You'll need a LOT of bourbon to get through a night here
Written: Dec 18 '00 (Updated Jan 23 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: nice view off the balcony
Cons: everything else
The Bottom Line: Dismal hotel that isn't worth the money or the hype
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| sleah's Full Review: BOURBON ORLEANS A WYNDHAM HTL |
I just got back from a vacation which required an overnight stay in New Orleans. I found this hotel via the Internet, and my travel agent also said it was highly rated by some hotel association or another. I wanted something upscale-ish in the French Quarter (my mother was traveling with me, and had never been to New Orleans); the Bourbon Orleans seemed to fit the bill.
THE HOTEL
Since just about every decent room in the French Quarter is at least $150, I booked their last "suite" for $179 Wednesday for that next Saturday. They told me on the phone that if I didn't call back THAT night (weds) to cancel, I would be charged for the room no matter what.
Then when I arrived at the hotel Saturday evening after a long flight, they said they no longer had any suites available because previous guests had decided to stay longer, and they had priority. According to the person at the front desk, it was "standard procedure in the hotel industry" to bump new guests if current guests wanted to stay longer; meanwhile, I'm thinking no one's ever let ME stay longer in a hotel when I wanted to if their were other guests scheduled for that room that night.
After a lot of arguing on my part, the front desk person finally got us a standard room for $139, which was fine by me at that point since it was getting late and I was tired. Plus I was thinking "hey, at least I saved $40 bucks."
Then I saw the room.
THE ROOM
Actually, I couldn't really SEE the room, since problem #1 was that all the light bulbs in the room were burned out except one small one in the corner. So we called housekeeping and then sat in the dark waiting for someone to come up and change the light bulbs.
The second thing we noticed was the smell - very musty. I probably can't blame that entirely on this hotel, though, because I have a feeling all the hotels in New Orleans have to battle this problem because of the humidity.
We finally went to the lobby for a drink when 20 minutes had passed and no one had arrived yet to fix the lights (the lobby, by the way, was quite beautifully decorated and very ornate - too bad this didn't extend to the rooms).
When we returned to our room a half hour later, the lights finally worked but unfortunately, the increased illumination only proved to highlight the room's general lack of cleanliness. It wasn't dirty, exactly, just old and unclean enough to make you feel uneasy about touching anything.
It didn't help that there turned out not to be any soap in the bathroom. The remote control to the TV was also missing, so we had to call housekeeping back again and ask for both of those things, which they delivered in about 10 mins.
We did like the balcony, though - it had a very pretty view of the rooftops. The hotel actually did a decent job of making the door soundproof so the noise from the street didn't drift in much when the door was closed.
LOCATION
Turns out that while the Bourbon Orleans is within the French Quarter, it's kind of at one end, near Canal St. - so it's not a good choice if you want a more central location.
SUMMARY
I have not stayed in other hotels in the French Quarter, so I can't provide a comparison report. But I definitely wouldn't stay at this hotel again, and certainly not for that much money.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
sleah
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Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 34 members
About Me:
When I'm not building the New Economy, I'm reading, watching DVD's, or shooting hoops.
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