24 Properties in Our Portfolio, Named in the Michelin Guide

New Zealand joined the Michelin Guide’s hotel programme in 2025. Across that first selection and this year’s update, 24 properties in our portfolio have been named.

New Zealand’s first Michelin Keys landed in 2025 - the hotel industry’s answer to the Michelin star, judging architecture, service, character, value and a genuine sense of place rather than thread counts. This year’s update added nine more hotels nationwide, taking the national total to 28 Key hotels: 10 with Two Keys, 18 with One.

Between the original 2025 selection and this year’s additions, 24 of those 28 are properties in our portfolio. Eighteen were named in 2025 and have held their Key ever since. Six are new to this year’s list, five newly awarded, and one promoted from One Key to Two.

A quick primer, for anyone new to the system: One Key signals a very special stay. Two Keys mean an exceptional one. Three Keys, reserved globally for a handful of hotels, define a destination in their own right.

Here’s the full list, both years, one set of properties.

Two Keys

Blanket Bay, Glenorchy

Framed by the Humboldt Mountains on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Blanket Bay holds one of the most dramatic lodge settings in the country. Just eight rooms, each with a lake or mountain view, a deep soaking tub and a private terrace. Dinner runs from the wine cave to the grand dining room, and the day’s activity list — heli-skiing, fly-fishing, glacier walks — starts at the front door.

Huka Lodge, Taupo

Huka Lodge is New Zealand’s original luxury lodge, and still the benchmark. Suites sit along the Waikato River a short walk from Huka Falls, on a site that began life as a 1920s fishing camp. Guests have included touring royals and rock stars, but the pitch hasn’t changed: quiet, hyper-local dining, guided fishing, and service that anticipates rather than asks.

Otahuna Lodge, Christchurch

An 1895 Edwardian homestead on 30 acres just outside the city, with period detail intact down to the original wallpaper. Otahuna Lodge offers seven suites, an ornate dining room with a working fireplace, and smaller rooms, the Wine Room, the Library, for something more private. The service style here is understated rather than showy, which is exactly the point.

Rosewood Cape Kidnappers, Hawke’s Bay

Set across 800 acres of working farmland high above the Pacific, with one of the world’s best-ranked golf courses running along the cliffs below. Rosewood Cape Kidnappers suites and villas open onto uninterrupted ocean views, and the kitchen garden and local growers supply a menu built almost entirely around Hawke’s Bay produce and wine.

Rosewood Kauri Cliffs, Matauri Bay

A Hamptons-style lodge on the cliffs above Cape Brett and the Cavalli Islands, Rosewood Kauri Cliffs sits beside a David Harman-designed golf course regularly ranked among the world’s best. Suites have gas fireplaces, private verandas and ocean views; Kerikeri, Paihia and historic Russell are all a short drive away for anyone who wants a reason to leave.

The Lindis, Ahuriri Valley

A sculptural lodge that all but disappears into the valley it sits in, The Lindis roofline follows the land’s own contours. Five suites and three glass-walled pods, natural stone and native timber throughout, and near-total isolation: fly-fishing, horse riding and stargazing fill the days, with nothing but tussock and mountain in every direction.

Wharekauhau Country Estate, Wairarapa

Wharekauhau Country Estate, fifteen cottage suites and a grand manor house across 1,200 acres of working sheep and cattle farm above Palliser Bay. The dining room runs on Wairarapa produce and the estate’s own cellar; days are spent on horseback, ATV or a guided farm tour, or spent doing nothing at all.

Rosewood Matakauri, Queenstown

The only property on this list moving up rather than in. Rosewood Matakauri sits on Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables as a backdrop, interiors by Virginia Fisher, and dining led by Head Chef Jonathan Rogers using produce from the lodge’s own gardens and beehives. A cedar-clad outdoor sauna and lake-view infinity pool round out what’s now a Two Key wellness offering to match the setting.

One Key

Bay of Many Coves, Marlborough Sounds

Accessible only by boat or helicopter, Bay of Many Coves is tucked into the Marlborough Sounds. Days run on kayaking, hiking and fresh seafood, with dolphins showing up more often than the brochure suggests. Suites are light-filled and open onto private decks over the water — Michelin’s own inspectors called it, simply, a “stunner.”

Eichardt’s Private Hotel, Queenstown

Right on Queenstown’s waterfront, Eichardt’s Private Hotel balances heritage bones with a stylish and modern interior. The rooftop penthouse, designed by Nina Bell, pairs heritage timber and vaulted ceilings with a private sauna, cedar spa and the largest private waterfront terrace in town. Downstairs, the bars and dining rooms carry the town’s own energy.

Eagles Nest, Russell

Five ultra-luxury villas above the Bay of Islands, each with its own infinity pool, private chef and sommelier. First Light is the most romantic of the five; Rahimoana, at four bedrooms, the most expansive. Helicopter transfers land at the door, which tells you most of what you need to know about how private this actually is.

The Hotel Britomart, Auckland

New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star hotel, The Hotel Britomart set inside a restored heritage precinct on Auckland’s waterfront. Ninety-nine rooms plus five Landing Suites, brick, stone and timber throughout, with the Britomart neighbourhood’s restaurants, bars and boutiques immediately outside the door.

Stoneridge Estate, Queenstown

A 150-year-old stone homestead on Lake Hayes, Stoneridge Estate was built up over four decades by one family from a former sheep paddock into one of the country’s most atmospheric small hotels. Ten rooms, a private chapel, a working vineyard and a hot tub with mountain views — closer to a European château than anything else on this list.

Azur Lodge, Queenstown

Azur Lodge offers nine private one-bedroom villas on a hilltop above the town, each 79 square metres of open-plan living behind floor-to-ceiling glass. The bathtub is set into its own bay window for the view; downtown Queenstown is five minutes away, though most guests seem to forget that.

Solitaire Lodge, Lake Tarawera

Solitaire Lodge offers ten luxe suites on a private peninsula on Lake Tarawera, every one facing Mount Tarawera across the water. Trout fishing, kayaking and the region’s thermal hot springs are minutes from the door; dinner runs on modern New Zealand cooking built around local produce and regional wine.

Gibbston Valley Lodge & Spa, Queenstown

Twenty-four vineyard villas set inside one of Central Otago’s oldest founding vineyards, ringed by schist mountains. Days run on cave wine tours, cycling the Gibbston Valley trails and treatments at a spa built around the vine; dinner is Central Otago produce paired with the estate’s own label.

Annandale, Akaroa — new this year

A working 4,000-acre farm on Banks Peninsula with ten kilometres of its own coastline and a handful of genuinely distinctive villas scattered across it, like Scrubby Bay, Seascape, and more. Less a hotel than a private world, the kind of scale that makes the rest of the peninsula feel like a day trip from home.

The Lodge at Craggy Range, Hawke’s Bay — new this year

The Lodge at Craggy Range sits inside Craggy Range’s own Giants Estate winery in Havelock North, with views straight across the Tuki Tuki Valley to Te Mata Peak. Four king bedrooms, each ensuite, built around an open fire and a chef’s kitchen — plus River Lodges and Garden Cottages scattered through the vines for anyone who wants their own patch of it.

Hapuku Lodge & Tree Houses, Kaikōura — new this year

Mountains on one side, the Pacific on the other, and five tree houses thirty feet up in a native mānuka grove. Hapuku Lodge & Treehouses sits on a working deer farm with its own olive grove and market garden, and dinner runs on whatever the farm and the ocean produced that day, crayfish included.

Hulbert House, Queenstown — new this year

An 1888 Victorian villa, Hulbert House one of the oldest residences in Queenstown, restored down to the original woodwork and stained glass. Just six suites, each individually decorated and named for a figure from the house’s own history, small enough that the team hosts every guest personally rather than running it like a hotel.

ROKI Collection, Queenstown — new this year

The newest name on this list, ROKI Collection opened in late 2025 on Queenstown’s lakefront. Fifteen suites by interior designer Virginia Fisher, all facing Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables, with dining across three venues from chef Paul Froggatt. The top-tier Grand ROKI Suite runs to four bedrooms, a private lift, rooftop plunge pool and its own butler.

Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat, Lake Pukaki — new this year

Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat offers private villas on the shores of Lake Pukaki, facing Aoraki/Mt Cook across the water in the heart of Mackenzie Country. Stargazing at the Pukaki Observatory and heli-hikes onto the Tasman Glacier are both a short drive away; a private hot tub and sauna in every villa mean the day doesn’t have to end when you get back.

Hotel Fitzroy by Fable, Auckland — new this year

Ten light-filled rooms inside a restored villa in Ponsonby, built for rest rather than sightseeing, breakfast in bed, afternoon drinks and hors d’oeuvres bookending the day. Ponsonby Road’s restaurants, galleries and boutiques are a five-minute walk away, for anyone who makes it out the door.

The Clements Hotel, Cambridge — new this year

A Beaux-Arts hotel on Duke Street dating to 1866, rebuilt after fire in 1912 and reopened in 2025 with its stained glass, sweeping staircase and 29 rooms restored. The 1866 Speakeasy occupies the original basement, pouring the hotel’s own gin distilled from a recipe of the same vintage.

Book the list

Twenty-four hotels, two Michelin tiers, two years of selections, and one common thread: every one of them was built around a specific piece of New Zealand rather than a template that could sit anywhere.

Get in touch to start planning a stay.