November 2023
Our emerging Thanksgiving tradition involves a two-night stay somewhere away from home but close enough to reach easily by car. We depart in late morning on Thanksgiving Day, spend a quiet holiday close to the hotel at our destination, and then do a little exploring in the area before heading home on Saturday. We’ve celebrated this version of Thanksgiving enough times that we now need to go a little further afield to find something new. This year, we pushed the boundaries on what we consider an easy drive, heading four hours east to Madison, Wisconsin, and to the Hotel Indigo.
Searching for personality
Many friends in the Twin Cities have Madison connections; they grew up there, they attended college at the University of Wisconsin, or they spent time working in Madison before moving to Minnesota. And those friends offered great recommendations for things to see and do during our visit, but no one had a favorite hotel, so we were left to our own devices when it came to choosing a place to stay. We knew we wanted to be close to downtown and the University of Wisconsin campus, so we could walk to the small city’s top sites. Our searches, however, turned up lots of big chains that looked pretty cookie-cutter. The best-rated places were bed & breakfasts, which isn’t typically our thing. Among the lists, one did stand out as potentially interesting. Hotel Indigo is part of the IHG Hotel Group, so it isn’t independent, but the pictures made it look like it had a distinctive character, guest reviews were solid, and the location was intriguing — close enough to the city center but in the redeveloped (well, redeveloping) neighborhood of “East Wash” that formerly housed utilities, factories, warehouses, and other light industrial properties.
New life for an old building
Hotel Indigo’s former life was as a paint factory, and many of the hotel’s rooms, including ours, are located in the factory building (the hotel also has a wing that is new construction). The “indigo” theme carried throughout the property: from a giant Mautz Paint sign hovering above the front desk (it once hung outside the factory) and cocktails in the bar that are coded by their color palette, to artists’ murals in the hallways (ours was Georgia O’Keefe, who was a Wisconsin native and resided briefly in Madison) and painters’ lights in guest rooms. A theme like this — when overdone — can verge on tacky, but the elements mostly contributed to a fun aesthetic and brought warmth to the austere brick and concrete structure. Our room on the fifth floor was bright and cheery. It wasn’t fancy, but functionally, it worked well with everything we needed, including fluffy robes discovered in a roomy closet and one of our favorite features: a wall of pegs for hanging winter coats and hats. We were also intrigued by a shower bar installed diagonally about a foot from the floor, which we guessed was for resting one’s foot upon when lathering up legs and feet.
The hotel’s common areas are also inviting. In the lobby, guests can play oversized puzzle games or visit a mini bodega with essentials and treats. Seating areas are made for lingering. The hotel opened in 2019 but still looked mostly pristine; we give the staff kudos for keeping up with the inevitable scratches and dents caused by the never-ending churn of guests.
Bustling, even on Thanksgiving
On our Thanksgiving stays, we’re never quite sure what we’ll find in terms of hotel services on the holiday itself. One year — during the height of the pandemic — we enjoyed a terrific evening meal from the hotel restaurant delivered to our room. Another year in a different hotel, we had to settle for dinner from a gas station; everything was closed, not only in the hotel, but in the whole town. (Well, that’s not entirely true; one place was serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but when we called to ask if we could make a booking, the host gave a polite laugh. Apparently, getting a table required booking weeks in advance.)
Our entire stay had that kind of vibe — not crazy busy, but certainly enough activity to feel like we were at a place where things were happening.
All to say, we’ve learned to be prepared for just about anything. When we checked into the Indigo at about 3 pm on Thanksgiving, the staff member at reception let us know that the bar and restaurant were open until 8 pm, after which the hotel staff would gather for their own holiday celebration. We were grateful to have such an easy option and even more pleased when we arrived at the hotel restaurant around 6:30 to find a lively scene with helpful bartenders and servers and a meal that exceeded our expectations. Our entire stay had that kind of vibe — not crazy busy, but certainly enough activity to feel like we were at a place where things were happening. We hope this good energy continues to build for Hotel Indigo; for anyone passing through Madison, it’s well worth checking out.
Stay details:
- Hotel Indigo, Madison, Wisconsin, East Washington neighborhood
- 2-night stay: Nov. 23 and 24, 2023
- King Room, #514
What we did, where we ate:
- Dinner at Palette (in the hotel)
- Dinner at A Pig in a Fur Coat
- Drinks at Old Sugar Distillery
- Coffee at Mother Fool’s
- Coffee at Wonderstate Coffee
- Breakfast at Black Locust Cafe
- Walking tour of Williamson (Willy) Street, Capitol Square and Monona Terrace, State Street, University of Wisconsin, Lake Mendota and Lake Monona
- Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Federico Uribe and Sam Gilliam exhibits
hotelling.org 