Release Wanaka - Experiences | Luxury Holiday Rentals

May 4th, 2020

Aug 30th, 2019

Jul 25th, 2019

Hi there, We booked a house through Release Wanaka for my parents to stay at during our wedding in Wanaka. We were looking for an amazing property with all the luxury additions. However, we would have been safer to book a house on airbnb. The properties they have on their portfolio are considered luxury, however the service was terrible - I have never experienced anything like it before and was severely disappointed. It left a very bad taste & I would strongly discourage anyone from supporting this business. It was left on an ever worse not when they tried to hold back a portion of the $1000 bond for "fake tan" on the sheets. Never once have i stayed at a hilton hotel/paying upwards of $800 a night to be told i need to pay for cleaning of the sheets. Anyways, lovely houses terrible service.
Jan 17th, 2021

Absolutely disappointing experience, we booked a family holiday 9 months in advance and due to the global COVID-19 pandemic are unable to travel. We asked for a Full Refund of the 50% deposit paid $2,750 AUD) as these are Unprecedented circumstances and should fall outside of any normal cancellation policies and were met with a response saying Release Wanaka has sought "legal advice" saying they aren't obliged to give any refund. Profiteering from a pandemic is disgraceful, we are a family that have had our income & lives affected by this pandemic and simply asked for a refund of our deposit well in advance. We have not received anything for this money paid, good or service. All we did was click a button to book a holiday and Release Wanaka think it is their right to profit from this situation. Accommodation business in Australia are offering the option of Full Refund or a Credit (RW offered a credit) in the end they have refunded 75% of our deposit but kept $700 for absolutely nothing. Wanaka has always been a special place for my wife & I, we have holidayed there with our Kiwi mates since 1999, but this has soured our love for this incredible place and the complete lack of empathy, customer service & common decency shown by Release Wanaka is appalling. I will never book anything through this service and encourage anyone reading this to support other local businesses that have a better moral compass than this mob. Really poor form - everyone is in this global pandemic & now recession together, everyone has had income, livelihoods & sometimes health affected. But to hide behind legal advice & policy versus "doing the right thing" is just a sad way to be. Good luck when Karma comes knocking Release Wanaka...
Dec 25th, 2020