New Zealand Tour Map Travel Blog

Hotels.com annual Hotel Price Index has been released and show that New Zealand accommodation is among the cheapest in the world. The online agency surveyed 20,000 hotels.

The survey showed that the average cost of a hotel room in New Zealand was $153 a night while in the countries larger cities, Wellington proved to be the most expensive at an average of $164 while Auckland came in at $157 average per night. This compares with Moscow’s average double room rate was $476 followed closely in second place, New York at $429.

The same week Qantas and Air New Zealand announced an increase in direct flights from Australia to Queenstown for the coming ski season, the Queenstown Lakes District Council has threatened a clampdown on short term holiday rental properties.

Five New Zealand hotels and luxury lodges have gained a place on the prestigious Conde Nast Traveller magazine list of the world’s best hotels. Conde Nast Traveller magazine latest 2007 Gold List includes Huka Lodge, Taupo, Kauri Cliffs in Northland, Wharekauhau lodge, Wellington’s Bolton Hotel and Blanket Bay Lodge located on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown.

Huka lodge is a regular on the list, however Queenstown’s Blanket Bay Lodge received special recognition for their level of food and was described as a “gourmet haven” by the magazine. It was the only New Zealand property to feature on the food Gold list. Conde Nast Traveller compile the Gold list using feedback from both readers and the magazines many roving editors.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research has reported that New Zealand has experienced one of its coldest December in 60 years. Despite the summer chills the tourism industry is reporting a bumper start to the summer with many NZ accommodation providers stating that their occupancy rates are well ahead of last Year.

New Zealand camping grounds that are very weather dependent have reported very few cancellations due to the rain. South Island holiday parks that have suffered the brunt of the unusual cold spell say that they are still turning people away from some of the popular camping spots.

The national average temperature for December was 1.9C below normal at 13.7C and the nations capital, Wellington has experienced its coldest December in 70 years. So what’s the best time to visit New Zealand to experience settled dry warm weather? Despite the gloomy statistics for December, the first month of summer has never been a month you can rely on. Generally speaking summer comes to New Zealand in February although peoples expectations that December marks the start of our summer remains highly held with locals and visitors alike.

Visiting New Zealand in February or March will reward the visitor with both better weather and less crowded destinations as schools, universities and locals return from their annual holidays. Yes February is the time to walk into those popular restaurants without a booking, choose your accommodation as you go, and experience service from holiday revitalised staff.

Its that time of the year when all NZ seems to go on holiday. Having a ”hobby” accommodation property on the lakeside in Wanaka we are inundated with overseas people looking for accommodation during the Christmas new year period. Although we shut for this period due to our own holiday requirements, I notice that our enquiries for this period have a distinctive pattern. New Zealanders aware of the ‘rush hour’ period, tend to make enquiries for accommodation prior to October where as we find overseas traveller enquiries come in at the last minute. The point of the post is if you are planning to visit New Zealand between 20th December and 15th January then you need to book ahead. I am a advocate of ”freedom” travelling New Zealand, that is to say, NZ offers tourist the opportunity to plan your itinery and sort your accommodation out as you go. There are few countries in the world that offers you the freedom to travel in this way however the xmas period is the clear exception.

Well after saying all that I decided at the last minute to have a little holiday away from our “holiday” home at lake Wanaka. We find that Wanaka gets very busy and find it is a great time to escape.

Now to the job of finding accommodation in Marlborough, Nelson and Christchurch. Being a website design hobbyist I naturally turned to the web for my online mission impossible. After key word searching for my “A” wish list of accommodation, I have learnt that a large amount of these accommodation web sites are poorly optimised for SERP. I finally remembered my pet project of New Zealand Accommodation on my own site and linked directly to the accommodation sites that I had been struggling to find.

But to mirror my own advice….. book early.