Hyatt Regency New Orleans

I want to try something a little different and start reviewing hotels here on the blog since I stay in them so often. I actually came up with this idea as I was about to check out of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans earlier this week. Since it was a last minute decision, I didn’t get a ton of photos, but I got enough to give you a good idea of what to expect should you decide to stay there on your next trip to NOLA. So let’s get started, shall we?

Checking In

First up, let’s start with the check-in process. Our flight arrived at around 8 am which was several hours before the official check-in time of 3 pm. I was afraid that we’d be stuck waiting, but the staff there let us check in early because rooms were available. Won’t He do it? A man named Alejandro checked us in promptly. He was quite nice and even engaged in small talk about tacos with me.

The Room

Unfortunately, they had already run out of rooms with king size beds so they gave us one with a queen bed. Big mistake on our part for not requesting two beds because the room we were assigned was tiny. Like super small. The bathroom was nice but pretty basic. On top of that, there was some gross-looking soap scum in the bathroom on the tub’s drain cover in our room. I knew it was a busy weekend for the hotel because the Essence Music Festival was in town so I didn’t want to be a hassle but in hindsight, I was a paying customer and if I wasn’t completely happy with my room, I had a right to request a new one.

Again, I decided to do a review of this hotel at the last minute so I didn’t take pictures of my room, but I did sneak into a room that had a king size bed as housekeeping was cleaning it just so I could get a couple photos for you (shhh, don’t tell anyone). I was shocked to see how much more space it had. If I had stayed in a room like this, I would’ve been much happier during my stay. It had ample seating space and a large window to look at the view. I was in and out within 45 seconds on my top secret photo mission, but here’s what I got:

Hotel Dining & Amenities

The hotel itself is beautiful. The lobby has plenty of room for people to sit and converse with one another. They had lemonade in the lounge pretty much every time people walked in from the hot weather so that was a nice touch. There were three restaurants that I saw (but I believe there are more) and we ate at two of them.

Borgne was our favorite of the two and the customer service from our server, Jonah, was unbelievably amazing and patient with my indecisiveness about ordering a drink. He also had a great voice and I hope he gets to do those voice overs really soon. The restaurant’s seafood menu carried into its decor and was beautifully decorated. We walked in during happy hour and were able to capitalize on the $5 tapas and select discounted drinks. I enjoyed the food and even if I didn’t stay at the hotel again, I’d stop by to visit Borgne without question.

We also visited Vitascope Hall which has a sushi bar and a super cute set up with televisions in each sitting space. Hubby didn’t like the food, but I thought it was decent. I believe he ordered calamari which was really over fried. The bartender was really friendly and we chatted for a bit about Texas and traffic. He also told me about how beautiful the hotel’s pool was and suggested that we support the bar up there. I never visited the pool, so no photos to share there but here’s Vitascope Hall though…

Right across from Vitascope Hall was 8 Block Kitchen & Bar which was packed every night and had a jazz singer there to set the mood. I passed by before checking out while it was closed and was able to get these pictures.

Location

Depending on what you plan to do while in New Orleans, the location of your hotel is important. We attended three concerts at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, which I had a great view of from my prison cell room, so we walked to them with ease. However, during the day I went to events at the convention center which was several blocks away. A taxi in the traffic cost me about $13 (the driver chose to tip himself so $15) and after walking back and forth a few times, I needed new feet.

The Hyatt Regency New Orleans is located in the Central Business District. You can walk to Bourbon Street from there but it’s about a mile so it’ll take some time. The hotel is also near Jamba Juice and several restaurants including two pizza spots so that’s a win. I wish it was closer to the convention center but loved the proximity to the Superdome so I can’t complain too much about the location overall. It worked well for me at night and not so much during the day, but the walks to where I wanted to go weren’t too bad.

 

Final Thoughts

Would I stay at this hotel again? Yes, but I’d make sure I got a decent sized room to make me a little happier. The staff was friendly and practically everywhere I turned, there was someone there to kindly offer assistance. Customer service is a big deal to me and they’ve mastered that. I loved pretty much everything about the hotel except for my room, which is pretty darn important, so the Hyatt Regency New Orleans gets 3 1/2 stars from me.