Naumi Studio Wellington — Hotel in North Island

I am a little conflicted about reviewing this stay. I used to be a regular at this location back when it was Comfort and Quality for 10 years. I have stayed at both sides of the hotel in the past . This time my friend gifted us the stay for our anniversary - the room was Zest Queen and cost $264 for 1 night. The room was on the old "Comfort side" of the hotel. Let's start with the positives: The decor of the room and the hotel are incredible and fresh. Really well done! Incredible cleanliness. I'm very picky with hotel cleanliness and it was impecable. Including the bathroom , the shower ( was spotless!) and even the skirting boars in our room have been dusted ( A++) Complimentary mini bar treats. Plastic free and sustainable toiletries including toothbrushes and toothpaste ( useful since we forgot ours in a rush) , comb, razor and other small bits and pieces, including shower steamer, which is the first time I came across one. Large TV that pivots on the wall towards the bed. Breakfast was at extra cost of $28pp but was a delicious and had everything you needed in the buffet. Including some juices, smoothies and filter coffee. Barista coffee was extra. The breakfast pastries were exquisite and super light and fresh . The cooked portion of the breakfast was super fresh, nom greasy and just right! Location is fantastic, close to all the shopping and dining and not that far from the waterfront. The negatives: The rooms are quite small. The bed design is not smart. The mattress is placed on top of a smooth base and so it slides on the base and away from the head board if you are sitting in bed watching TV as well as during the night. And since the room is small, there is nowhere else to sit to relax I had a shower in the evening and that was great, but my partner had a shower at 8.30am and he ran out of hot water almost immediately - same happened to my friend few months ago. So if this is an ongoing issue, the hotel should take care of not at the price that they are charging. There is a ceiling fan, but no Aircon. It got really hot at night even though we were there on a cold day. Had to get up at night to open windows, and also open the blinds for the air to circulate. With open windows you can hear all the partying from the streets. I couldn't sleep till 2am when things quietened down and the room cooled down. The wine bottle in the room had a thick layer of dust with finger smudges on it... Hmmm.. weird You now need to go to reception to get an access key for the pool and fitness center. The spa was out of order, the pool was functioning as always. The key didn't work on the fitness center door, we tried about 7-10 times. Overall I think I prefer the funds spent on improving the quality and functionality of the hotel when it's renovated first and decor second. Would we stay there again? Maybe if someone gifts us a stay on the Quality side, to see if...

The studio apartments are a similar size to Japan & Taiwan, so cosy. However, the hotels with roomd this size in Osaka, Kyoto and Taipei - where we loved our time in February - compensate by having welcoming lounges, massage chairs, complimentary robes, drinks etc.

Naumi Studio has no extras or even discounts for guests at the bar. Drinks are good but there are better value drinks and food at Ram on Cuba, the wine is excellent. It is fine for one or two nights but too small & not good value for longer stays.

The women working at the hotel were lovely, especially the cleaners. The staff at the reception were mainly polite young women who worked hard. However, they did not have good local knowledge about places to eat & safety for women travelling alone.

The bathroom products were supermarket quality & there were none of the standard extras such as sanitary bags available which again was unusual for the price and in contrast to recent travel experiences.

The "boozy yum cha" was okay but not good value - $59 per person & this did not include drinks, not even tea. A gin & tonic was $15.

The high Tea was also $59 a head. It was very small portion sizes - there was nothing filling no sandwiches, large scones, savoury tarts. I left most behind and left hungry.

Better value - with delicious pork dumplings, wine & oolong tea is available at Rams, only a few minutes walk away on Cuba St.

Sadly, Cuba St or Courtenay Place is not safe for solo female travellers. At 10.30 pm I saw police try & resuscitate a man in the Mall & people getting kicked out of the Irish pub, which reminded me of bad unsafe pubs from my early 20s in country towns in Australia.

If you arrive late at night, the staff at Babylon on Cuba St do excellent lamb souvlaki.

I was advised by a number of local women not to walk by myself at night past Cuba Mall as they are people using ICE & sleeping on the street. This was very disappointing as I had a lovely time in Hobart earlier this month & had loved Wellington on my first visit as a solo traveller in 2004.

I checked out 2 nights early so I could walk safely at night. Nearby the Ramada has great staff as do the Astelia Apartments. These apartments are excellent value - and have own lounge room, kitchen and laundry for less than a Naumi Studio.

I met some lovely people at Loosies on Cuba St on a weeknight - they have pool tables and a relaxed, welcoming vibe. The corn chips & guacamole + the drinks were tasty and very good value.

Most of the upmarket restaurants advertise as being open late - however, the kitchens close at 8.30pm...

Where does one start? Booked 2 nights for a brief stay in Wellington. Apart from the initial confusion from Khushi (who needs to work on her attitude) who didn't bother asking for our surname, and was relatively rude about the fact we prepaid in November yet she seemed to think we hadn't paid. As soon as we opened the door we were overwhelmed by the heat, and it wasn't even a hot day, say around 22°c. No air-conditioning, only some old roof fan that barely did anything. Aside from the tiny room, random light switches and no rubbish bins in room, the bathroom especially was grubby and dusty (see photos). The rooms were basically an expensive noisy, dirty, sweaty sauna. Knowing it would be impossible to sleep we went down and had a chat to Khushi about the situation and she said she could put a fan in the room when we returned from dinner, which never happened. Queue Julian who was manager at the time. We expressed our concerns about being able to sleep during the duration of our stay when hot summer days were forecast. We highlighted the fact that there were no disclaimers around the lack of air conditioning. When we mentioned that this fact was material to a client's stay and something that should be highlighted, he mentioned that he had highlighted the issue multiple times with management to no avail. Apparently the fact that the studios were on the side of the building which was heritage listed prevented the installation of air-conditioning units. Curious given that the hallway immediately outside the room was considerably cooler and presumably air-conditioned. When we pointed this out, he initially made a cursory effort to see if there was something that could be done, until we mentioned that we would provide an honest review on Google. He then went above and beyond and offered us a large room at the Naumi Hotel side for the duration of our stay without additional cost. We believe that it was the least that they could do since it was nearly 9pm and there was no way that the room at the hotel would be booked last minute. It was a smart move by Julian. He kept us happy, but didn't incur additional cost for the hotel. Perhaps it was to prevent us from reviewing the studios, but we felt that Singapore based management should listen to Julian and clients who have repeatedly said that air-conditioning is mandatory in the studios. At the least, it should issue a clear statement on all it's advertising and booking sites, that the studios are saunas during summer! P. S. A cashless hotel, how pathetic. Cash is a legal tender and your...