Elia's House

Clean tidy and modern. Bedrooms were comfy, En-suites were very modern. Snug with TV in was, well, very snug. Fantastic location with great views.

I was a bit thrown off by the request for me to send a picture of my ID and credit card details for a damge deposit via an unsecured communication method like WhatsApp. Genuinely had me worried about what to do for a few days as we were already travelling and would have nowhere to stay in queenstown unless I sent everything on an unsecured chat that a fraudster could possibly want. Booking.com were utterly useless when I sought advice and every AI chat and google search said "beware, scam". Spoke to the property owner on the phone and that put me slightly at ease. But it wasn't until we got to the property and had access was I put fully at ease. It wasn't a scam and the requirement for giving this info is listed in the property details on booking.com but I hadn't taken much notice of it or considered the security implications. It was the only place that requested this during our whole NZ tour. We stopped at 4 other properties across the country, both islands, during our holiday. As for the property itself, it is really very nicely furnished however, the kitchen/dining area is designed with style rather than comfort in mind. Every adult in our party hit their head at least once on the corner of the kitchen cupboard above and to the right of the cooking hob, and it was painful. You can tell by looking at it its been headbutted more than once in the past as the corner seems to have been blunted slightly by repeated hits. I'd recommend wearing your ski/snowboarding helmet if cooking.

Views, accessibility, cleanliness

The view was superb

Heating in the living room does not work too well. Thankfully, there are small portable heaters that we were able to use in the rooms. Staying at the 2 bedroom apartment doesn’t do well when you have big luggages. The stairs going down to can cause injuries if not careful.

Beautiful views. Nice large table to sit at. The layout of the house was good and practical.

The doors all rattle in the wind. Noise carries up from the house below. Be careful as this owner asks you to email a photo of both your id and your credit card… not a safe way to conduct business and she was rude about it. For the price, the really late check in time of 4pm with a check out at 10am is questionable.