Our story
A small hotel with a big heart, raised from schist and rimu on the edge of Lake Wakatipu.
Est. 2013 · Queenstown
Since 2013
Built for slow evenings
Optionventurebeam began as a family lodge — a handful of rooms, a long dining table, and a fireplace that never quite went out.
Thirteen years on we have grown to twenty-four rooms, a dining room devoted to South Island produce, a spa working with native botanicals, and The Salon — our casino salon lounge where the rituals of the game are enjoyed the way they were meant to be: across a table, between people.
We have stayed deliberately small. Every guest is met at the door, every reservation confirmed by a person, and every evening ends the same way it has since we opened — with a dram by the fire.
The Concept
The romance of the casino salon — without the wager
We love everything about a grand casino night except one thing: the money. So we kept the velvet, the brass, the croupiers and the ceremony — and removed the stake entirely.
- A casino salon lounge, reserved for resident guests
- Roulette, blackjack and poker played with house chips — no cash value
- Hosted social evenings, face-to-face, never online
- 100% offline: no real-money gambling, no internet gaming, nothing to download
The result is the atmosphere people adore about casino salons — the anticipation, the ritual, the company — with none of the risk. It is closer to a private club night than a gaming floor.
Philosophy
Nature first, always
The Southern Alps set our pace. We build, cook and host with what the region gives us.
- Local schist stone, native rimu timber, New Zealand wool and aged brass throughout the interiors
- Spa rituals built on mānuka, kawakawa and harakeke
- A cellar and kitchen devoted to Central Otago growers and makers
- Single-use plastic free since 2019; linens washed in-house, dried in alpine air
In Numbers
Thirteen seasons at the lake
The Region
Central Otago on your doorstep
Queenstown is the jumping-off point for the South Island's great outdoors — and our concierge knows every corner of it.
Lake Wakatipu cruises, ski days on The Remarkables, heli-hikes into the Southern Alps, and long afternoons in the pinot noir country of Gibbston and Bannockburn. Tell us the kind of day you want; we will draw the map.
Concierge & Services
Alpine serenity, five-star hospitality
Come and see it in person.
Optionventurebeam exists only here — one address, one lake, one Salon. We would love to host you.
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