Rural accommodation wins big award
A Cambridge accommodation lodge has won the Booking.com Guest Review Award.
Fencourt Barnstay opened just before Fieldays at Mystery Creek in 2016, and has had consistently high reviews ever since.
The owners, Graeme and Linda Roil converted their shed into a place people can stay.
‘‘We were having a coffee together one day and were talking about how when I used to live near Hobbiton, people would come and ask if they could pitch a tent in the paddock and stay,’’ said Linda.
‘‘So I said what if we have people stay here? And here we are.’’
Since opening, most of their reviews have reached a 10/10.
‘‘We are stoked to get a Guest Review Award, it’s a huge honour, particularly given we’ve only been up and running for six months,’’ said Graeme.
‘‘It’s nice to have acknowledgement of the effort we put in.’’
They have had a range of guests stay, from locals wanting a getaway and overseas tourists.
‘‘It’s great for kids and parents with the tennis courts.
‘‘It’s somewhere the family can relax and enjoy their stay, rather than being cooped up in a hotel room,’’ said Linda.
The yearly awards are given to the properties that have consistently received perfect 10 scores from genuine guests who have stayed with them.
New Zealand also snagged one more award than competitors across the ditch in Australia, despite the Aussies having more than three-times the number of entries.
There are currently 4538 New Zealand-based properties on the site.
In comparison, Australia has a much larger pool of 14,643.
The number of Kiwi properties receiving awards has increased from six to 13 since 2016.
Country manager for Booking.com Luke Ashall said the jump in award recipients was a sign of the growth in quality Kiwi accommodation.
‘‘This is obviously great news for the properties that receive awards as well as the New Zealand tourism industry and economy,’’ he said.
Properties from around the country were recognised including Malborough, Wellington, Russell, Auckland, Hokitika and many more.