The Muse Christchurch Art Hotel occupies the 1961 Canterbury Building Society building, one of the few mid-century structures to survive the 2011 earthquakes, converted into a 40-room boutique hotel and opened in 2020. A council-funded seismic strengthening programme and a design built around local art give it one of the more distinctive stories among Christchurch's post-quake hotel openings.
The essentials
Group Independent
Opening 2020
Rooms & suites 40 rooms
Segment Boutique
Designer Three Sixty Architecture
Entry rate From NZD 180 Learn more → The place In the former Canterbury Building Society building on the edge of Christchurch's rebuilt central city, near the Cardboard Cathedral, one of the few mid-century structures to survive the 2011 earthquakes.
The concept The Muse occupies the 1961 Canterbury Building Society building, one of architect Peter Beaven's first commercial commissions and one of the last of his commercial buildings left standing in the CBD after the earthquakes. Christchurch City Council part-funded a seismic strengthening programme on the condition that the reinforcement stay invisible from the exterior, and the change of use from office building to hotel (recognised with a 2021 Highly Commended Seismic Award) marked the first time the building had operated as a hotel.
Three Sixty Architecture led the conversion, referencing Beaven's original 1960s material palette while the interior fit-out added street-art-style murals by New Zealand artists, dusky-pink hexagonal tiling and curated local artwork throughout the public spaces and corridors, giving the hotel its 'art hotel' identity.
Dining & wellness The hotel has an in-house restaurant (Seven) and one of central Christchurch's few rooftop bars, the Pink Lady Rooftop, alongside a café.
Our take A rare case in Christchurch of an office block getting a proper adaptive reuse rather than a cosmetic refit: the seismic-engineering story is more interesting than the art-hotel branding, and guest reviews suggest execution hasn't always matched the concept.
Google guest reviews 4.0/5 · 276 reviews
Absolutely fabulous experience at The Muse. I asked for a quiet room, and it was. I slept very well in the comfortable bed, and the room had a fabulous view over Christchurch CBD and into the hills. The room was well appointed, with a comfortable chair, big TV and a desk facing the view. The bathroom was huge, and there was plenty of storage space. The hotel is ideally located and very central - a 5min walk to the Riverside Market, 2 minutes to the bus station and a supermarket, and 20 min walk to the Botanic Gardens. I would definitely stay again.
Great location for exploring Christchurch, and my room on the 6th floor had amazing views out to the hills surrounding the city. Breakfast is provided by the neighbouring cafe and was really good! I was expecting to be able to choose a pastry and coffee but was able to order from their full menu. The only downside was that the rooftop bar (open to the public) played very loud music until 11pm; as I was trying to get an early night ahead of my flight this was a bit annoying! But I imagine this was due to me being on the floor directly beneath.
This hotel could have been a great place to stay and good experience ; however, my experience was completely ruined due to one staff member at the front desk, Tejas. I had a truly lovely 14-day stay in New Zealand overall, and most of the people and hotels I encountered were wonderful except this horrible experience with Tejas.
Her behaviour was extremely rude and unprofessional, and she made me feel very threatened and distressed. I was even put in a situation where she made me apologise to her — something I have never experienced in my life at any hotel. I was almost in tears because of how she treated me. You can really see the CCTV on 24th Dec around 6pm for our conversation.
At one point, I had a strong feeling that someone had entered my room while I was out, which left me feeling unsafe. Because of this, I did not feel comfortable using the hotel towels, as I was worried they may have been tampered with.
This experience completely overshadowed what should have been a comfortable stay, and I would not recommend this hotel based on my staff experience there .
The trouble with The Muse is they charge the same price as other hotels but without the amenities.
I paid $600 a night. But there’s no mini-bar, no room service (there was a QR code to order from the rooftop bar. But it didn’t work). The rooms are very small compared to other Christchurch based hotels. You can’t stream content from your device to the TV. The reception is transitioning to virtual check in, without a human.
And then there is the roof top bar that plays thumping music. (Mentioned in other reviews).
These are all small things in isolation. And when I used to spend $150 a night at the Muse, that would be acceptable. You get what you pay for. But at this higher price, there are better hotels in Christchurch with bigger rooms.
EDITED FOR YOUR RESPONSE:
I completely disagree with your version of events. Your summary misrepresents what occurred, and several statements made are simply untrue. Your claim that we accepted complimentary breakfast is false — we did not accept or consume any breakfast. It’s disappointing to see this included as if it were fact.
To clarify, the reception staff did not offer us a room change immediately after the first night that we “declined.” Instead, they phoned us at 8:35 pm on Saturday to offer a room change for the final night as they could not repair the toilet. Which, we happily accepted and were able to move into at 12 pm on Sunday.
The bathroom was not clean, with black hair on the shower walls, wall stains near the toilet, and toothpaste residue — all backed by timestamped photo evidence. Which on the phone, you admitted these were removed once we'd changed rooms and you were disappointed in your staff.
The toilet did not flush properly, regardless of how “loose” the button was and was unable to be repaired hence the room change. A working toilet and a clean, functional room are not luxuries; they are minimum legal and service standards.
The air conditioning only blew hot air, making the room extremely uncomfortable. The lady at reception Saturday morning said she'd sort it for us, too which we came back in the afternoon with a blistering hot heat pump turned on.
We reported these issues multiple times on Saturday and were repeatedly told they had been “sorted,” when they clearly had not been.
The suggestion that your staff are well trained and responsive is also inaccurate. The reality is that staff failed to communicate between shifts, were unhelpful, and, frankly, dishonest in how they handled our complaints. We were given repeated assurances that things were fixed when they were not, and it’s clear there was no follow-through. We also did infact notify your staff member on check out
Extremely disappointing stay – not worth the money.
We stayed from 24–27 October, and the experience was completely unacceptable. We were not given the room we booked, and the one we were put in was filthy — black hair on the shower walls, stains by the toilet, and toothpaste smeared on the wall. The toilet didn’t flush, and the aircon only blew hot air, making the room unbearable.
We reported these issues multiple times on Saturday, and each time were told they had been “sorted” — but nothing ever was. The staff clearly weren’t trained in customer service and didn’t communicate between shifts, so we had to keep going back to reception to repeat ourselves.
When we were finally moved on Sunday (our last night), the new room had aircon clicking noises and a rock-hard bed with a big lump in the middle where two beds were joined. A working toilet is the bare minimum anyone should expect, and we went without a properly functioning one for two nights.
The hotel only offered a 20% discount for the first two nights, which is completely inadequate given the circumstances. The male staff member on the last day was friendly and kind, but overall this stay was disgraceful for the price paid. No management on during the weekend and not contact to them could be made. Would not recommend.
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