Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans Downtown (French Quarter Area) — Hotel in New Orleans

From start to finish we had a great time staying at this hotel. It's 100 yards from Canal Street (widest in America apparently) from which you can go straight across and into Bourbon Street or walk down a bit an exit Canal onto Royal Street, Decatur Street (handy for Ryan's Irish Bar, cheapest beer and cider we found in a pub). BUT the hotel is just far enough away to have a peaceful time.||On arrival late on Sunday night we were met by the very personable and helpful Elijah who checked us in. We got room 1219, a corner King Bed with Sofabed included from which we had a sidestreet view of the neighbouring building and to the front a view of a number of rooftops and skyscrapers. This was no surprise because as Basil Fawlty once said about the location of his hotel in response to a complaint from a customer about the view - "This is a Torquay Hotel madam, what did you expect to see? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain"? This was New Orleans and you don't get it's best views in city centre hotel room windows. The room had an excellent air conditioning unit which worked flawlessly for our entire 13 night stay. The shower was powerful despite being on the 12th floor, the sink not so much. ||The complimentary breakfast was adequate but as we had gluten free requirements due to Coeliac disease we got in touch (as is our want us pesky Coeliacs) ahead of time and were connected with the wonderful rooms controller Camille. Camille was so helpful during our stay. On the first morning we met her at reception when she took us through the menu items on her computer screen and identified all safe items and agreed provide items specific to our dietary requirements like GF cereal, GF bagels and bacon (not a regular breakfast item apparently) and GF chicken sausage. ||There was usually plenty to choose from and if the hot trays were empty just wait a minute and they're back out refilling them. Waffle makers and mixture there also and grits/porridge oats depending on the day for the muggles (If you know, you know).||Every day, Rebecca was there to assist with a smile and a greeting and nothing was a problem, she was excellent, a real credit to the hotel and if she hasn't had a raise recently, she deserves one, believe me! ||Please remember though, this breakfast experience is a basic offering to get your day started, it's not the Ritz but is satisfied our needs very well indeed. Apples and bananas (the latter were like gold dust) and yoghurts also on offer with all kinds of tea, decaff and two fully caffinated coffees and a juice machine with orange, blueberry, water and a third, possible cranberry. There will be times that items run out or low so pick your times well. We went down generally after 9am and whilst busy we never failed to get a table. ||The bed was very large and very comfortable, there was a microwave and fridge in the room and the ice machine was a 100 foot walk along the corridor. ||There was also a small area adjacent to reception where you could purchase snacks, foodstuffs for microwave and water etc.||The entrance always had security staff there but we never saw any issues at all that seemed to threaten anyone BUT the staff were needed as a few regular down and out looking folk were always never top far away, they never bothered us but I saw them everywhere. Turn left out of the front door and walk 30 yards and there's a streetcar stop for the St Charles line (green streetcars), a fun way to cross to the garden district and beyond and see a lot of sights and with a $3 Jazzy pass you can ride it all day and the buses too.||We attended an NBA game at the Smoothie King Center which is right next to the Superdome. Again, a 20 minute walk up Carondelet Street and you're there.||It's a great location. Valet parking was $48 a night, just drive to the door and they take it away for you then bring it back when you leave. Fee seems steep but the city appears to be like that. ||If arriving at the airport there is a fixed price $36 fee to the city center. Walk outside and to the left is a rank, it's super easy to do. ||The hotel booked me a taxi back at the same price with David Bell limousines and Keith came for us, he was very friendly and helpful.||There is no bar in the hotel but so many nearby you'll see why they didn't bother with one. ||Loved our stay I would go back there again if visiting the city. Just remember, basic but filling breakfast, lovely comfortable rooms (1219 is anyway), great location and super staff. Thank you Elijah, Rebecca and...

TERRIBLE. I give it 0 stars. This was the WORSE hotel experience I have EVER had. The room was just ok the bed made noise soon as you sat on it and it was hair in the dingy tub. The number one reason for 0 stars is that my sister and I were trapped in an elevator our first night for over 30mins. I pushed the button in the elevator, a girl by the name of Tamiya answered I told her we are stuck in the elevator she asked what elevator and at the time I said I don’t know we are stuck between 10&11. My anxiety was high and we just wanted to get out to use the bathroom which is why we were on the elevator, we were told the restrooms were on the 2nd floor. So since I didn’t know what elevator I was on Tamiya at the front desk hung up the phone on me, just RUDE and showed no empathy or compassion. The call never disconnected like she put me on hold so I couldn’t call back from the elevator. I had to Google the # to the hotel and call directly. I had to call 3x to ask when is someone coming to help us. We kept getting the run around about the building engineer is coming to get us. My Mom was downstairs waiting on us when I called to tell her we are stuck in the elevator and I asked her to go around to the front desk to ask how long. She was met with Tamiya she told her those are my daughters stuck in the elevator and how long is it going to take. Tamiya told her they are waiting on the building engineer to come so my Mom asked well are they on property and when is that. She went back to ask Tamiya a question and she turned her back and walked away from my Mother. I took matters in my own hands and called the New Orleans FD to assist. They arrived fast and that took time to get us out. The “building engineer” walked with us near room, he asked us if he could get us some water, some snacks or something. We said sure, well he never showed back up. We were like WOW. So, I eventually went downstairs to get us some water. After that whole ordeal we needed something to drink. Thursday morning 2/22 /24 we checked out of the hotel. The guy at the desk that said he was a manager never looked us in the eye. I asked him for a copy of my incident report he told me he couldn’t give it to me and he doesn’t have it because it’s been sent off. I’m like I have every right to have that and he tells me what their policy is and I can write my own. He then said I can take a picture of it so I said ok fine I’ll take a picture of it then he says he doesn’t have it. I’m like you just said I can take a picture of it. Again, no empathy from him either, no apology, no anything and he still was looking down and not making eye contact. Just RUDE. If anything as a manager, GM, whoever I would’ve come to knock on our hotel guests door and say I’m very sorry for what happened to your family. You don’t know how this has affected me/us/will affect me/us and we got nothing but basically your card will be charged and here’s your receipt. My Mom even stepped in to say something to this “manager” because of the RUDENESS. She said I’m 75 yrs old and I have been staying in hotels and even had to live out of hotels for work travel and I have never been treated like this. You all have the worst and nasty attitudes. It was like they don’t care at all. Working in the service industry with these types of attitudes and behaviors is unacceptable. There is no way I would want this staff to represent my “brand” (Hilton) You never know what may happen and you have to be able to deal with it in the industry but show some empathy and compassion. I have never in my life experienced being trapped in an elevator and I have lived in buildings with 20 plus floors and have been on plenty of elevators. The only nice/decent people here was Carl in valet. Davida who checked us in and Earl and Janet in the breakfast area, that’s it. Humility and Integrity is something that takes a lot of work to acquire and it doesn’t seem as though these employees have not done the work. They need to go to the Ritz Carlton training classes on customer experience...

I hate leaving this review. As this trip was a fun one. But here goes. The valet people were AMAZING! MORE than helpful. MORE than kind. A+ in my books! My best friend and I arrived Friday evening. The room was very spacious. And seemed fantastic! Went to bed Friday evening. And woke in the middle of the night to the room being more than hot. The ac wasn’t working correctly. I called at 1 am the hotel desk. Someone answered the phone and hung up. Called again. They picked up and hung up. I proceeded to call roughly 40’ish more times! I called from my cell! My friends cell! Room phone! And this person at the front desk kept picking up and hanging up! I was concerned because what if there was an emergency going on in my room. She wouldn’t even know because whatever she was doing was obviously more important than doing her job. It made me upset to think I could have been having a medical emergency or that there could have been something happening in my room that was emergent and I couldn’t report it because this person felt the need to continuously hang up the phone was more than scary. I kept calling. She (Tyra) finally answered! I told her it was extremely hot in the room and could I possibly have a fan. She was COMPLETELY rude. Told me I’d have to come to the front desk at 1:15 am and I told her I had been calling for over 15 minutes and she kept hanging up. Guess what! SHE HUNG UP ON ME! If she doesn’t like her job she shouldn’t be working there! Saturday breakfast was ok. Just ok. Nothing fantastic. Coffee was great. Showers! Don’t expect a hot shower. They are Luke warm at the hottest setting. Unbelievable. The tub had pink slimy mildew on it. It was pretty gross. Also! It had blood on the floor. That was disturbing on so many levels! Saturday evening. Went to bed. Was awoken at 2:30 am, I believe to a fire alarm! Telling us to get out of the building! Well to say that the emergency stairs in a crisis or nervous situation are clearly marked. They aren’t. And if you have a physical disability or limitation there are ZERO accommodations. So many of the folks with limitations were upset about the amount of time it took them to get out of the building. Some of them just couldn’t get out. That is terrifying. Sunday morning. Went down for breakfast. Coffee, creamer was all gone. I stood there for what felt like forever. Finally I asked someone if they could possibly bring some coffee. The lady did and did so quickly. The other lady that was in charge of the creamer. I said thank you for the creamer. She glared at me. I said thank you for the coffee holders. She glared at me. I said thank you for the other creamer. She glared at me. So I thanked her a bit louder. And snarled a quick thank you my way and walked off. I bumped into her a little while later in the elevator. If looks could knock someone down. Hers would. I was struggling with my key card to get to my room. I literally had to reach over her. And her cart to push my button. She never offered to help just stood there glaring. Friendly woman I thought. Gosh! If she doesn’t like her job she shouldn’t be working there! All other staff members were amazing! I truly wouldn’t stay there again for the simple fact if there were to be an emergency this place is terribly unsafe. Especially for disabled people. And those that truly don’t like their jobs to the point of avoiding phone calls on their time on. Other than that. It was fun. The...