I Love Hotel Indigo

My first review on my first day as a self appointed travel critic, and I give away the entire review in the title.  I guess I have things to learn.

Hotel Indigo is a chain of boutique hotels, part of the InterContinental Hotels Group.  Yes, the same people that brought you Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Crown Plaza, and InterContinental have produced what is promoted as "the industry's first branded boutique hotel experience." This hotel group is included in the "Priority Club Points," so if you earn points at the Holiday Inn, you can use them for your stay at Hotel Indigo

Guest rooms feature murals, rugs, bright colors, and artwork reflective of each Hotel Indigo's local neighborhood.

The cool thing about Hotel Indigo is that most of them are in buildings that were built for other purposes, and later converted to a hotel.

Our first experience with Hotel Indigo was in St. Louis, however according to the Hotel Indigo website this location does not seem to exist anymore, so I'll move on.

In May, my wife and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary with an overnight trip to Nashville without the kids.  We stayed at the Hotel Indigo Downtown on Union Street.  This location is actually made up of two old bank buildings that have been converted into a hotel.  The lobby is welcoming and open, with live music most nights.  Our room was oversized with an extra large bathroom.  Conversion of old buildings into hotels often results in rooms larger than you would typically expect.

My daughter that is in Kindergarten had "fall break" this weekend.  School was out on Friday and Monday, which resulted in a long weekend.  Since I was on call on Saturday, we had to have a quick getaway if we wanted to go anywhere for "fall break."  I did some looking around and found out that Disney on Ice was going to be in Nashville this weekend (more to come on DonI), so a trip to Nashville was planned.

We have collected enough "Priority Club Points" to earn a free night, so when I was checking out my options I realized that there is a Hotel Indigo not far from the arena. Hotel Indigo Nashville Music Row- Vanderbilt is just over a mile away.  So tickets were bought, and reservations made.

Off we headed to Nashville, we had lunch at one of our favorites (blog to come), walked around in a park (another blog to come), and then checked into the Hotel.  The lobby was decorated with images of music and guitars.  The lobby also had a collection of guitars hanging up high on the walls, that were quickly noticed by the girls.  The check-in clerk was very nice and got us checked in quickly, and gave us directions to everywhere in the hotel we could possibly need. -As well as many places we didn't need- who has time for the gym when you've got two girls in tow?  There was a bucket of candy on the counter, and both girls got to pick out a sucker.  There was actually different candy in the bucket the next day when we checked out.  (I don't know if this is just for Halloween, or if the candy bucket is always there.)

Like the other Hotel Indigo in Nashville, this location is also in a converted building.  Our room was much larger than I expected.  We had two queen beds, a desk, a couch with ottoman, a club chair, and two TVs.  I had booked a "standard room," but I may have been upgraded due to my priority club points. The room had brightly colored walls and bedspreads, and the bathroom was a bright green color.  Everyone had room to spread out, and we didn't feel like we were all piled into a closet.

When J went into the bathroom she said "There is not a bathtub in here!"  There was a large walk in shower.  This was not an issue for us, because our girls don't take a bath every single night, and didn't need one while we were there.  If we had planned on being there several nights in a row, this could have been an issue.  Thinking back, I realized that this stand up shower-only set up was present at the other Hotel Indigos that we have stayed at, so I don't know if this is true for every room in the chain, but if you have to have a bathtub, you might want to talk to someone when you book your room.

When we returned to the hotel after dinner, there was live music in the lobby.  I'm not sure who was playing, but it was actual music, and not the typical crap that you hear in a hotel lobby. If the girls hadn't been so sleepy, we could have stayed in the lobby and all enjoyed the music.  For those that FourSquare, there is a drink special if you "check-in".

Parking is either self park for $19 a night, or "Ballet Parking" (remember, I have two girls) for $23 a night.

Overall, I love this hotel and will stay here again.  The only downside is the no bathtub in the room if your small kids need a bath, but for one or two nights, this should not be a deal breaker.