We’d appreciate some suggestions for lodging websites for Australia and New Zealand, please. My husband and I will be traveling around these two countries from December to March. We have been very busy trying to research all the places that we’ll visit. Since we’ll be moving about quite a bit, and don’t want to book our accommodations too far ahead of time, we’re trying to search for accommodation websites that might give us good weekly deals as well as last minute bookings. In this search we’ve found some good sites like wotif (which we’ve previously used both in the US as well as for our last short trip to Australia). We’re also looking into hostels and bed and breakfast sites, and have bookmarked several good ones.

But we were wondering, is there a hotel chain that gives a weekly rate at a reduced rate? Here in the USA we have Extended Stay America, as one such chain, and the weekly rate is greatly reduced from the nightly rate. Any similar suggestions for Australia and New Zealand? Thanks for any advice, ideas, and suggestions for lodging.
Kathy

Hi Kathleen,

I don't know of any hotel chains in Australia offering reduced rates but somebody else may be able to advise on this.

Apart from Wotif another good all-round site is Take a Break - www.takeabreak.com.au - they cover all sorts of different accommodation options all over Australia, many offering last-minute bookings and/or special deals.

Hope you have a great holiday.

Try www.qualmark.co.nz, www.backpack.co.nz, www.nzmotels.co.nz, or www.aatravel.co.nz

Lee Ann

Hi Kathleen -

Sometimes privately owned cottages, homes and apartments offer lower rates for extended stays. I've used these sites in the past and have found some
unique accommodation options:

New Zealand:

www.cottagestays.co.nz
www.holidayhouses.co.nz
www.holidayhomes.co.nz
www.kiwinests.co.nz
www.inns.co.nz/
www.accommodation-new-zealand.co.nz/
www.placestostay.co.nz/

Australia:

www.greatplacestostay.com.au
www.totaltravel.com.au
www.travelmate.com.au
www.cottages.com.au
www.stayz.com.au
www.allstays.com/australia
www.babs.com.au/

Hope this helps.

Thank You! Thank You-- Sunbird, Lee Ann and Melnq8. Some of these we have, but many others we don't. We'll be very busy for the next couple of days searching through these sites. Appreciate all the suggestions. Kathy

Here's another one:

http://www.questapartments.com.au/

These are apartments similar to those offered by Extended Stay America. Not sure about reduced weekly rates, but the nightly rates are good, and there are some good special rates on their website.

Thanks for the great sites!

Kathleen, have you settled on any specific sites you want to visit yet? When you do, let us know; we may have places we can recommend.

Lee Ann

Hi Lee Ann. I'm researching lodging in Australia also. Could you post your recommendations?

I'd be happy to, Betsy - except I've never been to Australia.

Lee Ann

Betsy, We actually stayed in a quest apartment when we were in Adelaide a couple of years ago. It was a great place in a great location on King William St. in the center of town. We booked it through wotif, but now I will check the quest site as well for pricing. Thanks.

Lee Ann, We're still not sure which places in Australia or New Zealand or in what order, but are trying to cover as much as we can. We do plan on close to a month in Queensland-- Sunshine/Gold Coasts, Cairns and area, and hopefully Fraser Island; a couple of weeks in Western Australia; a couple of weeks in Melbourne region and great ocean road area. Maybe Tasmania. Probably Sydney even though we have been there. In New Zealand a couple of weeks will be split between the North and South Islands. We won't have a car in New Zealand, but will have one intermittantly in Australia. We'll probably rent a car in the Sunshine/Gold coasts region, the great ocean read area, and the area south of Perth in Western Australia. A car will determine where we stay, since we'll be relying on public transportation in many places. I'll be posting frequently in the next few months as many questions begin to pile up. Thanks both of you for your suggestions. Kathy

Oops! Guess I interpreted "...let us know; we may have places we can recommend" to mean specific properties in Australia.

I'm sure plenty of people here will have recommendations for Australia - I just won't be one of them.

Lee Ann

We have had some great deals for extended stays in apartments. Even holiday parks will quite often give a great weekly rate for their cabins. It is usually always the case where they only offer a service on a weekly basis. So you must do your own cleaning.

Sometimes serviced rooms offer discounted rates for stays of 3 days or more. When you visit accommodation websites like wotif, usually if you see a great rate, hover over it with your mouse and it will quite often state based on a 3, 5 or 7 night stay.

An example is a place I am considering staying at in Sydney as I have moved out now. I have not stayed there as yet so can't give a review but it is called Manly National Apartments and I have seen prices in the range $750 to $900 per week which would be half what a hotel would charge in the same area.

Thanks Tassietwister, I think I'll have to look carefully at the lodging offerings on these sites so that I don't miss some of these factors. I think the real challenge is going to be identifying where the address listed on the site actually is (ie favorable to our circumstances with or without a car). I'd be distressed to find I'd booked a place with no convenient bus or train service nearby. Kathy

Kathy -

IMO the best way to see NZ is to rent a car - much more flexibility.

If you decide to give Tasmania a try, you might want to post a new thread. There are a few of us here who love Tassie and can provide some insight.