Catahoula New Orleans — Hotel in New Orleans

WARNING! Like many reviews before mine, this is my only way to seriously warn fellow travelers for this place. It is an absolute nightmare. There is a damp and moldy smell in this entire hotel. Upon arrival I thought it might have something to do with the climate at first. The first room I stayed in was on the ground floor, incredibly damp. There was a door and a window in the room, but they both couldn't be opened. There was no ventilation system whatsoever. The next day I requested another room which I got. Unfortunately it had the same damp, moldy smell. I took a shower in that room but the handle came off the wall and the water didn't stream down the gutter. Leaving me standing up to my ankles in water. The tv also wasn't working. The employee told me there was no tv anyway, which wasn't true, because the first room did have a working tv with numerous channels. After this I requested another room again. The employee told me the hotel was fully booked and the only option would be to go back to the first room. I felt like I didn't have a choice because I could not shower in the second room. (Where by the way the window and door also didn't open and there was no ventilation whatsoever) I packed my things, went to the first room again but noticed that I could barely breath in there. I had a chair between the door and the hallway to get some fresh air in the room, but obviously I could not sleep with the door open. I was checking reviews online to see if anyone else had encountered these issues and saw that I was not the first. This upset me very much because the hotel is obviously aware of all these problems and pretended like they don't know. I went back to the reception AGAIN because I also saw on their website that they did have rooms available. I was straight up being lied to and played here. I wanted a refund, but the employee told me that was not possible. I seriously considered leaving because staying in this place does not only ruin the trip to a degree, but I was seriously worried about my airways. There is mold on the shower curtains and you can see paint coming of the ceiling. After confronting the employee about still selling 'unavailable' rooms online, I got another room. I could either downgrade to a room with a shared bathroom or upgrade at a reduced price. Obviously I did not want to spend another cent in here since I already payed almost $700. I asked to see the 'better room' first before deciding. Same smell. Tv did not work. Bloodstains on the blanket. It did have doors that could open which made the room a little bit better, but it was still awful. I made sure I stayed out as long as I could every day just not to be at the hotel. I mentioned to an employee that the tv didn't work in the THIRD room. I was told someone would come to fix it but obviously nobody did. The better room was supposed to cost me $60 extra. I told the employee that if I could get a refund I would rather go somewhere else. Since that was no option I got the 'better' room upgrade for free ultimately. This is the least they could do, but honestly a full refund would be the only thing that could make up for what happend here. There is no cleaning, even though I put the sign for that on my door. It became a joke eventually to expect anything to actually be done in this hotel. The 'better' room has a view on tall buildings. You can't fully cover the windows because there is a curtain missing. I managed by draping my coat over one of the exposed windows. Since I have been able/unfortunate enough to see three rooms, I can assure you that the smell, damp spots, moldy showercurtains, things falling apart, tv's that aren't working, no housekeeping and a general lack of service are not coincidental. This whole hotel is like this. At one night there was an insanely loud party going on which was supposed to go on until midnight. At 00:20 and several attempts at trying to sleep with earplugs I went to the reception and asked if the music could finally stop. Which it did. I'm surprised this hotel isn't shut down by...

Was misled, cheated off money, and dismissed here at the Selina Catahoula hotel.

We just finished our stay two days ago. I had reserved an upgraded room called 'The Suite' because there was a sale on the selina.com website. I received an email confirmation for the room as well. When we arrive, I noticed the room doesn't look like what I booked and I bring up my concern with the only staff available. He tells me that he has me written for a downgraded room instead. I bring up my confirmation email, which he completely disregarded. Like completely ignored, he barely even look at it. Instead, he tells me that the "price I paid is definitely not the room I reserved--it would be more expensive", that I "100%" belong in this other smaller downgraded room, and that the "error was due to third party booking". I tried to reason with him to no avail. I tell him I booked directly on Selina's website during a sale, but he was adamant. My proof of confirmation email and receipt for 'The Suite' was useless here. There was no reasoning to be done with this staff. It was made abundantly clear that he would not do anything about the mismatch between my reservation and the room he gave me. It was late, I was tired, and mostly I just wanted to enjoy my only vacation for the year, so I forget about it. We ended up staying in the much smaller downgraded room for a week despite already paying for the larger nicer better room. Now that I'm back home and rechecked the website, I can now say with confidence that I ended up staying in Selina's most basic room despite paying for one of the more expensive larger rooms. One star for stealing my money, false advertising, and giving no attempt to own up to their mistake. I almost never give bad reviews, but this one just literally scammed me.

Additional notes for future guests:

1. There will be a foreign transaction fee if you book on selina's website. Use a travel credit card when booking.
2. For every four times you call the hotel, you will reach a real person once. Keep trying, someone does exist on the other line.
3. They are pet friendly. Lots of pets to bump into during your stay.
4. There are also bugs crawling in the room. Super entertaining for my cats, but you might be less than amused with them.
5. No fridge or microwave in the room.
6. Room service is $30 per night if you want/need it. Bathrooms will inherently feel dirty just because of the wooden slats on the floor.
7. Whatever outdoor balcony was advertised for the room, it's just a space barely big enough to fit two chairs and a table. It's also enclosed by a twelve foot tall brick wall on three sides so don't expect a view of any kind.
8. Walls are thin. We were lucky to have considerate neighbors, but I could hear their phone ring pretty loudly when their alarm went off. Also barking dogs. And if you happen to be located below the rooftop bar during a busy time, that will be really loud.
9. There is no parking associated with the hotel. Street parking is $6 per 2 hours during the daytime, but free at night and holidays. The garage they'll send you to will be $20-25 per day.
10. You don't need a car to get to all the fun stuff in the city from this hotel. Good location.
11. Sure, this hotel is a bit more aesthetically chic and hipster than standard. Visually pleasant.
12. LASTLY, DOUBLE CHECK THAT THE ROOM YOU RESERVED IS THE ROOM YOU RECEIVE. Please please please advocate for yourself much harder than I did. I would hate if others were unknowingly staying in downgraded rooms after paying extra. Learn from...

I attended the NCFEST2025 the weekend of the 10th - 13th. I made a reservation through Booking.com to stay at the “host hotel”, the Catahoula Hotel New Orleans. I checked in the evening of the 10th and inquired about parking. The young man at the front desk instructed me to park on the curb out front because the closest parking garage was a few blocks away. He told my car “shouldn't” be ticketed or towed because it was close to the weekend. I reluctantly took a chance and brought my bags inside to proceed to my room. As I moved further and further into the hotel, there was an overwhelming smell of weed that lingered in the hallways. Riding in the elevator was absolutely terrifying with all of violent shaking from floor to floor. My hotel room used a regular house key for access but the doorknob itself was not flush with the door. It looked as if it had been tampered with. Once I entered my room, I was hit with an immediate smell of mildew. The room itself was dark, small and uninviting with a bricked off balcony. The outside and inside of my hotel room was littered with trash, the floor was dirty with food and hair, there was no room phone, no available towels, over half of the outlets were nonoperational, and the floor needed major patch work repairs. Also, the furniture inside the room was broken — one of the two beds and the bedside table. I went back down to the front desk to ask for towels and more information about the state of my room. I was told that the hotel was in the midst of renovations and my room was classified as a “deluxe suite”. I was told that towels would be delivered to my room in a few minutes. After receiving fresh towels, I saw numerous ants on the wood countertop. I came back downstairs to request an immediate room change. The young man said the hotel was booked up with all the activities in the city this weekend but there was a comparable room on their apartments side of the hotel. I asked to view the room first before moving my stuff over after he informed me the apartments elevator was not working. After climbing several flights of stairs, the apartment that was shown to me had no TV, and there was evidence that someone had slept in the bed. There was a half bottle of Gatorade on the comforter and suspicious looking pile of balled up pieces of tissue on the nightstand. I declined the offer of the room change. The young man was nice enough to offer me some complimentary drinks for my troubles and to come and sweep the room for me but unfortunately that was not going to suffice. It took me an hour or so but I was able to find other accommodations nearby. I gathered my belongings and went back to the front desk to checkout. I left my name, email and number, requesting that the manager call me. I expressed that I did not feel safe and that the hotel accommodations were not even close to adequate. I said that this hotel is uninhabitable and was grossly misrepresented online. I also discovered that the full amount of the reservation had been charged to my credit card, prior to me checking in — which I will be disputing. The manager also never contacted me the entire weekend. If I could give a zero...