Our founder and editorial director, Sarah Ludwig, had the pleasure of spending an evening at the King and Queen Hotel Suites in New Plymouth, New Zealand. This luxury boutique hotel, a staple in the vibrant heart of the West End Precinct arts district, exudes a sense of refined elegance.
We adore the King and Queen Hotel Suites. What particularly sets it apart is its palpable commitment to fostering local connections, as evidenced by its deep partnerships with local businesses and Gold Level, 4-Star Qualmark Sustainable Tourism Business Award.

Why we love it
Check-in started with a personalized welcome sign in our reserved parking spot and a knowing hello from the front desk staff. I stayed in the King and Queen’s left-wing spa suite, immediately greeted by a handwritten, personalized welcome note on the kitchenette counter.
Stepping further into the suite, I saw the rarest hotel room sighting—a living plant thoughtfully placed between two suave leather cognac-colored chairs.


The space felt like it could be my own living room.
Just like the plant, this boutique hotel is full of special touches I’ve not seen anywhere else.
The most delightful touch of all? A jar of dried lavender flowers to promote a good night’s rest in one of the most comfortable hotel beds around.

Hotel design
The hotel’s design beautifully melds architectural hardness with European soft details, most notably contrasted when moving from the industrial hallways (an effective feature that makes the display of local art pop) and into the room. Upon entering, our room layout was warm and inviting, contrasting the hallway’s modern design.


One of my favorite design elements was the interior window opening from the bath into the bedroom, feeling as if I had stepped out of New Zealand and straight into Europe.
Sustainable details
Not only does the hotel hold a Gold level Qualmark status, but it has attained a 4-star rating for consistently high-quality levels of services and facilities.
Real World skin care products are in the bathrooms, a natural plant-based product sourced from native flora and fauna and handcrafted in small batches in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The hotel is also taking further action to remove single-use plastics from select suites.
The coffee and tea service, showcased in a wood-encased box crafted by the makers at New Plymouth’s Menzshed (a nonprofit organization), used 100% biodegradable housing and featured organic coffee by the B Corp Ozone Coffee Roasters.
Connection with the community
General Manager and Co-owner Daniel Fleming understands the integral nature of a hotel with its community. The hotel has cleverly partnered with local (and co-owned) businesses to offer traditional hotel amenities as part of a larger project revitalizing this section of New Plymouth’s downtown.

The hotel encouraged exploration during our stay, including discovering the food court tucked away right next door. This isn’t your typical American food court. It’s a social space, housing locals and restauranteurs under filtered daylight. Embraced by the courtyard’s beer garden atmosphere, I felt like a local among locals.
We (my partner was able to join me on this trip) first headed over to Itch Wine Bar to use our complimentary drink tickets from the hotel for a celebratory glass of bubbly. Then, we made a difficult decision about where to eat next, ultimately deciding on a wood-fired pizza from Ms. White’s (accompanied by one of the 40 New Zealand craft beers on tap) and some small plates from Social Kitchen. All of which was charged to the room on our keycard, another interactive detail made easy by King and Queen.

Before retiring for the evening, we called the front desk to place the following morning’s coffee order. Arriving promptly at our requested time, the front desk staff warmly delivered barista coffees from Monica’s Eatery (named after the local hero, Monica Brewster, an arts patron and women’s rights advocate) to our door in the morning.
I love a hotel where you don’t have to step foot out of your room for breakfast or quality coffee, especially when it’s from a restaurant recognizing women and the arts.
Located in the center of the arts district
It’s easy to find the King and Queen Hotel Suites — quite literally on the corner of King and Queen Streets, and just around the corner from the unmistakable silver-mirrored façade of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre.
The coastal boardwalk is steps away, and I was lucky enough to be there during one of Te Kupenga’s stone sculpting symposiums to see local and international artists set up along the walkway, carving andesite boulders into incredible pieces.


New Plymouth is a town more people need to know about. We were twice lucky to experience the thriving art scene at a light festival in the nearby Pukekura Park that evening. The hotel staff was always keen to ensure guests had the best local experience, and we would never have known about the festival without the staff.
The TSB Festival of Lights was one of the most unexpected activities I loved about our time in New Zealand, and I am grateful to the hotel staff for sharing it with us. The festival’s exhibit integrated light installations along the park’s walking path, leading us from one other-worldly experience to the next: giant bubbles hovering on the water, people paddling illuminated canoes across the lake, and a field of lights that could easily be mistaken for real fireflies (which was my favorite).

The next day, we headed out to hike Mt. Taranaki’s Pouakai Circuit (roughly a 30-minute drive to Egmont National Park Visitor Center and the start of the multi-day trek), well-refreshed after a delicious night’s sleep at the hotel. The hotel is incredibly well situated to experience the city scene, a visit to the mountain, and the oceanfront on a single (albeit busy) day.
Next time we are there, we’ll stay longer and take advantage of the free 24-hour gym access with nearby Jetts and the complimentary hotel bikes to deepen our understanding of this very cool community.
And remedy the regret of missing the chance to have Public Kitchen’s locally famous doughnuts.
Check out King and Queen Hotel Suites for yourself.
Website: www.kingandqueen.co.nz
Address: 41 Queen Street, New Plymouth Taranaki 4312, New Zealand
Email: reservations@kingandqueen.co.nz
Phone: 067572999
Instagram: @king_queen_hotel