We had a great experience at the Fairmont hotel, a beautiful hotel not far from the French Quarter (a 10 minutes walk). It is a luxurious hotel, full of old fashioned charm. It was built in 1893. The rooms were beautifully decorated and roomy. They have a café with live jazz at night , where we had the chance to hear the band of Sullivan Dabney, they were great. Breakfast was delicious but alas! expensive, as you could expect :)

They have a gorgeous swimming pool ! :)

Our room was awful - old and dirty would sum it up !!! We certainly wouldn’t stay here again if we went back to New Orleans, we visited in 2004 so this was before Hurricane Katrina. The lobby was very grand but unfortunately this did not transfer to the rooms. One night we were in the bar having a cocktail when I screeched - a mice ran across the floor, just past my feet and went under the sofa on the other side !!! I did explain to the bar staff who politely said that they had got Rentokil in this week but couldn’t find them, I said they might want to look under the sofa !!! To be fair to them, it is a difficulty because the city is built below sea level, it was just a little shock and something that I wouldn’t have expected from a 5 star hotel. The hotel staff were friendly. Very close to the French Quarter so plenty to do.

The room was large but outdated. The whole hotel smelled musty and moldy. The front desk was very discourteous. When I mentioned to the front desk that my room smelled bad they stated very curtly that it was normal for the Fairmont and that I should have stayed at another hotel if I don't want mold. For close to $200 a night I was very disappointed and would not stay there again. This was before Katrina.

This must be the classiest hotel in New Orleans! We were on honeymoon and had a suite... it was fantastic. The hotel is olde worlde class and the staff are out of a similar era. It was just a great experience from beginning to end and uplifted us from an otherwise 'cheesy' view of some parts of New Orleans. Recommended.