The Saint Hotel, New Orleans, French Quarter, Autograph Collection — Hotel in New Orleans

This is my first time ever leaving a review on a hotel but I feel I must leave one for the Saint. I noticed some other comments that said really research this hotel, and make sure it has what you’re looking for. It is not a bad hotel, but compared to others in New Orleans. I would only give it a C+ or B minus.

AMENITIES: First, some things are my fault for not knowing. I chose this because it seemed like it would be nice to stay at a boutique hotel and I usually enjoy Autograph collection. I wish I would’ve researched first because I would’ve known things such as The restaurant is only open for breakfast and the bar doesn’t open until 5. So if you’re someone who likes to grab a bite or drink at any time at your hotel restaurant / bar throughout your stay this is not for you. I actually left and went to the JW Marriott for the rest of my stay, which was much better service, ambiance, and amenities.

STAFF: For a Marriott property and especially New Orleans where service is usually extremely friendly, I would say I didn’t feel as welcome here compared to others. I would not say the staff was rude just not friendly for the most part. By the way, a couple of staff members here were very friendly and hospitable. I’m just giving the overall vibe.

As someone who used to live in New Orleans, I can say most who are from this city really pride themselves in providing superb hospitality. They’ve done it for generations, so it is something many do with pleasure. I did not feel that among this staff overall.

INCIDENTS: In any other hotel with more hospitable staff none of these three situations I am going to describe what have even happened.

This trip was a short weekend paid for by my father. Upon arrival I learned the way it was booked, his card could be charged for incidentals as he had hoped. I asked can they please directly email him a card authorization form. I was told they could not do that because of “scammers.” OK but I am not a scammer, so what are you implying? Also when I asked the first staff member about it he looked at me in a very rude way. The supervisor was pleasant but she’s the one who told me the “scammer” explanation.

I decided to complete my stay at a more upscale hotel, where they did the card authorization with pleasure and no problem.

Also I mentioned to the concierge I would need to make a change to an excursion reservation because I did not have the card it was initially booked under. He called somebody right in front of me and said, “So something really weird happened that I need to run by you… ” You should never talk about a guest describing anything they have as weird. That is actually very rude.

I left an expensive bracelet in the hotel and realized it only hours later, while I was still in town. When I called to retrieve it, I was told by someone at the front desk that I needed to fill out a lost and found form from a third-party and that was the only way I could get my bracelet back if it was there. I asked said “OK I will fill out the form, but in the meantime is it possible for you to at least tell me if you have my bracelet so I can ease my mind and get before I leave the city? “ The person I spoke to said, “no.” and hung up the phone. Again, you should always make a guest Feel welcome at all times.

OVERALL: If you’re coming to New Orleans and just need to lay your head in a nice room with great location, which that is the case for many… this will be fine.

But if you were looking for hospitality, guest experience, and amenities during your stay, I would say look at the other great other hotels...

At arrival front desk agent was friendly but the agent with him didn't seem happy to be there. Prior to arrival I had also spoken with the rooms manager that was the same. We went to the bar and it was understaffed, waited 20-30 minutes for a drink. Next morning I called room service for breakfast 3 times no answer. I eventually ended up ordering food from a delivery service. I received a phone call at around 1145am to let me know my food was there. I asked if anyone was going to bring it up and they said no. Every hotel would send someone up with the food, particularly because they wanted room service and no one answered. At this point I decided I did not want to stay due to the service. Spoke to an agent about leaving, they sent me to a manager and she was also rude. We wanted to check out early and she said we had to pay for the 2nd night because it was after check out time. This was noon. Easily could have said if we left within the hour they could charge a half day rate or just let us go. My husband and I both worked in hotel management for many years and I couldn't believe how terrible all the interactions we had were. We had really high hopes for an Autograph Collection property. As we were leaving we asked the front desk agent for a copy of our folio showing our check out as the next day. She said she couldn't give me one because date role hadn't happened. I trusted that they had changed the date. Fast forward a week later and I receive a statement for a charge of $1500, the amount for the entire stay. For reference, to give us a folio showing 2 nights paid, you post the rate of the 2nd night on our account, print out the folio for us, adjust off that amount and change the departure date to the next day letting the rate run as usual. The front desk, including the managers can use some additional training. Once I received that invoice I called. Agent put me on hold. 5-10 minutes? Hoping I would hang up. Manager picked up, he also put me on hold, said he would look into it and never called me back. We ended up moving to another hotel where the priority is customer service. We ended up having to leaving New Orleans on Sunday because of a death in the family and the hotel that we had moved to had no problem changing our departure date. Spoke to at least 3 people that we were departing on Sunday and no one was capable of changing the departure date. I worked at hotels for 15 years (every chain) and have traveled all over the world. Because they did not check us out correctly we were charged an additional $600. Hopefully they can put that towards training. Finale: After speaking to those 3 people to let them know we were checking out on Sunday, none of them changing our departure date, telling us that they weren't able to print out a folio showing that we were checking out on Sunday, and because the folio they printed out to prove we stayed had all the nights, they got to keep our $600 that was billed for the 3 nights that we...

Upon arriving to the hotel over an hour after the 4 o'clock check in, we were asked if we wanted a different room than the one we reserved because there wasn't a room ready and the employee wasn't sure when one would be ready. We were ok waiting and asked for a guestimate on how long it'll be. I have no clue while pushing a different room was his response. The gentleman checking us in, Travis, wasn't kind. He acted like we were a bother from "Hello" and got more annoyed when we said we were ok waiting for the room we reserved but wanted to know why we had to wait. The reason was they offer late check out to rewards members and house keeping hadn't cleaned it yet.

It only took 25ish minutes for our room to get ready. But during that time I had a chance to see the negative reviews of the past 2 weeks that hadn't been posted at the time of reserving our room. These negative reviews mentioned roaches in the rooms, extra charges and valets driving guests cars. Neither of which we experienced. Other than, I did see a bunch of dead roach bodies in the stair well from levels 1-3. Which was the first and only time I decided to take the stairs.

But because of the continued rude customer service once the room was ready and seeing the bad reviews, I had a very bad taste in my mouth. Seeing the stair well less than an hour later made it worse.

I never saw any bugs in the room, but we also never left any food in the room and threw it away in the hallways trashcan. As well as using being on the 8th floor.

The rest of the staff was extremely kind, the valet sometimes opened the door and greeted us. The front desk always had a smile, even Travis one time. Although he often avoided eye contact. We don't know why he dislikes us so much.

We tried the bar, the drinks were perfect. The bar I would consider 4-5 star quality. I would stop by the bar when not staying at the hotel. The breakfast was also very good. Definitely worth a try.

The room was ok, no bugs. The shower could've used some more pressure and a good scrub. You could see where there was a bad repair job done on the ceiling so there was a sagging rectangle in the ceiling. Minibar was your typical minibar, Walgreens is across the street. They do give you a packet of crackers and a bottle of water during check in. And a bottle on checkout. The valet was helpful loading our car. By the end of the trip the bad taste of the first day and bad reviews had faded. I don't think the hotel and rooms are 4 star quality. The bar and breakfast was very good and is my guess for the 4th star. But the rooms and initial customer service was of 2-3 star.

The location was incredible for walking. But there's plenty of other hotels on...