The great indoors: Why luxury travellers are choosing New Zealand’s private homes over hotels

Jacqui Spice spent a decade as chief stewardess on superyachts, learning how to make a private space feel like a five-star hotel. Back in New Zealand, she saw the opportunity to do the same on land.

The country had exceptional lodges and private houses, but little that combined the best of both: the space and privacy of a home with the service expected at the world’s best hotels. Spice’s idea was simple—take the house, then add everything a hotel guest expects without thinking about it: flowers and bathroom amenities, good linen, robes and slippers, a provisioned pantry, local wine, daily housekeeping and, where required, a chef.

She founded Touch of Spice in 2005. Two decades later, its collection spans private villas and residences, lodges and superyachts, backed by a concierge operation that arranges everything from chefs and spa treatments to private aviation.

The private homes are particularly well suited to the way Spice’s clients now travel. “We see a lot of family travel and multigenerational travel, and we are seeing more and more of this year on year,” she says. “The key driver is having everyone together in one space—dining together privately, unwinding together, catching up over fine dining or having a simple pizza night. They want to spread out but still all be together.”

A hotel can provide adjoining rooms, suites, restaurants, and staff. What’s harder to reproduce is a family occupying a house together for a week: children playing in the garden or pool while their parents open a bottle of wine, different generations gathering around the same table, everyone returning at the end of the day to the same place.

Homestead Bay is a holiday villa set on the absolute lakefront at Jack’s Point. Top: Hawks Nest overlooks Lake Wakatipu, with Cecil Peak and the Remarkables framing the water below.

At the top end, Spice’s guests may arrive in New Zealand by private jet, then move between regions by chartered aircraft or helicopter. Once they reach the house, however, they tend to stay. Australian clients commonly spend seven to 10 nights around Queenstown or Wānaka during the ski season; summer brings more Americans travelling through the country with family and friends.

A private residence gives them room to unpack, spread out, work if they need to, and still spend time together. Simply “watching the kids play in the pool or front yard”, Spice says, can be something her wealthiest clients don’t often get to do.

The hotel comes home

Privacy doesn’t mean giving up hotel-level service. Spice says her top clients expect a villa to compare with properties such as Aman—or indeed, with their own homes around the world. Complete, at the upper end, with chefs, butlers, housekeepers, and breakfast hosts. “They expect not to have to lift a finger.”

Touch of Spice was built around that expectation. In the early days, Spice found that Queenstown could effectively shut down at 5pm on a Friday, just as her clients were arriving for the weekend. Her solution was to keep her phone on. “Weekends, nights, long weekends, public holidays, Christmas, New Year’s Eve—every single day of the year,” she says. “We don’t wait for the rest of the country to wake up—we wake it up.”

That service extends well beyond the house. After accommodation, private aviation and bespoke experiences can be among the largest expenses on a trip; Spice says clients can spend upwards of NZ$50,000 on an experience created specifically for them.

The breathtaking view of Lake Wakatipu and snow-capped peaks from Homestead Bay in Queenstown.

Increasingly, the requests extend beyond travel, too. Spice has seen more US guests ask to view real estate during their stays, or request introductions while planning a trip. Touch of Spice connects them with agents, developers, architects, and interior designers. For some, a holiday has become a chance to consider something more permanent.

Making the cut

Providing the service is one part of the equation; choosing the right house comes first. Touch of Spice looks at the interiors, location, view, and amenities, but also at the practicalities of accommodating a group. The wrong bedroom and bathroom configuration can rule out an otherwise remarkable property. “We possibly say ‘no’ more than we say ‘yes’,” Spice says.

She learnt that through experience. In the early days, an outstanding house could be enough to warrant inclusion; some proved difficult to sell, or simply didn’t work for the families and groups most likely to rent them. “We don’t believe in putting square pegs in round holes. We won’t put the wrong people in the wrong house, nor will we take on something just because we love it.”

Three residences in the current collection show how different the right house can look.

At Homestead Bay, on Lake Wakatipu near Queenstown, it starts with the setting. The house has the scale of a private lodge without, Spice says, feeling impersonal: the lake lies in front, with the Remarkables rising behind.

“For me, it is the setting of Homestead Bay that really stays with you,” she says. “The view changes constantly throughout the day, and there is something particularly special about being there in the evening when everything becomes quiet and the mountains and lake take on a completely different character.”

At Hawks Nest, it’s the smaller details Spice remembers. A New York-style bar downstairs becomes a gathering place in the evening, while a pizza oven and barbecue make staying home an easy choice for families looking to congregate around home-cooking. The property even keeps its own beehives and produces Hawks Nest honey—a detail that, for Spice, gives the house “a real sense of identity and connection to its surroundings”.

The kitchen (left) and outdoor dining (right) at Hawks Nest.

The Palm Residence, on Waiheke Island, offers something different again. Its open-plan, pavilion-style architecture is organised around the beach, pool, and gardens, with indoor and outdoor spaces flowing into one another.

“What I love about The Palm Residence is the incredible resort feel,” Spice says. “It feels like you have your own private little resort, rather than just a holiday home.”

It’s a house designed for days spent moving between the pool, beach, and outdoor living spaces, with the scale and amenities of a resort but the place entirely to yourself.

The Palm Residence is a beachfront retreat in Waiheke Island, accommodating up to 22 guests.

Active relaxation

That balance between the house and everything beyond it is central to Spice’s idea of New Zealand. She calls it a destination for “active relaxers”: somewhere to ski, hike, golf, taste wine, get onto the water or take a helicopter into places otherwise difficult to reach.

“You go wanting to be outside as much as you want to enjoy being inside,” she says.

The house is where everyone comes back together. Sunset drinks in your private bar—or on your private beach. Fine dining one night, pizza the next. Everyone around the same table.

Designed by renowned architect Andrew Patterson, The Palm Residence offers an exquisite blend of minimalism and monumentality.

Go further with Touch of Spice’s luxury stays:

• Homestead Bay
• Hawks Nest
• The Palm Residence

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Explore luxury property in New Zealand

In brief: Touch of Spice

Founded: 2005 by Jacqui Spice, following a decade working as chief stewardess aboard superyachts.

The collection: Private villas and residences, luxury lodges and superyachts across New Zealand, supported by a full-service travel concierge.

Where: Properties span 19 regions of New Zealand—Queenstown, Wānaka, and Waiheke Island among them, the three featured here—plus Auckland, Northland, the Bay of Islands, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, and Christchurch, with a smaller collection in Australia and Fiji.

Stays: Private-home bookings are generally for at least seven nights, with 10-night stays also common.

Beyond the house: Private chefs, butlers, housekeeping, and in-house spa treatments are paired with bespoke outings arranged by the concierge team—golf at Cape Kidnappers, backcountry skiing above Queenstown, diving the Poor Knights, superyacht charters through the Bay of Islands—plus drivers, guides, and private aviation. Spice says individually created experiences can run above NZ$50,000.