The Blackbird Hotel — Hotel in New Orleans

We booked the corner suite to stay the night since we had just gotten married that day, and as North Shore residents, we didn’t feel like driving home. The suite was nice, with a balcony overlooking Prytania Street. The courtyard with the pool is also very inviting, with a small bar and patio. Upon check-in, we were greeted by a nice young woman who guided us to our room and explained the amenities. Things went downhill shortly after. My wife and I went down to the courtyard that afternoon to enjoy some pool time. After a short while, a brief rain shower rolled through for about 10-15 minutes and the establishment closed the pool bar. We, along with the other pool guests (approximately 4 other people) were confused by the fact that the bar didn’t re-open after the rain stopped because the weather was nice. My wife went inside through the lobby to order drinks from the inside bar since no one from the hotel came outside to check on any of the guests. A short time later, the bald gentleman who was working the front desk came outside and my wife asked him if there was going to be anyone who would be taking orders from the pool guests. Her question was met with immediate attitude from the front desk employee. He very directly told her that it was her responsibility to go inside and get drinks if she wanted them because the pool bartender had “chosen to leave.” I’m sorry…your bartender just CHOSE to leave? The hotel policy states that the pool bar is open until 9pm so we, along with the other guests in the pool area, were confused as to why the hotel now expected us to get out of the pool and walk through the lobby, wet from the pool, rather than have the bartender come take drink orders. It was a Tuesday afternoon and the establishment was dead. The more my wife and the front desk employee talked, the more this man got upset. He was EXTREMELY unprofessional and acted like he was doing her a favor by even responding to her questions at all. My wife was being very patient and polite, and simply asking questions, but it had finally reached a point to where he was being so overtly rude to my wife that I intervened. I asked him why he was being so hostile and he responded by telling me that I was the one being hostile, which is laughable. We were simply trying to understand why the hotel staff expected wet guests from the pool to walk through the lobby to get our own service. He stood there, waving his finger in the air and talking down to us like we were children. I’m retired but I traveled the world, professionally. I have stayed in dozens of Michelin rated hotels. I am a long time Diamond Member with Hilton and Platinum Member with Marriott, so I’m accustomed to a certain level of basic hotel service. This isn’t the Four Seasons, Sir, so save the smug attitude. Eventually, heated words were shared and the man left the pool area. We sat there in disbelief after he had left and we talked with the other guests in the pool area who were just as in shock as we were by what had just transpired. Shortly after, the manager appeared. The manager was equally as smug as the front desk employee. This man didn’t want to hear any of our concerns, he was simply there to defend his inept employee. After a brief, tense discussion, we were asked to leave which we were happy to do. The manager agreed to refund us so we packed our belongings, got our receipt for the refund, and left. We then got comped a room and dinner at another hotel Uptown due to my status with other hotels so the night worked out to our benefit, and we didn’t have to deal with the absolute lack of hospitality and professionalism from the Blackbird. I’m sure someone from the Blackbird is going to respond to this review and make false claims about the behavior of my wife and myself. If that happens, just know their claims are false. We were being quiet and polite to everyone in the hotel, guests included. This entire incident is the fault of the terrible staff. They weren’t interested in their own hostile behavior, they were only concerned about our reaction to being treated so poorly for so long. ZERO self accountability. Unfortunately for the Blackbird, we have a large group of friends from Los Angeles visiting soon who were planning on booking multiple rooms there while visiting us here in New Orleans. They have since made other arrangements and will be spending their money elsewhere. This was the worst hotel experience of my life. We will...

Last Saturday, My friend and I came to The Blackbird Hotel to lounge by the pool. We spent the $50, and were pleased that there were no other customers at the pool at that time. We spent a few hours lounging on the lounge chairs; our presence was clearly known as the bartenders served us and very kindly helped us lower the umbrellas. A few hours into our stay, we had a very unpleasant interaction with one of the managers, Matthew Tifft. He approached me and demanded I immediately get up and move or I could "leave". Naturally, I asked why we were being told to leave. He responded in an incredibly rude tone that there were "real customers" paying more money than us that deserved the chairs. I completely understand if this is your policy; however, I felt the way the situation was approached was not only rude but also unnecessary. (I also want to let you know that not a single person ever ended up sitting down at those chairs after we left.) He spoke down to us in a very demeaning way that honestly made me uncomfortable and ended up cutting my day short.

Following his demand, my friend and I relocated to the ledge by the pool. As we layed there on pillows we brought over, Matthew walked by and aggressively ripped the pillow from underneath my friend's head, exposing her to possible injury if her head were to hit the stone. Again, if your policy is that the pillows cannot be moved, we completely understand; however, she literally could have cracked her head open from the way Matthew approached the situation. She was already leaning against it, and had she not been in the exact position she was, she would not have been able to catch herself before her head hit the stone and rocks.

After this, we were incredibly fed up with the manager's attitude towards us. We were paying customers and had done nothing wrong (or at least not on purpose). We asked a very kind bartender, Caesar, if we could possibly speak to a manager regarding the way we were being treated. He said Matthew was the only manager there, but he was happy to get us your business card. We later found out that Matthew had attempted to hide your business cards so that we would not be able to contact you about what he had done. That being said, we do want to emphasize how wonderful Caesar was, and he made us feel much more comfortable being there. He honestly saved our day, otherwise, we both would have left even sooner.

We emailed another manager regarding this incident before deciding to post this review. Instead of her empathizing with the situation, her response lacked acknowledgment of the mistreatment by Matthew. We understand that the policy may be that loungers can not be used by visitors, however, the actions by Matthew were incredibly rude and inherently dangerous. Had her response included any response to Matthew's actions, we would not have been inclined to publicly post...

Where to start.. there is just so much wrong on so many levels. We wanted to love it. My husband surprised me with a trip for my birthday and knew I was in love with the history and esthetics of the hotel and booked a 4 night stay. The design elements of the space did not disappoint. Subtle, discret touches set this property apart from others. As did the cocktails and food. |Unfortunately, that is about all the positivity that can be said. |So many locals with day passes partying like its Ibiza. The music is next level trapp house with the bass never stopping until late in the evening. People shouting at one another to be heard over the bass lends itself to a noise level that continues to escalate as the evening passes. This went on every single day. They are catering to their day pass crowd and not the guests who actually pay to stay in the hotel. Which now brings us to the actual room itself. We arrived late due to delays with our flight and were greeted by a very unenthusiastic night manager. Awkward. We were given a key and told how to find our room. That's it. No additional details. Additional details such as our room has dehumidifier that needs to be run 24/7 due to the fact that the exterior door leading out to the balcony has a substantial gap which let in all the heat and humidity that comes with NOLA in the summer. But wait, there's more. The mosquitoes ate us alive. Yes, thats correct. Those little suckers were free to come and go at their discretion until we took matters into our own hands and placed multiple towels under the door to stop what we could. There is much more that I could add and not of a positive nature but I will leave you with this. We stayed in their "best" room and spent upwards $2000 between the room and food and drinks and to say it was wildy disappointing is a understatement. If you are still considering staying at The Blackbird after what I just shared than I leave you with...