The view from lake view rooms are just breathtaking, the apartment feels luxurious. Only disappointment is the bathrooms. Expected to be a
Little larger baths and a little more luxurious. Overall a beautiful place.

You could not complain about staying at the Rees, but I think there are a few things that the hotel could do better.

The rooms are luxurious - spacious, with huge comfortable beds, generous lounge areas, up-to-date music and television equipment, a well-stocked kitchen and a very welcome and practical in-room laundry facility. It would be impossible to change this, but we were a little disappointed that the magnificent view from our balcony window was across the rather dull roof of the lower half of the building - if views are your thing, it might be worth asking for a room in the lower block.

A small library and cafe in the lobby of the hotel are both welcoming - we had cocktails there in the evening and enjoyed a wine-tasting arranged by the hotel for a local producer. The concierge service looked encouraging, and the staff always tried, but several times we seemed to be asking abut things that we knew more about than they did! Like much of the rest of Queenstown, the hotel is largely staffed by non-New Zealanders, most of whom are probably on temporary visas, so they may well have been there less time than some of the guests.

Two other minor gripes ... Firstly, the shuttle service - a minibus drives to and from the town once an hour in the mornings and the late afternoon/evenings. It is a three or four minute drive, and whilst the driver always accommodated extra guests by doing two or three runs, it would be nice if this service were more widely available - ideally on demand. The hotel is not cheap and for the price, it would be nice to have this complimentary service to compensate for being a little out of town. Secondly, the Observatory - a lovely idea given New Zealand's incredibly beautiful and clear night skies, but either nothing in the facility was working or no-one had a clue what to do with it. In fact, they seemed almost a little surprised to learn it was there, which was odd considering it's signed in the lobby!

Location-wise, we found the Rees perfect - a half hour walk from town along a traffic-free lakeside path, ideal for downing the dinner before heading to bed. House-keeping and reception staff were invariably helpful and accommodating, charged - as they should be - with the authority to solve problems and not pass them on to others.

We had intended to stay 2 nights at The Rees and then move to another hotel in Queenstown for the last few days of our 4 week trip to NZ. However, we liked it so much we stayed for 5 nights and had a lovely time. For us, the location being away from Queenstown was an advantage as the town is a lively place, especially at night. The hotel is quiet and we slept well. We booked a room that said it did not have a lake view, so we were pleasantly surprised when we walked in to see the mountains and the opposite side of the lake over the top of the rooms below us. The room was very clean, well decorated and furnished and was extremely spacious with a comfortable sitting area and a lovely king/queen size bed. The bathroom was lovely - great shower, spa bath heated floor and towel rail. Large window overlooking room and mountains with electric blinds for privacy. We had no problem with internet connection and using social networking sites or uploading photos etc and this was a complementary service. We used the gym every day and compared to some other hotels found the four machines, free weights and swiss balls and space to be more than adequate for holiday use.
We arrived late on the first evening and chose to eat in the hotel restaurant for convenience. The food was amazingly good and the chef has recently won an award and I'm not surprised. The view here is also beautiful. Breakfast is not his responsibility and is similar to other hotels, so after the 2 days we had paid for we chose to eat out, which was fun. The service here and with other staff was very good although I have to agree with another contributor about the effectiveness of the concierge staff which at times was lacking. A lot depends on who is helping you.
I guess the architecture and design of the hotel might not suit everyone - it is on several levels and the rooms open onto outdoor covered walkways which are landscaped with plants in boxed containers and attractive pebbles and painted wooden posts which we liked. It was easy to get to our car one floor below by lift and the gym and free washing machine and tumble dryer were along our floor near another lift which took us one floor up to the restaurant and 2 floors up to the reception. The only downside is the lack of air conditioning, although it was not a problem during our stay.
If I were lucky enough to be in Queenstown again I would definitely go to the Rees again.

the view from our apartments at the rees was fabulous. i can only imagine how much more beautiful it would be with snow on the remarkables. we enjoyed being just out of "town" and the walk is about half an hour including through the botanic gardens. had a great breakfast on our last day but the facilties in the apartment (laundry and kitchen) are five star. only disappointment was that there was only one bathroom in our two bedroom apartment. would be fine for one family but not really for two couples. apparently there are 2 x 2s which we will request next time. great verandah, fireplace, new zealand made furniture - impressive