I was on business in Amherst/Buffalo, but the Marriott and Hilton chains were booked. So instead I booked a room at the Hotel Indigo. It was next to the Marriott, and it had received good reviews. Bad idea.

Upon checking in, it looked fairly trendy/hip, especially for Buffalo. The room was newly decorated with bright colors, even though the architecture suggested a re-vamped Holiday Inn/Ramada chain. The place seemed relatively quiet at 4:00 pm. To be honest, it looked the hotel would live up to its reviews.

After checking, in I met some clients for dinner, arriving back at the hotel at 9:00 pm, ready to crash for the night. I knew things were going to be bad when there were four to six kids playing frisbee in the hallway in front of my room (they let me pass before resuming the game). I figured that it was still early, so I would go to the workout room/pool for a little while. As I walked through the hotel, there were bands of wandering kids everywhere - one was just standing at the ice machine flinging cubes down the corridor at nobody in particular.

The exercise room was populated by about a dozen kids - no adults, crawling over every piece of equipment until I finally asked one of them to step away from the treadmill (which they were running at full speed but not even using).

After about twenty minutes of screaming kids, I went to the pool area. There had to be at least 30 kids between ages 10 and 15 in the relatively small pool, and still no parents. The whirlpool, which was supposed to reserved for adults, had at least ten kids in it.

I finally went back to the room to shower and use the bathroom. I discovered the toilet clearly had not been even wiped down after the last guest, and there were long black hairs on the floor and in the shower drain. At this point I was just too tired to complain, so I showered and turned in for the night.

Even though I booked an "executive" room, I was surrounded by leisure travelers and their many kids. They must have decided it would be better to leave the bolt on their door in the locked position while the door was open so the kids could come and go at will without using the keys. So, every 2-3 minutes I would hear a door slam (almost) shut.

The kids roamed the hallways or ran between rooms until about 1:00 am. Around midnight I tried to call the front desk, but alas the phone in my room didn't work - nice touch. Instead I put the TV and fan on for some background noise.

I was once again awakened around 5:00 am by more slamming doors and yelling in the hallway. So I had a solid four hour sleep before my 9:00 presentation that day.

When I checked out, I let them know about the bathroom, the noise and the phone. They seemed relatively indifferent, although they offered a slight aplology and indicated that security had been on duty during the night (doing what I have no idea).

Next time, if the regular business hotels are booked, I'll sleep in my car. At least I'll get a better sleep in a cleaner place and save my firm $204.00.

before I booked this hotel, i went and researched it on trip advisor and noticed it was next to Buffalo University. and read a few reviews that mentioned the rooms were poorly insulated. The walls and doors were hollow and the large gaps in between the floor and the door allow any sound from Hallway to come through.
Check in went well, noticed a lot of teenagers to college age people at the bar. When we went into our room it was nicely decorated, room size a tad small and bathrooms were different, offering only a shower and no bath. Also when I went down to get another item from the car, a high school or college age male walked into the elevator with an open beer in hand.
Immediately we noticed how we can hear people walk and talk while in the hallway. it would be a problem if people were going to be walking and closing their doors late at night...
To my chagrin a family had booked two rooms and our room was sandwiched in between their rooms. As our luck would have it their teenage boys mistakenly tried to open our door at midnight and proceeded to hang out and talk in front. I yelled through the door they are in wrong door and immediately they went in their room next door. within seconds they started talking through the common door in between the 2 rooms and making
female love making sounds and words. That only started to get my anger to rouse up, they then started shoving the do not disturb sign and other hotel paper through the large gap between the door and the floor. At that point my two little kids woke up and said they were afraid, that was when I lost my cool and threw on my shorts and went to teach those punks a lesson. Lucky for them their Dad heard me cursing and banging at their door and came out and told them to open their door. needless to say, one of them was cowering in the shower trying to hide and the other idiot was pretending he was sleeping. Regardless, I continued to cursed them out in front of their parents and warned them if they wake my kids up again I will be back and I will not be satisfied with just cursing them out. We could still hear people opening and closing doors so I turned on the XM satellite radio on the TV and chose the smooth jazz channel to drown out the noise. We left the tv on all night so our kids could sleep through the night.
So we woke up at 6 AM, and as it was my kids didn't sleep well and took t hem a long time to get going. We didn't check out or spoke to morning manager about the incident, because we were late catching our flight. All I can say is that I will now trust a lot more of what people had to say on trip advisor.

This hotel has the ingredients to be very good, but they need to sound proof the walls or adding a double wall, getting better, longer doors with the attached floor sweeper to reflect any sounds from adjacent rooms and hallways.

But after my expereince I probably will not go back to this hotel and will probably seek a more conventional hotel next time.

Very nice hotel with fun contemporary decor. Bright colored paintings,cool lighting and nice wood floors. Beds were comfortable and rooms were clean. Service was excellent; we walked in and asked for a room and the desk clerk did not hesitate to match the price I saw on Orbitz when mentioned by me. Did not get a chance to use the pool, etc. but looked very nice.

its just goes to show what some paint and good designers can do. The owners of hotel indigo have succeeded in taking what is basically your typical Hampton inn box and turning it into a great little boutique hotel.

The smallish lobby is nicely decorated in bright blues and yellows. In addition to the front desk, you there is also a small business center, a small lobby bar and a Starbucks. Check on was smooth and efficient.

The room was a very nice surprise. Nicely decorated in blues and whites with a grassy mural on the far wall. There was a 36'' flatscreen however there we no inroom movies. The ice bucket and glasses were nicely presented on a tray at the corner of the first of two high double beds. A stand up shower (with plenty of room foe two) takes the place of the tub. Shampoo ,soap, conditioner and floormat were nicely presented on a small teak chair that can be used in the shower but otherwise just gets in the way. Guests that want a good soak can have just that In thevspscious pool and hot tub on the first floor.

Food choices within walking distance Is limited. I saw a Houlihans at the nearby Marriott but that's all I saw. However the north campus of the University of Buffalo is just up the street so I am sure there are more close by.

Location is excellent. Niagara falls is about 13 miles away. The galleria mall is maybe 10 min. Downtown buffalo maybe 15 min

I booked thru hotwire and paid just $79 so I was thrilled but this hotel is a great value st even higher rates

Its definitely worth a try. You will not be disappointed