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We will be spending 9 days on the south island between March 14th-March22nd. Our travel agent is telling us to get a hotel rooms ahead, and not to wait until we get there. We keep insisting on clean, queen or king bed, charming but modest..Here are her recommendations: Two Nights Christchurch, The George One Night Fox Glacier, TeWeheka Inn; One night Wanaka, Edwater Resort; 2 nights Queenstown, Mercure Grand Hotel St. Mortize; One night Lake Tekapo, Lake Tekapo Lodge; One night Akaroa, Oinako Lodge; Last night Queenstown Airport, Commodore Airport Hotel. Thoughts On these hotels and thoughts if we should just explore B&Bs last minute when we get there?

I would very strongly suggest that you consider Motels. They are generally more spacious, more convenient and much better if you have a car with you. They are NOT like US motels. Have a look at http://www.jasons.co.nz/country.cfm?...TOKEN=26519974 or http://www.nz-accommodation.co.nz/red.html to get an idea of what is available. Normally there is no need to book. We visit New Zealand at least once a year and the only times we book are for the day of arrival and really popular tourist spots like Queenstown. We will be overlapping with you as this year we will be in New Zealand from March 1st to March 17th.

I agree with the previous poster - motels in NZ are a much better deal and they're very nice. We prefer the motels to the hotels because they tend to be more spacious and are more geared towards self-catering travel (kitchenettes, access to laundry facilities, coffee making supplies, etc). They also a offer a great opportunity to meet the locals (Kiwis are the friendliest people I've ever run across) and the service tends to be more personalized. Of the places you've listed, we considered staying at the Te Weheka Inn (Fox Glacier) but instead chose to say at the Lake Matheson Motel as we felt it was better value and offered more than just a hotel room - we had a room with a king bed and a double spa tub - the motel owners were very friendly and helpful - our room was US $55 a night - we were there in September 2002. We've stayed at the Commodore Airport Hotel in Christchurch - it's nice - I don't know if it's related to the one in Queenstown or not. Queenstown has a huge assortment of accomodation - we've stayed there several time in different hotels/motels. To date, our favorite place is Villa Del Lago - our unit had a bedroom with queen bed, a living area with gas fireplace, CD player, TV, VCR, a kitchen with dishwasher, fridge, cooktop and cooking supplies, a bathroom with tub and heated floor and an awesome view of the lake. It was the quietest place we've ever stayed in Queenstown and was only US $80 per night. If you're interested, their site is www.villadellago,co.nz. We always book our accomodation ahead of time, but we make our own bookings online and don't use a travel agent. I think you'll be fine winging it, as long as you're not traveling during the NZ school holidays.

I can strongly reccomend Te Weheka in Fox Glacier - it was the best hotel of our recent trip! Really nice location, design, hosts and breakfast.

Curious how you like your accommodations? i.e. teweheka inn, wanaka Edgewater, lake tekapo and oinako lodge. We'll be there in January with a similar itinerary. Any place you would have liked to have gone or stayed longer?

Hello
I live in Christchurch and travel extesively in the South Island.
In March you would have no trouble getting really good accommodation with a personal touch-b.andb.s or similar-I can help if you email me
[email protected]
I would not consider The George "modest"!
Amaryllis