Hotel Indigo Cardiff

I've stayed here 5 times from Jan to Mar 2023, so this review is more of a composite review of those 5 stays than of any particular stay.

What is your Priority Club status?
Diamond + Ambassador

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes... Until the lack of enough light became a bit of a problem.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Always a standard room, got a premium room 4/5 times.

The one time I didn't was 1) on a weekend and 2) when I had twin beds (my sister needed to be in Cardiff too).

How are the rooms?
All of them are quite cozy - that is to say, low levels of light (the types of artificial light fittings and light they give off in the room do not help - it's mostly incandescent), all of them have very little amounts of sunlight (because the windows are either too small, or frosted, or actually ROOF LIGHTS). One of my rooms' windows were all frosted. One of them, had no windows except two roof lights (that was a premium room).

If you're in the right mood it's actually really cozy and I mean it. If you're not in the right mood it's claustrophobic, and that's why I'm not there anymore.

Showers were great, the typical Hansgrohe stuff, and it's a lovely rain shower. All of them are showers, no bathtubs, nor hybrids. Which is perfect for me.

All of them have a different layout - this has to do with the fact it's located on a bunch of different buildings on Dominions Arcade which makes it quite weirdly shaped.

How is the exec. lounge?
N/A

What was good and what was bad?

Good:
1) Oh the location is great. It's in the city centre proper, about a 5-10 minutes walk from the train station and just opposite St David's (the main city centre shopping mall). Easy access in the other direction to the city hall, Cardiff university campus and Cathays as well.

2) Toilets. I do love my Hansgrohe rain showers, but they are quite spacious and ironically the only source of pretty bright light in the room. Could have done with a bit more storage, but the hooks do help.

3) Reception here is always lovely. One proactively called me and checked me in when I wasn't going to make it that day because of fog in LHR (that made my BRU flight delayed by 5.5 hours), and to be honest they always do make me feel very comfortable.

Neutral:

1) Room decor: As with every Hotel Indigo there is a certain theme, but I'm quite meh with this one. It doesn't scream luxury like the Hotel Indigo Venice Sant'Elena or Hotel Indigo Antwerp did, just... gunny sacks?

2) Minibar is part of your rate, and it's pretty interesting how they offer a small bottle of cava and an IPA in there too. They didn't skimp on that.

Bad:
1) Building design, affecting room space design and WINDOWS. I've talked about how claustrophobic this place can be, especially if you're stuck with frosted windows, or if you have one of those rooftop window rooms. Unfortunately I don't even know which room gets what - this is how inconsistent the room design is across the hotel - which partially probably has to do with the fact this was converted. But the Kimpton Clocktower in Manchester did not have this level of variability (and I did see quite a number of rooms during my time there when i wanted to change to something bigger), even though that's a repurposed building as well.

2) The lack of light. I've addressed the windows bit, but my god, incandescent/-ish light for everything in the bedroom is a bit much. The only proper source of light, is indeed the toilets, which is really quite dire.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
More no than yes now. The windows have become a deal-breaker, and the Cardiff Marriott has so many many many more windows it's great! But the Indigo has those lovely rainshowers that the Marriott doesn't If the Indigo fixes their lights and their windows, I'll be back. But given these issues are literally systemic with the building they are in, and the style for the Hotel Indigo they're going for here at Cardiff, I'm likely to just stick to the Marriott.

Prices are usually the same for both - usually 70-90 GBP. But there are times I've booked for more, and weekend rates at the Hotel Indigo is insane (>200 GBP).