Legacy Te Waonui Hotel Franz Josef

What a fabulous experience in Franz Josef in spite of rainy weather. This 5 star hotel was a real treat to celebrate my birthday and it was fabulous. The room was very spacious and the bathroom offered two options: bath or shower in two separate sections…not a shower over the bath as in many hotels. It was very clean and comfortable. The staff are amazing cheerful, courteous and very helpful. When a planned excursion was canceled due to weather, the young gentleman at the reception desk found me an alternative and fun activity to do on my birthday. If you want to spoil yourself, indulge in a beauty treatment or massage at the Amaia Day spa. I had one of the best massages from Noxi…what a treat. There is a great selection for breakfast and the restaurant offers a great variety of dishes to suit all dietary requirements. There is also free parking available and the hotel is only a few minutes walk from the town of Franz Josef. Really loved my time here.

We stayed at the Legacy Te Waonui Hotel in Franz Josef for two nights from 10th May, and overall, it was a lovely experience. We had originally booked elsewhere, but since we were travelling off-season, we were upgraded to this 5-star property — a pleasant last-minute change we definitely appreciated.||||Our room was spacious, well-appointed, and looked out onto a beautiful forest view that felt calm and refreshing. It truly added to the peaceful vibe of the place.||||Check-in was smooth, though a little quiet and understated in terms of welcome. One tip — if you’re hoping to use the spa during your stay, make sure to book ahead. We hadn’t, and unfortunately, it was fully booked when we arrived.||||The hotel is well-located, with cafes and restaurants just a short 5-minute walk away, and the surrounding area is great for exploring. The staff were friendly and helpful throughout, making the stay comfortable and easy.||||We were overall happy with our experience and would definitely recommend this property to friends and family visiting Franz Josef. The combination of comfort, location, and forest charm made it a memorable stop on our journey.

Exceptional hotel where all the staff went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and our stay enjoyable. The staff seemed genuinely pleased to see the guests and we were always met with a genuine smile. Everyone was very helpful with recommendations for places to stop on our journey to Queenstown. We were met at the door and on checking in there was a welcome drink. We also loved the turn down service with the chocolate. Breakfast had great variety and dinner was delicious. We loved the separate vegetarian/vegan menu. Please keep doing what you are doing. The setting is lovely and we loved our room over looking the forest in the centre of the hotel. We loved that our room was not overlooked. I don't think any of the rooms are. A very peaceful and relaxing hotel. We wished we'd stayed longer and had chance to have some of the spa services which seemed very reasonably priced.

Customer service was great- the hotel called us that there was a possible road closure- called at 11p and again at 630 am the next day to tell us the road had opened. That was really helpful and above and beyond our expectation. They also were really helpful with us and other guests guiding them on driving to our next destination and scenic stops we could make along the way. The hotel was really nice- pretty- clean- good food- prices etc. We had a great- but short- stay.

Lovely stay for 4nights, delicious dinner and all the staff were friendly service oriented. Surrounded by lush greens, a scenic place to relax. Luxurious, beautiful hotel for a great retreat except the bed a bit soft. Wonderful serene experience.

We stayed for one night after taking the TranzAlpine train and driving from Greymouth. We were greeted by a bellman who took care of our bags and parked the car. Check in was very friendly and included a very nice welcome drink. We were then walked to our room as it is a bit of a wandering path. Our bags and keys arrived shortly after. The room had a balcony to the rain forest courtyard and that was very enjoyable to sit and have coffe in the morning. The room itself was average. The star of the hotel was the incredible included dinner. It was an exceptional 5 star experience. The breakfast buffet the next morning was also very good but not as upscale. Yet still very good. I would definitely stay here again - specifically for the dinner.

Lovely hotel, tucked away on a lush green site. Within walking distance of village. We were tired from a long drive so ate at the hotel and the food was excellent. Helpful thoughtful staff who gave us ideas of breaks and walks on our journey out. If the weather behaves breathtaking views.

The staff was amazing and so kind. Special kudos for manager Rahan, who personally called an urgent care nurse on his own phone and brought it to my room so I could talk with her. I got food poisoning from the salmon farm on the way to the hotel and was down for the two days we had reserved for our stay at the hotel.||Special kudos also to Cindy, the housekeeping manager, who brought a team of people to quickly and unobtrusively change our bed and refresh the bathroom. She made sure I was awake and ready for the staff to come in. The restaurant made me a special plate of bland food when I could finally eat again. ||The room itself was very nice, the bed and pillows comfortable - thank goodness as I spent two days in bed. I am VERY fussy about pillows and travel with my own. I didn’t unpack it at this hotel. The only issue we had was that the room smelled a little musty when we first arrived, but that faded after a couple of hours. It may have been in the ventilation system. ||A lovely place. We are talking of another trip to New Zealand and we will definitely return to this hotel if we do.

This an amazing space near the glacier on the west side of the South Island. The rooms are contemporary overlooking nature with excellent amenities. It is a short walk to town or you can eat in the lovely restaurant on site. The beds are very comfortable and the linens are very luxurious. This Forest Retreat has been our highlight of our trip through New Zealand. The Scenic hotels are very special.

An absolutely stunning hotel located in Franz with great service and a really good breakfast. Its quite surreal to wake up and see little birds flying around and chirping right outside your balcony. The food is solid and the restaurant at the hotel was okay. Nothing that blew me out of the water though. I would go into Franz to eat (much cheaper).

Very cute forest retreat. Our room had a balcony overlooking a patch of rainforest. One of our neighbors saw a kiwi bird hop onto her balcony and hang around - super cool! While we did not get a kiwi encounter, we still enjoyed the digs. They do have possum pillows in each room. I felt it and it was soft, but then remembered it was possum fur and immediately tossed it onto the couch. Sorry, I just can't. The restaurant here is also very good. Overall, loved the experience!

Wow! Customer service doesn't get any better than this and its all due to Richard, manager extrodinaire, and his amazing team! We pulled up after driving 6 hours from Queenstown, and as the car stopped Richard was there to greet me. I felt like a celebrity with his warm welcome and friendliness. And then when I told him how disappointed I was that the weather wasn't cooperating, well, I think if could have changed the weather he would have! Instead, he suggested some bad weather activities ( like the hot pools or spa) gave me some free coupons and offered to be at my service in any way he could. . . . But instead of changing the weather ( which probably was out of his sphere of control), he introduced me to Mel who was a local and shared some culture with me, all the while getting my bags to my room and making sure I inderstood the nuances of that room. He and his colleague are dressed in native wear which makes you feel like you have really entered a special place! And he had no problem answering my questions about his tribe, his culture, and even offering up some personal info about his family which I found to be just delightful! My room was quite nice, overlooking the glacier, and was outfitted quite comfortably with a great bed, functional work area, bathroom with heated floor and free in room wifi and coffee. I also liked that they had a guest laundry on the first floor so I could get some laundry done while I was there. Tokens are available at the front desk for $5 a load ( wash or dry) for the laundry which is considerably cheaper than sending it out. Breakfast was included in my package and they had a great breakfast buffet which included both hot and cold items as well as fresh fruit, rolls and meats. And when it was time for me to leave, Richard was there again, this time offering me a complimentary book signed by the artist of beautiful pictures of New Zealand . . .what a thoughtful gesture to give that to me. While the hotel itself is nice, what made it stand out for me was the incredible level of care I got from Richard and his amazing team! If you have a chance to stay here, you should!

As good as it gets, Jay was amazing. This hotel was a highlight of our NZ trip. I booked our itinerary around the availability here and was not disappointed. The rooms are cozy but the bathrooms are large but comfortable with a private balcony and outside entrance. The service and the food were what really set it apart though. The food was included in our room fee and was superb - wine pairings, multi-course meals, inventive, eclectic offerings. I was floored by how good and varied the food was - like dining in an elegant, 5 star restaurant every evening. Breakfast is a buffet set up but had all that you'd want to select from - pastries, cereal, porridge, eggs, beans, fruits, yogurt, etc. Great coffee as well - French press. When we told them we had a bus to catch when we checked out they offered to pack us up a complimentary lunch box. They also drove us to the bus stop directly even though it was only a few minutes walk. They knew our names and greeted us cordially every morning and evening. The only downside was we had to do our own laundry but this ended up being a good thing since we decided to wash several loads for $5 - way cheaper than having a hotel wash it. The setting is tranquil and set just off the main path so still close to everything in FJ. We were celebrating our anniversary and they left us a chilled bottle of complimentary champagne. I could not have been happier with our stay here, only wished it could've lasted longer.

Given the name 'Forest Retreat', one might expect Te Waonui to be a bit more recessed and removed from the rest of the small village that springs to life during peak tourist season. However, it's just a quick turn off the main highway, and at night, you can hear the drunken reveling from outside the compound quite easily enough. It's a proper microcosm of our experience at Te Waonui, which I found overall to be a good experience but not quite worth the price (which clocks in at a pretty hefty level, much higher than the other accommodations in town). Getting checked in starts well enough, with a serving of kiwi juice and porters unloading your bags and parking your car for you. We also had a bottle of NZ-made Brut on hand, which was a nice gesture for what was merely a regular vacation (not a special occasion) for us. The only extension of this kind of service, though, is the turndown where you are brought water bottles and some chocolate truffles packed in individual boxes. The service at Canopy Restaurant (which I will review separately) was rather inattentive for a place styling itself to be fine dining, and otherwise the hotel staff were pretty much a non-entity. As for the room itself, it's a bit larger than your average room, but not noticeably so. The 'rain forest' that you look out upon is simply just a central area between all the rooms, and given that it is easily viewable by other folks from their window or balcony (which you would never stand on anyways given the amount of bugs during the summer), you will likely not have the blinds fully open while you are in the room anyways. Creating this illusion of being in a secluded rainforest adds to the drawback of the hotel design; we were put on the furthest side opposite the lobby, meaning that it was always a little bit of a hike (even if short) to get to the lobby to eat our meals, and as noted above, did not always entail peacefulness. The one positive is that you do have all of your meals taken care of ahead of time as part of the booking; as such, we never had to think or worry about breakfast or dinner. It was also nice to have a little bit of space and privacy. However, given the rather exorbitant price for even the base rooms here, I would question if I would stay at Te Waonui again if I come back to these parts. It seemed like a very steep price to pay for what is billed as luxury but did not quite come off as such.