Where to stay in New Orleans

Canal Street, New Orleans or Any City, USA?

If you are going to visit the great city of New Orleans, you have a number of hotel options to choose from.  You can stay at the Marriot, the Sheridan, the Quality Inn, or the Hampton Inn and Suites by the Convention Center.  You can stay at the Intercontinental Hotel or the Omni Hotel.  These are all established brands with global reputations to uphold.  Like a visit to Olive Garden, or Appleby's, or TGIFriday's, or McDonald's, you pay your money and you get what you expect.  Enjoy your stay.

Interestingly, while New Orleans does have a few McDonald's franchises, this city that lives and thrives by its taste buds does not have one Olive Garden, Appleby's or TGIFridays outlet within its boundaries.  Big hotels managed by the big conglomerates rise over Canal Street and Poydras Street and Convention Center Blvd (was any street ever so appropriately named?).  Somebody has to satisfy the overwhelming demand for lodging.

There is an alternative.  Rather than plunking down good money to check in to a nondescript box at one of the hotels featured above, you can invest your stay in the community.  A New Orleans bed and breakfast inn is an extraordinary thing quite distinct from the corporate chains.  It is owner-operated, managed by the same persons who decorated and maintain the suites.

You can stay on the impersonal 13th floor at Harrah's, or you can stay at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  Your stay will make you smile.

The smile on our first guest's face says it all

Built in the 1890s, La Belle Esplanade is designed to satisfy the test of time.  No corporate architect was hired to provide minimal profitable square footage at maximum density stacked one floor atop the other.  Instead, a livable two-story edifice was divided into five accommodating suites to serve as a headquarters for your New Orleans adventure.

The big chain hotels offer decor that is bought in bulk without reference to its location.  A room in the New Orleans Marriott will be very much like a room in the Oklahoma City Marriot, or the St. Louis Marriott, or the Marriott in Groton, Conn.  No two rooms in a New Orleans B&B are alike.

You can stay in Les Fleurs Suite...

Click the picture to learn more about La Belle Esplanade

Every room is a different color.  Take a look at the bedroom of La Pelican Suite...

Click the picture to check availability

Every room is furnished with period antiques from when the manor was built.  It is also sprinkled with original artwork, stories, and hospitality that is more than off-the-rack.

La France Suite...

At twilight, we all say, "Vive la Nouvelle Orleans!"

Two more suites will be available in the near future: the Clio Suite and Les Saintes Suite.  Beautiful rooms are not these suites' only attraction.  They also have balconies.

La France Suite balcony at sunset

Of course, there is a garden in back...

The fountain provides just the right note of tranquility

There are plenty of bed and breakfast options in New Orleans that offer more than the high rise towers do to deliver a unique experience.  A New Orleans innkeeper gets into the business to make a living, but he or she also does it to share the best aspects of this magical city we call home.  New Orleans innkeepers live in New Orleans and they answer to nobody else but their guests, their neighbors, and their impeccable sense of taste.

To learn more: Professional Innkeepers Association of New Orleans (PIANO).

A votre sante.