Queenstown's luxury market is booming, with visitor arrivals 40% higher than pre-Covid levels. Photo / RNZ, Nate McKinnon
By Katie Todd of RNZ
In Queenstown, a hotel with rooms priced up to $50,000 a night is attracting visitors willing to book not just a suite, but sometimes the whole hotel.
ROKI Collection is one of several new operators catering to the ultra-luxury market, as international visitor arrivals in Queenstown climb 40% higher than pre-Covid levels.
General manager Stephen McAteer said every element of the 15-room hotel, tucked just off the Lake Esplanade, had been meticulously designed to evoke a sense of serenity.
“High net worth travellers are looking for seclusion and escape. A little bit of tranquillity. New Zealand is one of the most sought-after destinations.”
The hotel opened in September, on the former site of a backpackers’ hostel.
Junior suites start at $2800 per night in the off-season, while the Grand Roki Suite is around the $50,000 per night mark, McAteer said.
Some groups have already hired out the entire hotel in late summer, McAteer said.
Guests can expect bespoke mini bars, sophisticated interiors by designer Virginia Fisher, a Rolls-Royce on standby, and a discreet back entrance for those wanting to avoid attention.
The spa features a long list of treatments, yoga and wellness sessions, and – for those who need it – a “sleep concierge”.
“We offer a number of rituals in the sanctuary itself, and we have a sleep concierge who performs sleep resets for our guests in their rooms,” McAteer said.
Guests can move from a library bar stocked with first edition books to two restaurants helmed by director of culinary Paul Froggatt – including an “experiential offering” built around a 10-course fine-dining menu, McAteer said.
Nearly 50 staff are on hand, including drivers, chefs, butlers and concierge staff ready to arrange anything from a private outing on a luxury boat, to a helicopter drop-off at a golf course on top of Cecil Peak.
ROKI Collection has been attracting visitors from New Zealand and overseas – most generally staying at least four to five nights, McAteer said.
They were often people who prioritised “value over cost,” he said.
“As long as we’re providing that value, be it in the form of the experiences and the connections and those memories that they take away, it really doesn’t matter what they pay,” he said.
Data from Queenstown Airport showed 895,669 arrivals from January 2025 to November – nearly 40% higher than the same period in 2019.
The airport recorded about one private jet arrival or departure each day, making up about a third of the country’s total private jet movements.
Infometrics figures showed domestic and international visitors were spending approximately $2.83 billion a year on their visits to the district, with the lion’s share going to food and beverage services.
Two new hot pool complexes, a floating sauna on Lake Whakatipu, a luxury car concierge company and a heli-skiing festival experience were also among new additions to the district in 2025.
Further high-end hotels are on their way, with the five-star Coronet Ridge Resort set to open in late 2025, and the $130 million Noctis by Kamana set to open in 2027.
Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism chief executive Mat Woods said it was exciting to see the private sector’s confidence in Queenstown as a luxury destination.
“We are delighted to welcome these high-end products and believe there is a strong market for them.”
Ricky Bennett caters to visitors willing to spend big on something a little outside the usual Queenstown itinerary, with bespoke tours in rare Aston Martin cars.
Clients can choose between a James Bond-themed Vantage 007 Edition – one of only 100 in the world – or a DBX707 luxury SUV, Aston Martin’s F1 tribute and official medical car.
“We work with a reasonably sophisticated market who really wants something that’s unique. A lot of people have been to Queenstown before and coming back for perhaps to try something that they haven’t done before,” Bennett said.
Bennett’s outings, starting at $2500 for a few hours, range from vineyard trips with premium tastings to sightseeing circuits around the district.
“We try and work with the guests ... to package up something that will be unique to what they haven’t experienced,” he said.
The company recently launched an Aston Martin Field and Discovery Trip which was a combination of land, sea and air, he said.
“That’s where passengers or guests fly in from a helicopter base, land on the back of a beautiful launch in Milford, have a two-hour private lunch and a cruise. They then fly back to Glenorchy, we pick them up in the F1 Aston Martin, and then we finish off that day with a sightseeing tour around central Otago.”
So far, guests have been a demographic cross-section, he said.
“A lot of Australians, a lot of Americans, surprisingly quite a few New Zealanders ... we have vouchers which wives can provide to their partners and vice versa,” he said.
“I think there’s more and more sophisticated clients travelling. They want better experiences, they want unique experiences.”
Bennett said the arrival of new top-tier accommodation in the district had brought in more visitors looking for “wow” moments.
He said exchange rates had also been favourable for inbound tourists, particularly from the UK.
“And America, where we’ve probably been at record low levels in the last five years – so that means they can get reasonably good value for their money.”
In Wānaka, Nick Frame pairs carefully vetted guests with luxury property owners who do not want their homes advertised publicly.
His high-end vacation agency, Release NZ, recently launched Black Label Retreats – an offering where only pre-approved guests willing to stay a week or more, and generally willing to pay five figures a night, receive a password to view the properties.
The company promises “guaranteed discretion” and “homes that cannot be browsed, booked or discovered anywhere else”.
Guests have a real sense of exclusivity, Frame said.
He said many of Release’s clients were holidaying families – often North American, usually business owners rather than celebrities – but all looking for something more remarkable than a hotel.
Typically, the accommodation was just the start of their spending, he said.
“We add all the luxury touches. Daily servicing, chefs, hostess – and what Release does is design their stay in Wānaka, so we organise car drivers, personal chefs, personal trainers, helicopter rides to the fiords, mountain biking, skiing, you name it.
“For example, we had a large American family last year. And they probably spent in excess of $400,000 on the extras – which was helicopters to Milford Sound and Dusky Sound and Mt Cook. They spent over $30,000 on hired bikes, for just getting around town. We had a wakeboard boat on standby for them so whenever they wanted to go get in the lake, they could. Private chef every day, cleaning every day ... heli fly-fishing, float fishing down the river, they just did everything.”
Frame said high-spending visitors put money into every corner of the Wānaka economy.
“The beauty of it is that money spreads right through the community. Your window cleaners, cleaners, linen companies, chefs, helicopter pilots, restaurants, you name it,” he said.
Mat Woods said despite the flurry of new, upscale services in the district, Queenstown was still popular with backpackers.
The district could accommodate a range of budgets and travel styles, he said.
“It is likely that your first trip to Queenstown may be as a backpacker, returning later in life with more personal disposable income to spend on your accommodation and experiences.”