6/10 Rating
Pro's and some notable cons... Skip to the end for the final word if you don't want details.
We love to go to Frenchmen Street listen to music and move off the beaten-to-death tourist path of Bourbon St., so, staying here seemed a given. There are some great pro's and some notable con's that can absolutely ruin your trip depending on what you are after for your entertainment. I’m going to talk about parking, pets, location, entertainment and the room. Skip to the end if you want the short answer. You should note that this hotel is historic, so expect what that connotation denotes and also know that there will be no concierge or valet or any kind of frills at all. This hotel is all about the location and a reasonably friendly staff. If you have never experienced Frenchmen street, visit there whether you stay here or not.
Let’s start with the Pros: Friendly staff that will help but don’t bother you and there is breakfast but we didn’t have it.
Pets: We liked that the hotel was pet friendly because we were bringing our two small dogs. There is a non-refundable pet fee but it’s cheaper than ANY of the other hotels. A comment here about staying here with pets. This is quite a loud place so if your dog tends to bark a lot, after 4:00 pm or so, it’s very unlikely that your dog will bother anyone. If they can hear the dog barking over the baseline of the two clubs near you, more power to them. Also, no matter what club or restaurant you are visiting, you are close enough to drop in to the room every hour or so to check on things. Everyone here loves dog’s, so our’s got a lot of friendly attention from passersby. On another note, we also had a dog stroller which gained us admittance to bars and restaurants that wouldn’t have let them in on a leash. The music at night in the bars are TOO loud for their ears so that’s not an option. My husband said it’s the best money he’s spent in a long time.
Parking: There is a patrolled parking lot in the block behind the hotel, but note there is really no place to unload your stuff and then go park, you have to lug it all after you park and pay. And, DO PAY because we saw several people with "the boot" on their car. We never moved our car after parking it, just checked on it and kept the 24 meter happy. We took Uber if we wanted to go further than we were willing to walk in the heat.
Clean: The hotel was very clean all over. The room was clean and the bathroom passed my clean meter which is no easy feat. Towels were clean and fluffy and there were more at the front desk if you ask. There is product in the bathroom and there is a hair dryer that was pretty good. Iron and ironing board in the room closet.
Pool: They have a small pool in a courtyard surrounded by rooms that open on to it. It’s open until midnight so, when we came in tired and happy, it was great to take a short swim. There were others there and it’s a small pool so expect to make friends. The hot tub part is also small but worth it to soak sore muscles so I could do all that walking again tomorrow.
Entertainment nearby: If you want to hang out primarily on Frenchman St., which is a great goal because there is LOTs of music and great places to eat, there is plenty of fun to keep you occupied for a long weekend without ever leaving the street or the neighborhood. We walked over to Bourbon St. because... well just because and promptly turned around and headed back to Frenchmen St. Same excitement, less skeevyness. It's not too bad of a walk but I was dying of the heat (this was in July) and that dampened the fun. There is a fried chicken place called Willies Chicken Shack, within a block or so from the hotel with those awesome frozen daiquiris and they were DEElicious. There are bars and music galore and it’s fun to bar hop. Restaurants are fast and cheap or there are a few really good ones like The Three Muses or Marigny Brasserie. Toast, a new hot restaurant is nearby for breakfast and weekend brunch. There are also a few art fairs tucked in. There are poets that will write you a poem as you stand there. Fun to be had for all.
Con: (disclaimer: This part concerns OUR room. I didn’t see the others and not sure if we just got a bad one so just tell them you don’t want the black room right by the office.) If you don’t care at all about the room because you are one of those people who only go there to shower and sleep, maybe it will be ok.
The Room: The room was painted COMPLETELY black and the back wall was bare exposed brick with exposed beams and plumbing. I’m all for exposed brick but let me emphasize PLUMBING as in the SEWER LINE. So, anytime a room above used the shower or flushed the toilet, we heard it, mostly because it was right by my pillow. I would just grind my teeth in revulsion. Nothing leaks, it’s all good, I just hated it. The furniture in the room was scratched up and missing pulls. The flooring is new tile but for some reason it was always sweating and a little damp. There are no rugs anywhere or beside the bed to lessen that. Again, it was clean… just … damp. The light for the room is the noontime bright light on the ceiling fan. There is no lamp in the room to dampen the blazing light. I wanted one so badly, I almost bought one to use and take home or donate. There are plenty of plugs, but they are located in the weirdest places, so I couldn’t have my phone charging close to me. There is only one dining room like chair in there to sit on while getting dressed. Even my husband, who is one of those sleep and shower people, agreed the room was just bad.
Bathroom: If showers are important, that’s a problem because there is slightly low water pressure and the cloth shower curtain hangs inside and it kept bothering me because I didn’t want it to touch me. I know… OCD. Water also leaks from the shower onto the very TINY bathroom floor, which I hate. I just piled up towels to stop that but the whole thing was bothersome.
The Bed: The bed was horrible. It looked good enough but once I climbed up on it, I started worrying that it was going to collapse. If we turned over in bed, it made this horrible screeching sound and I just knew it was going to fall. The mattress was so hard that I tossed and turned all night. The sheets were clean and nice though, as was the light coverlet.
Sleep: Noise and more noise. If you are exhausted and drunk, it’s a possibility that you can sleep but probably not until after 2:00 am after the bars close or you just pass out. Even then, there are people yelling in the street as they make their way home. It’s around 3 or 4 am when it actually quiets down. Note that I was awake then to know this fact. As I said earlier, if you are one of the people out killing it at 3 am, you are all good. It’s us people that shut it down after midnight that suffer. I know, if you can’t fight it join it right? But we are a little past that now, so suffer it was.
So, in the end, unless the other rooms are much nicer, we just wouldn’t go back to this hotel. You party animals would probably be ok. There are a couple of nicer hotels in the vicinity that are close to the same price point. This hotel is not cheap. I felt a little ripped off. If I’m going to stay in a place like this, even in a great location, it needs to either be upgraded or cheaper. Put some decent furniture pieces in there, wall up that exposed piping so guests don’t have to imagine what’s flowing in the pipes, put in some insulation to help with the dampness and for heaven’s sake, get a couple of lamps and an extra chair for every room. Trekking around New Orleans is serious business and when you get back to your room, no matter HOW cheap it is, it’s important to be able to rest and relax.