Melissa Nightingale visits the Naumi Studio Hotel on Wellington’s bustling Cuba St.

Location: Nestled into the heart of Wellington, the hotel is moments away from countless restaurants, cafes, bars and shops. From your hotel doors, you’re less than 15 minutes walk from the waterfront, and a block from the main arterial route that will take you to the airport or back up north.

Style: This is one of the things Naumi does very well. Rather than going for the usual neutral and tidy tones many hotels favour, Naumi is bursting with rich and vibrant colours, floral patterns, and attention-grabbing decorations. The lift walls are coated in silver glitter. The Hindu owners of the hotel instructed their decorator to use as little white as possible, as the Hindu culture associates the colour white with funerals and mourning.

The executive suite I stayed in is even more elaborate, with busy jungle-themed wallpaper, eggplant-purple bathroom walls, a cosy couch in deep magenta, and further splashes of colour around the room.