Empress Hotel — Hotel in New Orleans

Holy wow! Our original hotel fell thru and this was our next to only last minute option. Ms Brook’s was very kind on the phone. However, prior to the opportunity to speak with her, I tried to reserve a room the night before and was told I could not pay for it over the phone but I could call in the morning and pay for it. Strange, but okay… so I called and that’s when I spoke with Ms Brooks. She informed me that she would send me a form via email I had to sign to reserve the room. Okay… at this point we are leaving in less than 2 hours and we need a place to sleep. So I fill it out, including my credit card number and sign it and email it back. $125/night did seem too good to be true with “monitored parking” two blocks from the French Quarter. ||So… fast forward… we arrive Monday (Lundi Gras) to the Empress Hotel. We are immediately shook with what we observed. This hotel is nowhere that you want to be under any circumstances. This is reminiscent of a horror film that is a cross between Jeffrey Dahmer’s hotel choice and a homeless shelter. We parked our car, completely emptied it because we didn’t want to leave ANYTHING in it and we go inside.||We are greeted by “Jules” who while flamboyant, was very very very under the influence. Without giving away my employment, this man appears to have been “up” for many many days and may finally be on the download transcend. This was CONFIRMED by Darnell, a new yet most senior employee per his own accord at a whopping tenure of 10 days, who graciously informed us, also lives at the hotel. Back to Jules, he could fill out the HANDWRITTEN paperwork required for our room, but thanks to my partner, we were able to walk him thru it and we were given our room key. ||Now… most think of a key card. Nope. Not at the Empress Hotel. We were given a literal deadbolt key to our room. An actual deadbolt key. Jules, while head bobbing and beyond blitzed, escorted to our “room”. We were escorted to our room, up a winding closet like staircase, down a very long consider of a hallway, lined in 80’s full length mirrors when we finally arrived to our room but not before Darnell tells us that if we want to use the vending machines to do so slowly with quarters only and one at a time. ||Once we arrived with Jules to our room, he unlocked the deadbolt, only the deadbolt because THERE IS NO DOR KNOB, only a deadbolt and a metal handle like from a cabinet on a hollow door that appears to have been kicked in at some point. We are reminded that we are never allowed to leave the hotel WITH our room key. We have to turn it in before we leave and li k it back up from the 24 hour desk staffed by literal active drug users.||At this point I am about to have a panic attack. The room we have in front of us can only be described with the following-||Maybe 10x10 with one full size bed, two of the flattest pillows I’ve ever seen, a mini fridge ON THE FLOOR that was not plugged in, a window unit AC, a space heater on the night table and a chair. The tv was plugged into an extension cord and was maybe 24” on a shelf 6 foot high and on the same wall as the bed. The window was approx 2x3. The linen looked as if it came from National Lampoon’s Family Vacation Gone Wrong.||Jules confirms the TV works and leaves. There is no toilet paper or a roll to put the toilet paper on. There are no plug in outlets in the bathroom. The trash can might fit a soda can. We can’t figure out where to put our luggage or initially why the fridge was hot. Once plugged in, the fridge probably worked the best of everything in the hotel. ||While most structures have an overhead light, this hotel room has an outdoor porch light mounted on the wall for illumination. The lanolin was peeling, dated, and completely missing in others. The shower curtain was fabric and was hung too far in to the shower making it very hard to shower and not be touching said shower curtain. There was good water pressure. There are exposed wires outside. This is an OSHA nightmare and no way would pass any inspection. ||There is no microwave in the room however there was a microwave on one of the balcony porches we assume was available for public use. ||The walls were paper thin and nothing at all was going to be a secret in any room. It appears you could find any assortment of illicit drugs without ever leaving the hotel. ||It was a sketchy but convenient walk to the French Quarter. If you have ANY other options, use those. I feel we are on the way to the Health Department to ensure we aren’t taking some kind of funk...

WARNING! LONG REVIEW! Honestly, I liked the location. The reason why I say that it doesn’t meet my expectations was because after reading some reviews, I didn’t want to have any expectations. I wanted to go into it clear headed. Trust me when I say that you shouldn’t have any expectations. If you do, you’re truly going to be disappointed, and it’s only going to go down hill from there, and now your trip is ruined. Make the best of it. You’re not there to rave about a hotel, you’re there to experience the culture, the kids banging drum sticks on buckets, people in their early 20’s letting you know they have that “good cocaine”, the music playing in the street, and just taking in all of what New Orelans has to offer. It’s not about staying in the fanciest hotel that you can brag to your friends in a conversation that YOU probably started so you can actually talk about it. I loved the location, it’s right by Rampart, and it wasn’t that bad of a walk from the hotel to the French Quarter. I mean, if you’re looking for an extravagant hotel that you’re expecting to spend the majority of your stay in New Orleans, then you shouldn’t even be going to New Orleans. Let be real here. You’re not supposed to be in the hotel room unless you’re sleeping and getting ready for the day or night. Personally, I would prefer the bed to be covered in plastic so that I don’t get bed bugs because those are NOT fun. Just bring a fitted sheet from home, put it over the comforter and pillows. Bring your own pillows and blankets. Literally that’s what I did, and I suggest to do the same. Gives you a sense of being at home anyways. It was pretty smart for them to have you give the key each time you leave so that you don’t lose it. I cannot tell you how many times I have lost a hotel key. If you’re worried about them going in your room, you do realize that it can happen anywhere, right? Crime doesn’t have an address. I refused to use Lyft or Uber to get to the hotel from the French Quater because like I said, it’s not that bad of a walk. The staff was chill, other people that stayed at the hotel were nice. Words were exchanged, so it’s not like you’re there with sketchy people. Sure, it looks a little sketch, but if you don’t mess with anyone, no one with mess with you. To me that’s just common sense. The room was cold, and I LOVE that. The bathroom was small, saw that there was a suggestion from a review to wear flip flops in the shower, I do that already in some hotels, and I did it at this hotel too. I would totally stay here again because it really is a good location for the price that you’re paying. Would this be my first choice if I’m booking a stay MONTHS in advance? No. Would this be my first choice if I was on the spur of the moment of wanting to go to New Orleans last minute? Hell yeah! I’m telling you that you really cannot beat the location and price. I mean, I paid $180 something for 2 nights... in New Orleans, that’s HALF of ONE night for maybe a two star upgrade if you’re wanting to stay in that location. I come from both sides of the spectrum when it comes to “class”, so I was able to fit in while walking down Rampart to get to Ursulines at 2 in the morning. It’s really not THAT bad. The ONLY two things I didn’t like and why I’m taking off a star is because 1. The parking lot was too small for my Chevrolet Silverado, so I parked on the street. Nothing happened to my truck, so it was in a safe spot but it wasn’t surveillanced if something were to have happened. 2. I just wish there was more room for my to put my luggage. Granted, I did over pack. I mean, you never know what you’re going to need. But all in all, don’t go into it with expectations, bring your own sheets, pillows, and blankets. I also brought my own towel. Just enjoy the city. Plus, if you go with your significant other, it’ll be a fun...

TL;DR: Small outdated room, door did not close properly without a slam, dirty bathroom, water in shower runs only simultaneously through the shower head and the lower faucet, bathtub does not drain properly. Wifi in rooms is almost non existent Somewhat friendly but not very useful staff. Real talk tho: we stayed at this hotel for 7 nights, as it was around st. Patrick's day we did not have many affordable options, so we ran with it. However, I would not recommend staying longer than one night. The room we stayed in was a mall room on the second floor with a very small window, an ac, a small TV that didn't work as the cable was disconnected (staff promised they will fix it, didn't happen, but that's the least of my worries). The room was complete with a bed, a side table and a chair. There is no place to put clothes or anything. The bathroom is also outdated, doesn't have a shower curtain but only liner. There is a small sink, a toilet seat to the bare minimum and no ventilation. Going in the shower for the first time, we found someone's long hairs on the wall, but otherwise the bath seemed clean (old but clean). Turning the water on led to the discovery that water can only run simultaneously from the shower head and the lower faucet and this cannot be changed. In addition (or maybe because of that) the tub doesn't drain properly and by the end of the shower you swim in your own mud. Towels provided were very thin and not always clean - accompanied by hairs and lint. For our seven night stay our room and bathroom were not cleaned once apart from picking up the trash and making the bed (without changing the sheets), we got new towels more often at least. However two of the days this minimum cleaning did not take place either. We talked with a staff member as soon as we realized that the bathroom was not leaned at all during our stay. While they acted surprised and apologetic about it, nothing changed and we still had the ever more dirtier bathroom. Affordable places don't have to be amazing and provide extraordinary service, however, affordability is not an excuse for uncleanness and sloppy handling of a place. After staying in NOLA, in the Empress hotel, i would suggest if affordability is one of the main things in your plan, better look for places that are another mile or two out of the French Quarter, walking in NOLA is easy and there is public transportation which is very good on Canal Street and St Charles (other ones might take longer to arrive), runs relatively late and is not ultra expensive. Uber / lyfts might be affordable, or if you have your own car, even easier. Unless you plan to spend all your stay constantly partying in the French Quarter, you can find places a little bit further from it and discover other beautiful parts of the city (Uptown and Audubon Park for example). If you have your own car and want a more relaxed stay you might also consider Westwego and the Bayou there, it's a nice state park with cabins and camping options around 20-30 mins...