Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans

If you’re looking for a pleasant and clean, upscale hotel with good customer service and a nice staff, Royal Sonesta hits the mark. I was pleased with my room and its amenities, plus the hotel has a pretty well stocked fitness center and a nice pool. The downside is the noise (it’s right on bourbon street) and the difficulty getting to the door when the streets are filled with thousands of drunk college kids at night. I was upgraded to a room with a balcony (without having to ask) and while I did appreciate that, it was clear the balcony was used for a lot of partying as the chairs were a bit under par and the balcony floor was pretty dirty. Other than that and the unavoidable noise from outside (bring earplugs), I really liked the hotel. The benefit of being on Bourbon street is that everything in the French Quarter is a stone’s throw away and I did enjoy being so central to a lot of main attractions. I must again say the staff were quite accommodating and welcoming, so overall I would recommend this property. Read less

Housekeeping issues. Sand or dirt by side of my bed. Stayed there all 3 days of stay. Room never vacuumed apparently. Then we had to call desk twice within 1 hour plus as we didn't get any wash cloths after room was tended to. Took awhile. Then my wife went to take a shower in the morning and couldn't get hot water to come out. For the money this was disappointing. Read less

My wife and I recently had the pleasure of staying at the Royal Sonesta during a short trip to New Orleans to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. My wife and I arrived at the hotel at around 10:30 am from the airport and were greeted at the door by the hotel's gracious staff. Arriving well before normal check-in time, we were planning on storing our luggage at the hotel until later in the afternoon, but we were pleased to find out that our Bourbon Street Balcony room was already available and that we would be permitted to check in immediately. The early check in started our stay at the Sonesta off in royal fashion. The hotel's beautiful marble lobby is accessible directly off of Bourbon and Conti Street and has a decorative fountain and coffee shop. The lobby has nightly security. The hotel houses two distinct restaurants, a ground floor tropical courtyard and a third floor courtyard pool. The rooms at the Sonesta are spacious, well apportioned, and well maintained. Although the rooms at the Sonesta are not fancy, the hotel is by far the most luxurious accommodations on Bourbon Street. The Royal Sonesta's accessibility to the non-stop French Quarter revelry is without equal. If you want to be in the middle of the action and stay at a AAA Four Diamond hotel, this is definitely the place for you. I cannot overstate how convenient it is to have a hotel within a 5-10 minute walk of the entire French Quarter. Being able to freshen up midday in the serenity of a cool room and then tackling the city refreshed is an indulgence that is worth the added expense of this location hotel. The balcony rooms are great for people watching, catching a parade or taking in the scenery. Having stayed in both interior and balcony rooms, I recommend that light sleepers splurging on a balcony room bring earplugs-just in case. Crowds tend to be fairly boisterous on Bourbon Street weeknights (until about 2am) and on weekends (until after 4am). The Sonesta is a short five minute walk from multiple street car lines that can take you to a wide range of locations such as the picturesque Garden District, the historic Cemetery, or Harrah's casino, to name a few. I highly recommend the Royal Sonesta for anyone wanting to make the most of their trip to New Orleans. Read less

Stayed at the Royal Sonesta, had a really good time, hotel was great. Just a few things that I would do differently. 1) I paid to get balcony room, too noisy, those kids banging on buckets from 10-9. I would not have paid more to get a balcony room and got one back further. 2) If you do get a balcony room get the rooms with the larger balcony. My room has a small balcony with one chair. When I called about getting a second chair they just moved the next door rooms chair to mine. Of course the people just moved their one chair back and I can't blame them. Other then that the hotel is really nice, very good location to everything. Nice jazz bar downstairs. Restaurant looks nice but I didn't get a chance to eat there. All in all a really nice place to stay. Read less