We got a great rate at the recently opened Novotel in Christchurch’s Cathedral Square (90 USD per night booked through Expedia). Finding the hotel was a bit of a challenge – there isn’t any obvious sign on the front that you’ve found the Novotel, only a sign showing the historic name of the hotel (Historic Warners Hotel),and a little flag with the Novotel logo (if there’s enough wind to see the flag!) . We finally found it by calling and getting the name of a bar next door to it. We asked if this was a temporary problem since it had only just re-opened, but apparently not. There is only valet parking, and instead of the promised 10 NZD a day the reservations agent had told us, turned out to be 25 NZD. When we complained, they honored the rate promised on the phone. The valet parking is not exactly convenient – it took them about 20 minutes to get our car every time.

The hotel is on the square itself – right next to Base Backpackers hostel. We asked for a room with a view, and got a fantastic upper-floor room overlooking the square – we were at the same level as the top of the cathedral people paid to climb for a view!

The room was very clean, and smartly designed. There was an LCD tv on the wall, the bed was very comfortable. The bathroom was a split function as a wet bar, with a mirror that turned inwards to open up the rest of the room.

There is limited free internet in the lobby downstairs, with a couple of iMac’s. The internet didn’t always work, but I found that if you just unplug the internet connection in the back it would come back and work.

There is a restaurant in the hotel, but the prices were very high so we didn’t check it out. The area around the square is full of dining options.