New Melbourne hotel is streets ahead
hotel
Hotel Indigo Melbourne Little Collins
Entrance
There’s Flinders Lane, Hosier Lane, Hardware Lane and Manchester Lane. There are also places like Center Place and Duckboard Place that are actually strips, and streets like Little Bourke and Little Lonsdale that are actually hiding streets. Yes Melbourne, you are a street cat. Now there’s a new shopping center with a different street feel in the form of the newly opened Melbourne Walk, which combines at least eight buildings with magnificent surviving facades, some dating from the 1920s.
The area is also home to one of the Victorian capital’s newest luxury digs; The 179-room Hotel Indigo Melbourne on Little Collins Street (actually an alleyway, so we don’t push the point) is accessed through an unassuming, ground-level doorway.
Appearance
Indigo is described as a color between blue and violet, and of course, once you take the elevator to the hotel’s massive four-storey main public space, via the uneventful miniature lobby on the ground floor, blue becomes the decidedly primary colour.
The centerpiece is a spiral staircase, combined with equally spectacular works of art that are seemingly more decorative than practical; the most important of these C.curious things, a twenty-foot-tall work by local muralist Lisa King.
rooms
With over 180 iterations around the world at last count, Hotel Indigo’s so-called brand ethos is all about “creating bespoke, local experiences with a strong sense of place.” This is reflected in the guest rooms, which are attractively designed and decorated with headboards covered in abstract wallpaper depicting the famous Melbourne street grid.
In my room overlooking Little Collins Street, the toilet cubicle in the L-shaped bathroom, which also doubles as a handy walk-in closet, has no door, but there are two sliding doors at the entrance points to the corridor and bedroom, and it has a particularly comfortable bed. Oh, and the equally cozy white waffle in-room robes are well worth the $80 purchase price tag at the front desk.
food + drink
The attractive but quirky Fern Bar & Dining occupies most of the main public space and, due to its hidden location above the urban bustle, will have to compete with the abundance of lively dining options, both casual and formal, at street level. Opposite, overlooking the magnificent spiral staircase, Fern Bar deserves to be a popular drinking spot for on-site guests and outsiders alike. It was a little too cold during my stay to enjoy the adjacent landscaped outdoor courtyard with its sculptural skylights, but it should be popular on warmer days.
out + about
You’re at the epicenter of espresso’s world epicenter, with plenty of cafes close to the hotel, including your personal favorite, nearby Melbourne, Brunetti Oro Flinders Lane. Elsewhere, although Degraves Street (actually an alley) has lost much of its original street appearance, the alley-lined tables and chairs are bumping and humming as ever.
Shop until you drop your credit limit at the adjacent Bourke Street Shopping Center (watch out for the trams), which houses the Mecca cosmetics chain’s new three-storey flagship store inside the magnificent late 19th-century Coles Book Arcade.
Decision
Do we love Hotel Indigo? Let’s count the (lane) paths. As a Sydneysider and one-time resident of Melbourne with a lifelong love of the Victorian capital, I feel at ease at this superbly located hotel.
Fundamentals
Luxury Escapes’ two-night Hotel Indigo deal is valid for two people for $499. A daily continental breakfast with à la carte dining is included at Fern Bar & Dining; One beer, wine or soft drink per guest per night at Fern Bar & Dining; and guaranteed late check-out until 13:00. Hotel Indigo Melbourne in Little Collins. 2/288 Little Collins St, Melbourne Vic. Tel: 03 9968 8699. To see Luxuryescapes.com/indigo; ihg.com
Our rating out of five
★★★★
highlight
Location, location and even more location. If you want to be in the middle of Australia’s CBD from the central cast, this is the place to stay.
low light
Make sure your taxi or Uber driver doesn’t take you to your destination. other Melbourne Hotel Indigo, that is, the hotel on Flinders Lane.
The author has stayed as a guest of Luxury Escapes and Hotel Indigo.
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Anthony Dennis is travel editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
