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Location is everything when exploring a city like Asheville in North Carolina. You want to stay in downtown, so you can be within a stone’s throw of the eclectic mix of restaurants, art galleries, stores filled with local product, exciting music venues.
When you stay in downtown you can immerse yourself in the city without worrying about commutes and wasting valuable time!
So, where do you stay? We chose to stay at Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown on our visit.
Hotel Indigo, Downtown Asheville
We usually stay on the outskirts, but on our last trip, it was the time to experience downtown Asheville, light our taste buds on fire, and get familiar with the lively beating heart of the city.
Our stay at Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown helped make our visit a unique and memorable experience.
We loved our stay so much, that we’ve written this honest review so you can decide whether it’s the right hotel for you.
Here’s what we thought…
About Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown
Vibrant public areas at Hotel Indigo, Asheville
Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown is an IHG Hotel located on Haywood Street, in the heart of the city. It has easy access to Interstate 240, and is a short 2 minute walk to the Asheville Pinball Museum and a short distance from Asheville Visitor Center, Grove Arcade, Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, and Asheville Transit Center Bus Station.
The IHG Hotels & Resorts brand gives you that more local experience you seek in your accommodation while still giving you the most hands off, comfortable hotel experience.
IHG Hotels & Resorts is one of the world’s leading hotel companies with nearly 6,000 properties around the world. No matter your travel style or purpose you can find an IHG hotel to suit with any of their 16 hotel brands. (You can find your perfect IHG hotel here).
Lobby area 
Clean and colorful interior
Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown is a vibrant, boutique hotel with 4 star status. It has pet-friendly accommodations and non-smoking rooms to meet a variety of travelers needs – from spacious suites to small king bed rooms.
Each room has been decorated with pops of color and come with breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville downtown skyline.
Some of its standout features are:
- 24-hour front desk
- Room service, including laundry service and dry cleaning is available
- A meeting space and business center with fax machine and copying
- A good sized fitness center
- All rooms come with flat-screen televisions with cable TV and satellite channels
- The breakfast is superb
- Late check-out times at 11:00am (most hotels are 10:00am standard in United States)
- Guest rooms and suites include mini refrigerator, ironing boards, coffee and tea maker, desks, free Wi-Fi access and flat-screen TVs.
- There are six accessible rooms with TTY visual alerts, roll in shower and wider doorways to make life easier.
- Hotel Indigo is a pet-friendly property. We saw a few happy dogs walking around!
Things we loved about Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown by IHG
Hotel Indigo and its locally focused boutique style makes it one of our favorite hotel brands and the perfect fit for this fun and stress-free family trip.
Below is why we loved staying at the Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown!
The perfect location
Easy walk to downtown Asheville
Exploring a culturally rich city like Asheville, NC, is best done from the middle of the action.
If you’re looking for a hotel that’s centrally located, Hotel Indigo is within walking distance to downtown Asheville’s best destinations, including the top restaurants, shops, music venues and experiences, including the popular South Slope for trendy breweries and local vibe.
It’s conveniently located to all Asheville has to offer, and by being on the edge of the compact downtown, which I liked, it gave me what felt like a breather from the hustle, but at a short enough distance where I could still be part of it.
Hotel Indigo with views
It’s also right off Interstate 240, which gives you easy access to the big-ticket Asheville attractions outside the city center like the Blue Ridge Parkway, Biltmore Estate, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (all of which we highly recommend as North Carolina Bucket List experiences.)
Asheville Regional Airport is also only 14.2 miles (17 minute drive) away.
Rooms are quiet at night
I was concerned the highway noise would be bad in the room, but I barely even noticed it, and there didn’t seem to be much traffic at night.
Book a higher floor room just in case because I can be a heavy sleeper and, after years of travel, can easily detach from noise and not be bothered by it.
Amazing Asheville Views (Downtown & Mountains)
What makes a trip to Asheville so unique is its mountain surroundings. Not only do you want your accommodation to be located close to its vibrant downtown core, but one that has those extraordinary mountain views.
Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown stands above most of the other buildings downtown and is just on the outskirts, which means it has a prime view of the surrounding mountains.
City views from our room desk
Our corner room was a bonus in that we had views of the mountains on one side and on the other, views of the city framed by the mountains. You could see all the natural beauty this region is famous for right from our room.
When booking your stay at Hotel Indigo, be sure to choose the View Rooms, as it will make this more of a standout Asheville experience. It was just luck that ours was a corner room – I hope you get the same.
STAR FEATURE: The top two floors of this luxury hotel feature penthouse suites with floor-to-ceiling windows highlighting breathtaking views of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and Downtown Asheville. They also have private balconies. Now that would be a treat!
Smooth Checking-In Experience
Lobby area
Hotel Indigo is a boutique hotel brand known for their original and artistic designs that reflects the culture of the city where they are located.
No two Hotel Indigo’s are alike, and upon checking in, I immediately felt the Asheville vibe.
It was bright and colorful with lime green and orange feature walls and eye-catching work of local artists on the walls of the lobby, downstairs seating area, and bar and restaurant.
Check-in was welcoming and effortless. I received an email the day before arrival to check-in online, with my requested time. All we had to do was pick up the keys upon arrival.
It was just as easy as the process for booking the room online. Because this hotel belongs to the IHG Hotels and Resorts, IHG Rewards Members can accrue and redeem points by choosing to stay here.
My points were immediately applied for the stay as soon as I checked in.
As I booked directly with IHG Hotels & Resorts, I knew my stay came with a cancellation policy that covered me for full refund if canceling up to 6pm two days before our arrival date.
Safe Hotel Parking
The hotel has valet parking for $20 overnight with unlimited drive in and out. You can also park in nearby public parking areas for $12 overnight – but there are no drive-in-and-out privileges, so you might end up paying more for parking.
Our valet was very helpful in explaining it to us. He was also very efficient in getting cars to everyone quickly on a busy morning.
Since we knew we’d be driving in and out to explore the River Arts District and French Broad River, so we chose valet parking.
We did not need our car for anything else – and you could even walk, or bike, to the River Arts District.
Spacious, Comfortable Guestrooms
The bright, artistic design continued on into our two-queen room with a view.
First, we were impressed with the size of the room. As a family of four, we appreciate a hotel room with a bit of space.
With a small entryway, separate seating area, work area, and two queen beds, we had more space than typical hotel rooms we have stayed in.
Next favorite was the room design. I loved the curved feature wall covered with a green-and-orange nature-inspired mural that drew you into each area of the room from whatever direction from which you were looking.
There was a jade featured wall behind the beds, a comfortable chaise lounge, and the purple bench at the bottom of the bed offering another place to sit.
The hardwood floors made it feel more elegant and classy.
It was great to collapse into the bed after exploring Asheville for the day and attempt to watch Hallmark Christmas movies with the girls – but mostly quickly drifting off to sleep.
For those who now embrace remote working/learning, you will enjoy the views from the desk with your free Wi-Fi!
Without a doubt, our favorite feature of our room was the rainfall shower in the enormous spa-inspired bathroom with quality Aveda amenities that will satisfy the teen in your family!
It’s moments like these when you realize how important a good shower is when you travel.
You think it doesn’t matter as it’s just a quick 5-minute thing (or, sometimes with those dribbling ones that barely cover a shoulder, you make it a 1-minute shower.)
With the warmth of the water flooding over your entire body, you’re more inclined to linger long. Perfect after a day’s hiking or exploring.
It had some environmentally friendly touches
I was thankful to see the water jug in my room with information on how to fill it with filtered water located on various floors of the hotel.
Thank you, Hotel Indigo, for your commitment to the environment AND caring for your guests enough to provide for them much needed and desired filtered water.
While that is a current luxury, I’m calling for it to be STANDARD.
oneFIFTYone Boutique Bar & Kitchen
In keeping with Asheville’s personality, the oneFIFTYone Boutique Bar and Kitchen in the hotel’s lobby is an urban style restaurant that uses fresh, organic, seasonal and local ingredients that support local farms and businesses in the Asheville, NC region.
There’s a full, cooked to order breakfast menu with a variety of freshly baked pastries.
Dinner options include gourmet small plates, burgers, salads, and popular flatbreads.
You’ll also find creative and unique cocktails, hand selected wines and local craft brews.
Food and drinks have prices comparable to what you’d find in the Downtown Asheville restaurants.
A limited selection of “Grab N’ Go” baked goods, sandwiches, and beverages are available for your convenience to purchase 24 hours a day.
One of our favorite experiences of our stay at Hotel Indigo in Downtown Asheville was having a couple of drinks at the oneFIFTYone Boutique bar on our last night.
Downtown Asheville was pretty quiet on the Sunday night after Thanksgiving, and everything was closing early.
As we now have a teenager, we felt comfortable leaving the girls in the room upstairs while we popped down for a night cap.
Our kids were actually pushing us out the door so they could have a break from us and play their Roblox in peace!
The hotel bar is a great option for food and drink, but I do think the streets of Asheville is better! So take advantage of the awesome restaurants, breweries, and bars within walking distance to the hotel.
Friendly staff
Lindsey, our bar server, made our experience at the bar more memorable. Every hotel (or hospitality business) needs a Lindsey interacting with their guests!
Lindsey was so enthusiastic about the area, her customers, and learning as much as she could to make their stay better.
She told us of how she’d been studying the background of all the drinks she served so she could better make them and tell her patrons about it.
Chatting with Lindsey
She’s also dedicating her time off to exploring Asheville – not just for herself – but so she can make the best recommendations on things to do in Asheville to the hotel guests.
That kind of passion, commitment, and enthusiasm for a job – what most would consider just a paycheck – is so rare.
She was entertaining with an infectious joyful spirit, who did an excellent job of bringing into the conversation another couple sitting beside us at the bar – who we now have contact details of and plan to meet up when they visit Raleigh.
These are the things that make a trip, and an accommodation choice, forever memorable.
Make sure you “have a drink at the bar with Lindsey” will now be my top tip for a stay at Hotel Indigo. I just hope it’s not her day off when you stay.
The Verdict: Would we recommend Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown?
We highly recommend a stay at Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown, and any other IHG Hotels and Resorts, as it’s a brand that offers an extra element of local flavor.
We like accommodation options that help to tell the story of the region we are visiting, and this boutique Asheville hotel does that with its ideal location, engaging service (with insider tips), and local flavors in both art and food.
We weren’t sure about staying in the center, as the mountains have always called us to this region in Western North Carolina, so we usually stayed on the outskirts, only popping into Asheville briefly in between hikes and Great Smoky Mountain explorations.
But we’re so glad we made the decision to stay two nights in downtown. Two nights is never enough to experience the best of Asheville, but as it’s only four hours from our home in Raleigh, we will be making plans to return here for frequent visits.
We certainly loved this rare city-style vacation for us. It was stress-free and fun and a welcome break from hiking for the girls.
My wish list for my next visit to Asheville is the Penthouse suite in Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown. See more in our IG Reel.
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