A 69-room QT Hotels & Resorts design hotel one block from Marine Parade — the only design boutique in central Queenstown — with the Bazaar Marketplace restaurant and an irreverent service register that sets it apart from the heritage and lodge alternatives.
"The QT crew brought their irreverent Australia-and-NZ design vocabulary to Queenstown. Bazaar's marketplace dinner is the loudest and best of the central Queenstown options for a group of eight or twelve — and the only Marine Parade rooftop with a horizon-line cocktail."
QT Queenstown opened on 1 July 2014 as the first New Zealand property of the Australian-owned QT Hotels & Resorts group — Sydney design-hotel operator Tony Owen's small lifestyle collection that had previously opened QT Sydney (2012), QT Bondi and QT Gold Coast. The building stands on Earl Street one block uphill from Marine Parade, on the site of the former Mountaineer Establishment Hotel that operated on the location from 1864 (the second-oldest building site in Queenstown after Eichardt's), with the original Mountaineer building demolished in 2012 and the current contemporary hotel built across 2013-2014. The architectural commission was Australian practice Bates Smart with interiors by QT's signature design director Nic Graham; the building reads as a bold contemporary alpine-luxury statement deliberately at odds with both the Eichardt's heritage register and the lodge-style register elsewhere in the Queenstown basin — copper cladding, red velvet, an anchored "DRIVE" neon sign in the lobby, and a deliberately irreverent decorative programme.
The 69 rooms — including 7 suites — are arranged across the building's six floors. Standard categories begin at 28 square metres; Premium-tier King and Lake-View categories add the booking premium for the Lake Wakatipu line of sight from the upper floors. The QT Suite at 75 square metres is the milestone unit, with a corner aspect facing the lake and the Remarkables. Bathrooms are travertine and brass; bath products are QT's signature New Zealand-made Kevin.Murphy. The room programme is QT-signature theatrical: full-body-length oil portraits of unidentified historical figures above the bed in selected categories, deliberately mismatched velvet armchairs, and a strict commitment to the QT design vocabulary.
Bazaar Marketplace is the headline restaurant — opened with the hotel as QT's signature large-buffet-marketplace dining concept that combines an Italian, Asian, NZ-Pacific and dessert station, served family-style across long communal tables — and is the only large-group dinner option in central Queenstown that handles parties of eight to twelve without splitting onto multiple tables. The Reds Bar handles the cocktail and aperitivo programme. The QT rooftop is the only rooftop in the central Queenstown village with a horizon-line cocktail position — small at 24 covers, but the only competitor to the lakefront-edge Eichardt's Bunker for the after-9-PM design crowd. There is no pool or spa; the QT operational philosophy treats wellness as off-property.
The Earl Street position is the booking decision relative to Eichardt's Marine Parade lakeside register. From the QT lobby it is 60 seconds to the Queenstown Mall, two minutes to the Skyline Gondola base, three minutes to Marine Parade and the lake, four minutes to Steamer Wharf and the TSS Earnslaw, six minutes to the Queenstown Gardens, and twelve minutes by car to Queenstown Airport. For travellers wanting the central walkable Queenstown design-hotel booking — particularly for bachelor-bachelorette and small-group travellers wanting the irreverent QT register over the lodge alternatives — this is unambiguous. Eichardt's is the small-luxury heritage alternative; QT is the design-and-marketplace alternative.
QT is the unambiguous Queenstown bachelor-bachelorette base — the Bazaar marketplace dinner handles 8-12 person groups in a way no other central Queenstown restaurant does, the rooftop bar runs the after-9-PM design crowd, and the irreverent QT register reads as the right backdrop for a celebratory weekend. Group of 8-12 books the QT Suite plus connecting Premium categories.
For solo travellers wanting the design-conscious central-village base over the larger Cordis-style alternatives, QT is the right answer. Bazaar handles solo dining at the central marketplace counter; the rooftop bar handles the evening cocktail; the central village is at the door.
For design-conscious honeymooners wanting the central walkable Queenstown register at the four-star price point — particularly for couples not booking the Eichardt's price tier — QT is the right boutique answer. The QT Suite with the lake-and-Remarkables corner view is the booking image.
24 Earl Street
Queenstown 9300
New Zealand
Queenstown Mall 60 sec on foot; Skyline Gondola base 2 min; Marine Parade 3 min; Steamer Wharf 4 min; Queenstown Gardens 6 min; Queenstown Airport 12 min by car
69 rooms (incl. 7 suites)
Standard King from NZ$540/night
Premium Lake View from NZ$760/night
Junior Suite from NZ$1,150/night
QT Suite from NZ$2,400/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Opened 1 July 2014
QT Hotels & Resorts
Bazaar Marketplace large-group dining
Reds Bar cocktail and aperitivo
Rooftop bar (24 covers, horizon view)
Built 2014 on 1864 Mountaineer Hotel site
Central Queenstown village location
Fitness centre — no spa or pool
Kevin.Murphy NZ-made bath products
From NZ$540/night. QT Suite books four months ahead for southern-summer high season. Bazaar Marketplace large-group reservations recommended at booking — high-season weekends sell out three months ahead.
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