Awarded Travel’s Top Accolades

Now in its 38th year, the Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards are among the most prestigious and long-running accolades in global travel, drawing votes from more than half a million readers of the world’s most authoritative luxury travel titles. Pīhopa Retreat was named #1 Hotel in New Zealand by the UK edition and #2 Hotel in New Zealand by the US edition. Recognition across both editions places Pīhopa firmly on the global stage, alongside the world’s great intimate luxury hotels and lodges.

TripAdvisor’s Best of the Best is the platform’s highest honour, reserved for properties that place in the top 1% of more than 1.6 million hotel listings worldwide. Unlike editorial awards, it is determined entirely by the volume and quality of verified traveller reviews over a 12-month period — making it one of the most credible accolades in the industry, a direct reflection of the experience guests receive from the moment they arrive to the moment they leave.

Qualmark is New Zealand’s official quality assurance mark for tourism, and the only accreditation in the country whose sustainability criteria has been formally recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) — the international body that sets the benchmark for sustainable tourism worldwide. Pīhopa holds both 5-Star status, recognising the highest standard of guest experience and quality, and the Gold Tier Sustainable Tourism Business award — independently verifying the retreat’s commitment to protecting the natural environment, strengthening community connections, and delivering a safe, high-quality experience for all visitors.

Powered by more than 370 million verified guest reviews across 221 countries, the Booking.com Traveller Review Awards are determined solely by guests who have stayed at a property — with no editorial input and no entry fee. Pīhopa Retreat achieved a perfect 10/10, calculated from every verified guest review published on the platform over a three-year period from December 2022 to November 2025 — a score that reflects not a single exceptional season, but sustained, flawless consistency across hundreds of stays. Booking.com reserves this perfect score for an extraordinarily small number of properties globally, describing it as a recognition of “flawless attention to detail, consistency and passion for creating exceptional stays.”