The Westin New Orleans — Hotel in New Orleans

The property is beautiful and the location is good BUT my card was charged an extra $1000 and the valet associates are rude. Details below….

I stayed at this Westin Property from Wednesday, November 20, until Monday, November 25, 2024. I will preface this review with saying I am a Marriott rewards member and have stayed at Marriott properties all over the world (Seattle, Hawaii, Belize, Los Angeles, Barcelona, San Francisco, Paris, San Diego, Rome, Florence, London, just to name a few).

When I arrived at the Westin property in New Orleans on Wednesday the 20th, I wasn’t greeted by valet or offered help with my luggage. I made eye contact with a gentleman who was in the lobby on his phone, but it wasn’t until I was out of the car and waiting at the valet stand for a few minutes did he come out to take my key “You doing valet? Check in is on the 11th floor” is all he said to me.

At the check in desk I was assisted by Kash. He told me that the room I booked (king) wasn’t available and that he would put me in a room with 2 queen beds and I could switch tomorrow afternoon. I explained to him that I was there for 5 nights and didn’t want the hassle of moving rooms, that I would be out the next afternoon due to a family engagement and that I booked what I thought was a guaranteed room type. To which he replied “yea it was guaranteed, but some times we just over sale the rooms and run out of king beds”. After I turned down the queen beds he somehow was able to upgrade my room to a suite with a king bed. The room was beautiful. I did choose this hotel because it had a more more modern aesthetic as opposed to some of the other properties near the French quarter. My room rate total when I booked was $1641. Cash authorized my card for $2621. When I asked him what the additional fees were for he replied “I don’t know but it should come off when you check out”.

On the morning of Thursday, November 21, I went back to the front desk to inquire again about the extra fees. An extra $1000 seemed like a lot and didn’t sit well with me. The front desk manager and 2 other associates all had different reasons/responses to the fees. One associate said said “the fee is $150 per stay”. The other associate said “you gotta pay attention to your daily room rate when you book. The fee changes based on that”. The manager stated that “the system will go in and authorize different amounts and we don’t have control over it.”

On Friday, November 22 I ordered breakfast through room service with the menu in my room. French toast, a side of eggs and fruit. When the gentleman asked me to sign the bill the fruit was priced at $17 even though the in room menu said $12.

That same afternoon I returned back to valet and again wasn’t greeted. There were 4 men standing outside so I wasn’t sure who might be working at the property vs waiting for a car. I waited at the valet counter and a man on the curb said “oh you need me to come over there to get your key”.

When I reviewed the final bill on 11/25 they also didn’t remove the $30 daily food and beverage credit from 11/24, that was suppose to be a benefit included with the destination fee.

In a nutshell, the property is beautiful and the location is good. However, I’m highly disappointed in the lack of customer service from the valet staff and the unknown extra fees authorized on my card. This is not the standard of Marriott I’m accustomed to, so I probably won’t stay at this...

Westin Hotels are a hallmark of quality around the country. My friend and I planned to visit NOLA and when announced that he made a reservation at this hotel I was excited. I immediately started reading reviews, but as we know sometimes they can be at both extremes of the scale.

When we arrived late on the night we checked in, we were greeted by the front door attendant. I wouldn't call him a valet because all parking is self-parking. My friend went up to the 11th floor (main lobby and check-in) and I waited downstairs. We contemplated parking across the street in a surface lot ($45 per day), as opposed to the hotel which was $35 per day. The front door person went to get us a luggage cart which we loaded up together. I then struggled to get through the door (he didn't help with that) and I navigated up to the lobby level. My friend went off to park the car and I pushed the luggage up to the room. We travelled up to the 22nd floor and made our way to our room (2216). The room was a standard double room with closet, desk, chair/ottoman and two queen beds. We had a view of the Mississippi and its winding path leading toward the Gulf. We could see Jackson Square in the distance and passers-by along the riverfront. The bathroom was a little small but clean and would work for a couple nights. There was even a convenient shelf next to the door where I staged my items, out of the way of my friend.

We ended up going out after checking in and we had to interact with the clerk at the front desk. Admittedly, it was after midnight at the point and the person can't be blamed for not being the most chipper because it was super late. I assume he would have been a bit more engaged had it been a bit earlier.

I visited the gym twice on this trip - it is located a few floors above the lobby level and it offered a partial view of the Mississippi. There were some issues with some of the equipment (connecting to Bluetooth and the TV channels was a challenge) but it will offer you a good workout in a pinch. Though it is never like your home gym, I was able to get a good pump.

When we left to get food, we came back to the hotel and we noticed that the elevator call button light was burned out. We waited a while and the elevator finally arrived.

The housekeeper knocked on the door our first morning, offering more towels. We were on the way out and I asked her for towels and to tidy the room, also. She agreed, but when we arrived back at the hotel later, not only were there no towels but the room hadn't been touched at all. A quick call to the front desk remedied the towel situation.

This hotel has the same vibe as a Vegas hotel - glitzy and shiny at first glance. Upon closer inspection, things are not quite as shiny and are in need of a bit of attention to several finer details. Those things should be corrected, based on a thorough review by a maintenance team.

Glows: Stylish lobby, accessible room service fees for small bites, great proximity to Bourbon (walkable)

Grows: Horn noises from the river traffic, thinnish walls which make arguments and slamming doors readily apparent, outrageous mini-store prices ($5 for small bag of chips, $10 Fiji water bottle), elevator issues (card reader, banging noises and doors cycling open and closed repeatedly), housekeeping...

Swimming pool is closed, not sure when it will reopen. Nice breakfast buffet but at $26.95 a person.

The Westin New Orleans and the Canal Place shopping mall are connected. The hotel lobby (check-in) is on the 11th floor where they have the Observatory Eleven (bar). They only have a few check-in counters and they are kind of hidden to the side. I could imagine if they get busy, the lobby could get very crowded. And also the rooms go from floor 12 to 29; there are no direct elevators from ground floor to room floors, you have to transfer at 11th floor which is a bit cumbersome.

We had a room facing the river on the 26th floor. The view was stunning. We could see the sunrise directly from our room, and all the ships passing through the Mississippi River (Including Carnival cruise ships in the morning and in the afternoon). For the guests who do not have a river view room, the Observatory Eleven bar can be a hangout spot to also enjoy a similar view from the 11th floor lobby area.

The most disappointing thing we had during our stay was to find out their rooftop swimming pool was closed and we didn’t know if it will reopen. When we asked the staff where the pool was, we were told they don’t have a swimming pool. We were really hoping to use their rooftop pool and enjoy the 360 degrees panoramic view from the top floor. This was really disappointing. We didn’t ask for a reason why the swimming pool was closed, but I really hope they don’t use the COVID excuse to still keep it closed.

The room was very spacious and our king room had a chaise lounge by a big window, plus a single sofa chair and a desk + chair set, so there were plenty of sitting areas in the room and we loved it. The room is very modern and well designed. We enjoyed all the furniture they had and they had plenty of outlets and usb ports by the desk and also by the nightstands.

As for the breakfast, it’s priced at $26.95 a person, unless you have it bundled in your room package or you have platinum or higher Marriott Bonvoy status. With the variety of breakfast options, we could see why they price it at $26.95 a person. They offer not only the basic items, but also some premium items such as shrimp and grits, cheese boards, crudité, big fruit plate, two types of sausages (like the legit thick big ones, not like finger size common frozen ones), and lox. These premium items are reflected in the higher price they charged. And I want to give a shout out to our server Andrea K, she is super experienced and very attentive and professional and we were well taken care of by her service.

All in all, despite the closed rooftop swimming pool and the inconvenience of the elevator change to get from room floor to ground floor, with the nice room design, stunning view from the room/bar, friendly staff, and decent breakfast selections, we will recommend this hotel and will consider staying...