
A really fantastic one night stay to take a helicopter flight to the glacier. We wish had more time to stay. Restaurant was great.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 24 Nov 2023
Dear John,We really appreciate you taking the time to give us such great rating.We all wish you the best for the rest of your travel's around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

Samit

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Good location and relaxing property
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 24 Nov 2023
Dear Samit,We really appreciate you taking the time to give us such great rating.We all wish you the best for the rest of your travel's around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

Ajith

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Fabulous hotel. Great helpful staff. Food was excellent.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2023
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 12 Feb 2023
Dear Ajith,We are pleased to hear that you enjoyed your stay with us and found our food and staff excellent, which is a great testament to all the hard work put in by our team.We all wish you all the best for the rest of your travel's around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

8/10 Good

John

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very nice location and staff with a clean room and well thought through. The included dinner and breakfast felt a bit forced and not the expected quality. I would prefer a choice. We were pushed to a 6:00 pm seating for no apparent reason. High price considering the quality overall.
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 9 Jan 2023
Dear John,We are delighted to hear that you enjoyed your stay with us and found our team, rooms and the location of the Hotel up to standard. All our reservation confirmations state the requirement to make dinner reservations, due to the large numbers of guest we have to serve and all the other time slots being already booked unfortunately 6pm was the only available time slot on the night of your stay.We are constantly looking at improving our product and would like to thank you for your feedback regarding the food, which has been taken in to consideration and we will look at incorporating this in out future menus.We all hope that you enjoy the rest of your travels around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

Sophia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Response from Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team on 24 Nov 2023
Dear Sophia,We would like to thank you for your 5 star rating of our Hotel.We wish you all the best for the rest of your travels around New Zealand!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

shangyun

Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2022
Response from TW Team on 25 Dec 2022
Dear Shangyoun,We are pleased to hear that you enjoyed your stay with us and gave us an amazing rating.We wish you all the best for the rest of your travels!Kind regards,Te Waonui Forest Retreat Team

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Great location, surrounded by nature. Easy walk to town and restaurants etc Lovely people and excellent service. Would definitely stay again.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2021
Response from BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 29 Apr 2021
Hello Thank you for review and rating All the best

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2021
Response from BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 29 Apr 2021
Thank you for your rating All the best

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2021
Response from BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 29 Apr 2021
Thank you for your rating All the best

10/10 Excellent

William

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Relax in the rainforest
Great set up with views of the hotels own rain forest. Loved the canopy restaurant
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2021
Response from BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 29 Apr 2021
Hi William Thank you for your rating, pleased that you enjoyed the property All the best

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2020
Response from BradM on 8 Dec 2020
Thank you for posting All the best BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

10/10 Excellent

Andy, Nelson

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Heavenly place. Service is superb. Considering you are in the wilderness this is a gorgeous oasis of tranquility. Great base for walks Lovely rooms
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2020
Response from BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 4 Mar 2020
Hi Andy Thank you for your kind review, pleased that you could experience our Te Waonui service and facilities All the best BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

10/10 Excellent

John, Charlotte

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Restful setting, pleasant and very attentive staff, good multi course dinner each night in hotel restaurant, front desk helpful in arranging excursions.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020
Response from BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 13 Feb 2020
Hi John Thank you for your feedback, we are pleased that you experienced Our Te Waonui service from the team All the best BradM GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

10/10 Excellent

William

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Ideal visit
From checkin to checkout it was perfect. Great room, great employees and amazing dinner. All details were taken care of.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020
Response from BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 19 Jan 2020
Hi William Thank you for your feedback, pleased that we could provide you with a great experience All the best BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

6/10 Okay

Gnananandh

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Not worth the money !!
The place is overpriced. For a thousand NZ 1000$ per night -it is not worth it. The food had the same menu every day for breakfast and dinner. The last seating for dinner is 8 PM and if you come late they will request you to eat at another restaurant and they will pick up the tab. However there is no restaurant nearby that is worth the money that you have already paid for the dinner at Te Waonui. Overall totally overpriced for the stay
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2019
Response from BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 8 Jan 2020
Dear Gnananandh Thank you for your review. Disappointing to read that we did not met your expectations. The breakfast that we offer has daily specials as well as Items that would be found in most hotels in New Zealand, we do offer special dishes for dietary etc, which our team can organise if required. The option of dining off site is popular with our guest who would like to try something different. All the best BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

8/10 Good

Debora

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A treat of a retreat.
The retreat is lovely and the grounds beautifully maintained. It is conveniently located right next to the hot pools and a helicopter company. The food in the dining room was very good, especially the 5 course meal, and their wine menu offered great selections. The staff were very pleasant and accommodating. My only dissatisfaction was with the heating in the room. It was difficult to adjust so we were comfortable. The weather was unpredictable while we were there so that may have been a contributing factor.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2019
Response from BradM / Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 8 Jan 2020
Dear Deborah Thank you for your feedback, good to read that you enjoyed the hotel and our food & beverage menus.The heating is controlled by the thermostat in the bathroom and this will affect the overall heating if set to high or low All the best BradM/ GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

10/10 Excellent

Robert

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great hotel
Beautiful hotel in a great location.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2019
Response from BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 1 Jan 2020
Hi Robert Thank you for your feedback, glad you enjoyed our hotel and Franz Josef All the best BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Peaceful
Idyllic
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 1 Jan 2020
Hi Anonymous Thank you for your reply, it was our pleasure to be of service All the best BradM / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

10/10 Excellent

Oleg

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Luxurious retreat in a small glacier town
What a great retreat in a small glacier town. At first may seem overpriced, but it includes a truly outstanding breakfast and dinner, wich ends up being a great deal. The location and views, the service, the ambiance of a mountain lodge are all great. Rooms are very cozy and comfortable.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2019
Response from Brad M / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat on 24 Dec 2019
Hi Oleg Thank you for your reply, great to read you experienced our great outdoors and our excellent food and service offered by the team All the best Brad M / GM Te Waonui Forest Retreat

10/10 Excellent

Sharon

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Fantastic
The stay was fantastic. Couldn't fault the service, food, or quality of the facilities, we highly recommend this stay.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2019

10/10 Excellent

Mark

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Fantastic hotel with awesome staff and great food which is included in the room rate
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

SIU FUNG

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 5 nights in Apr 2019

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from General Manager on 12 Apr 2019
Thank you for your candid review.

8/10 Good

Lori

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Te Waonui Forest Retreat is the nicest hotel located in the Franz Josef Glacier area. It is tidy and the rooms are quite nice. It was a little chaotic in the lobby area because they cater to the tour bus crowd. Dinner was a fixed five course dinner option that was the same menu 2 nights in a row. Thankfully, they had 2 appetizer and 3 entree choices so you could eat differently each night. They attempted to make it upscale but it felt more like a cruise ship or disney hotel. Again, it is the best choice for the area but certainly not a 5-star hotel!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019
Response from General Manager on 26 Feb 2019
Dear Lori Thank you for your feedback. Yours sincerely Richard GM

10/10 Excellent

Kate

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Awesome!
Didn’t realize dinner and breakfast were included.... both were great! Love the patio on the jungle. Washer/dryer was very handy as well. Loved the kiwi juice!
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from General Manager on 26 Feb 2019
Dear Kate Thank you for your feedback and I am pleased that we exceeded expectations! Yours sincerely Richard

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very clean and modern. Food was excellent. Staffs were very engaging and friendly. Located in the center of the town. Next door is a hot pool, which is ideal for relaxation
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from General Manager on 26 Feb 2019
Dear Anonymous Thank you for your high rating and valuable feedback. Yours sincerely Richard

10/10 Excellent

Anne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
From welcoming drinks till departure ever effort was made to ensure we enjoyed our stay
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from General Manager on 7 Feb 2019
Dear Anne Thank you for your feedback as this is the only way we will improve as a Hotel. Yours sincerely Richard GM

10/10 Excellent

Marisa

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful, serene rainforest retreat.
We only got to spend one night in this beautiful place. Quiet, with all rooms looking into the rain forest and - what luck - it rained. What a perfect place. The rooms are lovely and well-appointed. Some are quite far from the front desk, if that's a concern. The beds are incredibly soft - maybe a little too soft? - we sank right in. We immediately opened the windows to listen to the rain. Both for dinner (a prix fixe included, which was good, but not great) and breakfast, we ate on the deck, watching and listening to the rain under heated lamps. Be warned! If there's an emergency, the town air raid siren will go off to call all the emergency workers to the site - it's not necessarily an earthquake, but those of you from California will be startled if you hear it. I wish we'd had a chance to try the spa! Would definitely stay here again.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2019
Response from General Manager on 15 Jan 2019
Dear Marisa Thank you for your review and kind rating of Te Waonui Forest Retreat. Yours sincerely Richard GM

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Best in the area
Good hotel, but not really a 5-star. Spa and "degustation menu" are set up to earn the star rating, but not really up to scratch. That said, lovely and welcoming staff.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2018
Response from General Manager on 11 Jan 2019
Thank you for your feedback. Yours faithfully Richard GM