The last time we visited Asheville, North Carolina, was at the beginning of the pandemic. In fact, it was one of the first hotels we stayed at in 2020. Our stay at the Kimpton Arras was also my last use of an uncapped IHG free-night certificate. While I would have liked to to have stayed at that hotel again, room rates are higher than they were in 2020, and the Kimpton is one of the more expensive hotels in town.
I had several IHG free nights that I needed to use, and there were plenty of other options in Asheville. After narrowing down our choices to three, I decided on the Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown. The hotel has a convenient location, within walking distance of many restaurants.
Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown
151 Haywood St., Asheville, NC, 28801
The hotel is located in a high-rise building shared with apartments. Self-parking is not allowed at the hotel, and valet parking is $25 per night.
How’d We Pay For Our Stay?
We stayed at the Hotel Indigo from Wednesday to Sunday. For Wednesday and Thursday nights, I used free nights from our IHG Select Cards since the award price for rooms was under 40,000 points a night. For Friday and Saturday nights, I used 129,000 IHG points. While paying over 60K points per night is more than I’d like, the cash price for the hotel over the weekend was over $400/night. Using points was the smart move, even more so because the first two nights only cost us the $49 annual fee from the IHG Select card.
Lobby & Check-In
Since we had 3 reservations for our stay, under two names, I called the hotel a few days before we got there to make sure we could stay in the same room for all four nights. They said it was no problem and to let the front desk agent know when we checked in. It turned out to be unnecessary because the hotel put a note on our file. Best of all, we didn’t have to check out and back in every day as the staff took care of everything.
There’s a grab-and-go station in the lobby for snacks and breakfast items. This is also where you’ll find the single workstation to print boarding passes and anything else you’d want to do on a public computer. There was also a station where maps of the area and brochures about local tourist activities were found. 
The main floor also had a multiuse space where you could get breakfast in the morning, coffee or sandwiches for lunch, and a drink in the evening. We had breakfast here several mornings and were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food.
Hotel Room
I booked a 1-Queen Standard room. We were assigned a room on the 8th floor of the hotel. From the looks of the hotel diagram, this was an average-sized room for the hotel. The hotel has 116 rooms and was recently renovated in 2023.
The room has a stylish design with bright colors based on a blue color pallet. Every item was placed with intent, from the lamps to the cabinets to the desk. While not all Hotel Indigos have this level of design, it’s one of the things I like about the brand.
The smart design of the room continued into the bathroom, which was a nice size and had a luxurious shower. The only downside I had was with so much space, they only put in one sink.
One unique feature of this hotel was that they didn’t provide water bottles. Instead, the hotel has carafes in the room, which you can fill at one of the several hydration stations.
Hotel Gym
The Hotel Indigo does have a gym, but it receives a poor rating on Hotelgyms.com. Their review says, “This hotel provides only the simplest equipment in a small room. You might find it a challenge to do a full-body workout, but it’s good enough to keep you moving.”
Final Thought
We liked our stay at the Hotel Indigo in Asheville. It’s tough to pick whether I liked this hotel or the Kimpton better, as each hotel has advantages and disadvantages. While the weekend prices at this hotel are higher than I think the hotel is worth, I don’t fault hotels for charging what the market will pay during popular times.
For a weekday stay, it’s a great place to use a 40K free night certificate from the IHG co-brand credit cards.
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