Spicers Potts Point hotel - Sydney, Australia

Inspired, perhaps, by the Beatles’ 1965 film Help, this clubby addition to the Spicers Retreats collection has taken three Victorian terraced houses in one of Sydney’s nicest neighbourhoods and knocked them into one.

Lacy Australian colonial rather than Liverpudlian redbrick, the former Victoria Court Hotel has undergone a £11.8 m renovation, overseen by Jude Turner, co-owner of the luxury lodge chain with husband and Flight Centre founder Graham Turner.

The twenty rooms and suites retain period features but interiors have been overhauled to bring them into the 21st century. A neutral palette of soft greys complements the dark wood floors and sets the stage for splashes of colour, most notably in the form of the intriguing underwater artworks by Sydneysider, Martine Emdur, decorating rooms and public areas. A leafy neighbourhood near the botanic gardens, Potts Point is a hop and a skip from most of the city’s major attractions.