Guestrooms with 100 percent wool carpets and Marino wool blankets each have their own color scheme, art, and design.

Avant garde and Asian influences mingle to create a unique hotel that includes a Basque restaurant and original art. The two-story hotel has 38 guestrooms, uniquely designed and decorated. Rooms have balconies or patios. Described as new age modern with Asian and Pacific influences, each room's décor, color scheme, fixtures, art, and shape differ. Carpets are 100 percent wool. Bedding includes Marino wool blankets, specifically designed for the hotel. Deluxe rooms include silk duvets. Drapes are black McQuarrie wool. Furniture is contemporary. Rooms include high-speed and dial-up Internet access (surcharge), and IT help is available. Rooms have refrigerators. All rooms are non-smoking. Hotel Off The Square is a part of the downtown Cathedral Junction Development, a glass atrium-enclosed complex of shops, restaurants, and apartments. The roughly 60-year-old former theater had been abandoned for years before it was renovated and opened in 2003 as a boutique hotel. The hotel's design and décor draw heavily from avant garde and Asian styles - as well as the colors and textures of the countryside surrounding Christchurch.

The non-smoking hotel may be one of the few with two active city tramway (trolley) tracks running through it. In addition to its unusual character, the hotel also offers Matiea Maison, a Basque restaurant. Complimentary high-speed Internet access is offered in public areas. The high-tech hotel also has a resident computer/Internet professional on its staff - and an in-house artist. Pop art, photography, and sculpture are found throughout the hotel.

As if to reinforce the hotel's originality, none of the guestrooms is perfectly square, nor are they the same size. Colors, décor, and artwork are unique to each room. Matiea Maison - The restaurant specializes in Basque cuisine, including tapas and paella. Heavy accents of steel and wood project an Old World atmosphere in the semi-formal restaurant. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served daily.