Room’s livestreamed lake view

A RECENT visitor to Queenstown was surprised to discover her room's ‘‘lake view'’ was not what it seemed.

Having booked a surprisingly affordable suite at the MiPad Hotel in Henry St, Miriam Moore was shocked and amused by what she found.

Instead of a sweeping panorama of Lake Wakatipu, she discovered the room had a TV feed of the view from a rooftop camera.

Ms Moore said she and a friend had booked the listing on the promise of a ‘‘mountain view, lake view, city view’’ for their break by the lake.

Her assumption was that this must have referred to the video feed from the television, as the one window looked on to the road at the rear. Having booked online she was lured in by the promise of the view.

‘‘Fair play to them,’’ she wrote.

The hotel's website describes the rooms as modern with ‘‘options for scenic Remarkables Mountains or picturesque Lake Wakatipu views’’ although this was (availability dependent).

The hotel confirmed all rooms had the option to stream live views from cameras on the side of the hotel, to give everyone access to the lake views. The rooftop terrace social space was open to all guests.

While Ms Moore said it was a bit cheeky, she did not mind.

‘‘It was affordable and we were hardly in the room. We were out enjoying Queenstown.’’

The hightech solution to sharing the view comes as the price for lakeside accommodation surges over summer.

This Christmas, the price for Queenstown rooms and selfcatered holiday homes have increased by almost a third, up 31% on last year, according to Bachcare.

With the first summer of open borders and without Covid travel restrictions, those leasing accommodation were expecting there to be a premium on picturesque rooms.

Views of Lake Wakatipu are a soughtafter commodity.

For the first week of December, Airbnb shows an average room rate of $530 a night in Queenstown, compared with $300 in Wanaka and Cromwell. —