We traveled to New Orleans for the 2011 Sugar Bowl. Upon arrival, the lobby was crowded with many guests needing to check-in but only one young girl working the desk. She was overwhelmed and we waited close to 25 minutes to check-in. When we got to the room, we did a check for bed bugs (which thankfully we did not see) and noticed some pretty shabby bedding and poorly vacuumed carpet. The next morning, we discovered that the shower barely worked with very spotty hot water. The towels were very thin and in poor shape. I also saw a cockroach climb up the bathroom door. The rooms feature an advertisement for a nearby Domino's Pizza that closes at 11pm. We called at 10:40 and were told we couldn't order anything. When we tried to order online, even the Domino's website says orders can be placed up until 11pm, the shop cancelled the order. In fact, there really isn't any place to eat nearby unless you want fast food. The only sit-down place is an IHOP, that refused to open extra seating areas, even though large crowds were in town for the bowl game.
Housekeeping also did not clean our room one day, even though we put out the door sign requesting the room to be made up. We were gone for at least 10 hours and no one came to clean. The one day they did clean the room, they did not replace all the towels or the coffee for the coffee maker.
What really put us over the top was the last morning when there was absolutely no hot water available in the room. When we complained to the front desk, they just said "well I guess a lot of people are showering"....no duh, it's a hotel. I also mentioned the cockroach, but no one seemed to concerned about that.
My suggestion is if you ever go to New Orleans for a special event such a bowl game, spend the extra money and stay downtown.
- La Quinta New Orleans
- New Orleans La Quinta
