Aussie snaps up Queenstown lodges

Two Queenstown boutique lodges are now in the same hands.

Australian accommodation operator Sleep Overs Ltd last week took over Remarkables Lodge, near Jack’s Point, six months after buying Evergreen Lodge at Sunshine Bay.

Evergreen Lodge, which has four guest rooms, had been owned and operated for eight years by Tish and Murray Acklin.

Seven-room Remarkables Lodge – the original Remarkables Station homestead – had been owned for 10 years by Colleen Ryan and Brian Savage who redeveloped it after buying it.

Sleep Overs owns lodges in Australia and an online accommodation booking site.

A major shareholder is Elliot Sgargetta of Melbourne, whose American parents-in-law Cynthia and Lace Waldron are running Evergreen Lodge.

Lace Waldron says two New Zealand partners, whom he won’t identify, are coming to manage Remarkables Lodge.

The two lodges will work in together, he says.

Asked if Sleep Overs is looking to buy any other local lodges, he replies: “It’s hard to say at this point.”

Source: Mountain Scene, 23 August 2013