A good meeting space should inspire your team and keep them engaged.
The days of herding a group into a soulless room with fluorescent strip lighting and expecting them to come up with great ideas are gone.
Today, progressive businesses invest in colourful, playful spaces that inspire creativity and make people want to come to work.
But for that important meeting, you can’t beat getting off site. A memorable space marks a meeting as momentous. It sets the tone. It creates energy. And it sparks imagination and innovation.
In Queenstown, we have sensational meeting spaces. Not only do they have connectivity and creativity, they also have something you don’t get anywhere else in the world. Panoramic views of the Remarkables. And your only ever a few minutes’ drive from hundreds of adventurous activities.
We asked local event organisers to nominate their best Queenstown meeting venues with views in. This is their shortlist.
The Parlour at Eichardt’s Private Hotel
Eichardt’s Hotel combines history with famously warm hospitality and lake views. It’s a striking space for meetings and corporate retreats. But to appreciate it fully, we must go back in time more than 150 years.
In 1868 Albert Eichardt married the formidable Julia O’Meara. The couple bought a hotel converted from an old woolshed, and in 1872 they built the structure we know today as Eichardt’s Hotel. Julia was the mother of Queenstown’s famous nightlife. Under her command, the place was transformed from a rough miners’ pub into a hotel for the budding tourist scene.
Today, Eichardt’s Parlour is an intimate space for meetings. An open fire, dark wood, and leather club chairs create a cosy ambiance that harks back to 19th century Queenstown. French doors lead on to balconies overlooking the lake.
The hotel also offers larger spaces that can seat meetings up to 25 people, and provides group accommodation and dining, including their famous high tea.
Skyline’s Director’s Room
Skyline Queenstown perches high above Lake Wakatipu. Floor to ceiling windows overlook sweeping views of Queenstown, the lake, and the mountains. Your guests arrive by gondola, setting the scene for your important meeting.
The Director’s Room is particularly epic in its outlook. It seats 18 for a meeting and hosts up to 30 for a cocktail reception. However, if you need a larger meeting space, Skyline has spaces that can accommodate up to 400 in a theatre configuration.
Skyline’s catering team works with chefs and suppliers to produce menus that showcase our remarkable local produce. And there is a choice of onsite activities: from a powhiri to greet your guests, to night-time stargazing.
Book your team onto the Skyline Luge for a high-octane end to your meeting, that’ll bring them back to reality with a grin from ear to ear.
The Icon Room 2 at The Heritage Queenstown
The Heritage Queenstown is vista central, and their Icon Conference Centre has expansive lake and mountain views. Right next to the Icons Room, Katoa Suite is ideal for smaller meetings, seating 16 when set up as a boardroom, and 20 theatre style.
If you’re hosting a larger group in the Icon Centre, Katoa Suite is great as a small break out zone, a quiet space for people to answer emails. The Heritage team also suggest it makes a great yoga lounge, which is brilliant. Nothing gets the creative mojo going like a few sun salutations.
The Heritage has 175 rooms and suites, an indoor/outdoor pool, a spa pool, sauna, gym, restaurant and bar. So base your team at the Heritage and simply head on out when you’re looking for adventure.
The Kamana Lakehouse
As you’d expect from the name, Kamana sits above Lake Wakatipu, with uninterrupted panoramas of the lake and mountains.
Their suite of meeting rooms offers you the flexibility for theatre and boardroom seating, and a choice of beautiful breakout spaces. With meeting capacity from 15 -70, and theatre seating for up to 150 inside, and 200 on the Great Lawn, Kamana is ideal for board meetings and seminars.
Kamana is also a four-star plus luxury hotel, with the highest alfresco restaurant and bar in Queenstown, hot soaking tubs with lake views, and all the amenities you’d expect, like ski storage and free Wi-Fi.
QT Hotel, The Von or Clancy Rooms
The QT hotel team urge you to break out of the office and adopt Queenstown’s dramatic backdrops as the setting for your next meeting. We like their style. QT Queenstown is big on glamour and even bigger on immersive vistas. As soon as you walk into their reception area with its suspended fireplace, blond wood floors, and colourful murals, you know you’re somewhere special.
QT have a couple of options for board meetings. Clancy’s Room’s wrap around windows give you views of the lake and the mountains, framed by pillars which feel more like an Italian loggia than a mountain lodge.
The smaller Von room (named after a local river) has picture windows and stylish mid-century furniture. Both rooms seat 30 when set up as a boardroom, and Clancy’s can take up to 150 as a theatre.
After your meeting head to QT’s Bazaar restaurant for a ‘marketplace experience’ offering fresh seafood, charcuterie, cheese, grill stations, a wood fired pizza oven and a dessert bar. Central Otago produce is transformed into an international smorgasbord of flavours.
The Boardroom at Stoneridge
A short drive from Queenstown, Stoneridge Estate is on the shores of Lake Hayes. A luxury lodge built from stone, reclaimed timber beams and hand wrought iron, Stoneridge sits amidst acres of gardens and vines.
It’s unashamedly romantic, and the stone chapel by the lake has seen many weddings. But the tranquil setting also hosts corporate groups seeking an executive retreat, or a place to entertain special guests.
Stoneridge has private meeting spaces and dining areas to suit groups of 4 - 150 guests, along with luxury five-star accommodation for up to 20 people. Their boardroom holds 16 and has an adjoining private lounge that you can use as a break-out space.
They offer a five-course degustation menu in their Lodge dining room. This changes daily, as their chef is inspired by local seasonal produce. They also cater events, and can create a bespoke menu for you, from sharing platters to canapés .
Book your next meeting in Queenstown
For more spectacular Queenstown venues with views, explore our event venues. Or contact the Queenstown Convention Bureau to ask for help planning your business event In Queenstown. We’re an independent team of event professionals with the local knowledge and expertise to make your next event the most memorable yet.