LA Travel Guide
Super Bowl Hotels / Super Bowl XLVII Hotels / Hotel News / New Orleans Hotels / Hotel Parties / Bud Light Hotel / → All Tags
The Seriously Last-Minute Super Bowl XLVII Hotel Guide
Even non-football fans have figured out SUPER BOWL XLVII is happening in New Orleans this weekend.
While the top hotel rooms sold out long, long ago, there's still a few ways to get in on the action in town.
Stalk the Teams at These Hotels: Conde Nast Traveler told us where the AFC and NFC champs are staying. The San Francisco 49ers will be shacking up at the New Orleans Marriott while the Baltimore Ravens are spending the night at the Hilton Riverside. There aren't any rooms available for you, of course, but there's nothing stopping you from hitting up the hotel's restaurants and bars to spy on some past and future gridiron greats.
Tailgate at the Hyatt: And by tailgate, we mean indulge in some specialty cocktails at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans including the Game Face drink available at the hotel's sports bar, Vitascope Hall.
Take a Chance on Craigslist: Now that we're just days away from the Big Game, folks in the Big Easy are getting desperate with their hotel room offerings. There are several available on Craigslist right now. You can peruse the options here.. As always, with Craigslist, USE CAUTION when buying a hotel room. Make them show you a confirmation email before you fork over any money.
Reality TV Hotels / The Layover / Celebrity Chefs / Anthony Bourdain / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / New Orleans Hotels / Louisiana Hotels / → All Tags
Anthony Bourdain Takes Natty Option for "The Layover" NOLA
Anthony Bourdain is back for another season of “The Layover”, and we like it because he names the hotels in the cities where he'll be spending his precious time. We figure, he won't be laying his salt-and-pepper head just anywhere, after all, he's big time now.
So, for entertainment and a dose of travel value, we’ll give you some details on the properties he picks, just in case you find yourself looking for a place to stay in a city that’s sanctioned by this travel personality/chef.
In this episode, we were certain Tony was going to get funky in New Orleans. How could you not? A haunted hotel maybe? Back to the W? But dammitall, you know what he did. He went fancypants again. While stuffing his face for 36 hours with down-home Southern/Creole food, he then went back to his pristine place for sleepy time. Sigh. What happened to letting the good times roll?
Super Bowl Hotels / Super Bowl XLVII Hotels / Super Bowl Hotel Rooms / New Orleans Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Where to Get Hotel Rooms for Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans
Know of a hotel room open for Super Bowl? Tell us where right here.
After a nail-biting weekend of football--it was especially gut-wrenching for Seattle and Denver fans--the teams now vying for a Super Bowl ring are the Patriots, the Ravens, the 49ers and the Falcons. Update: Make that the 49ers and either the Patriots or the Ravens. Update #2: The 49ers and the Ravens will meet in New Orleans for SUper Bowl XLVII!
Are you rooting for one of these teams? Then we're know you aren't going to jinx their chances of making it to the Big Game by booking a hotel room.
BUT just in case you are confident in your team's success and have been devotedly practicing voodoo against the other teams, we've compiled a list of available hotel rooms in New Orleans.
We will be constantly updating this list as we learn of new openings. We expect a bunch more to open up after the NFC and AFC Championships so bookmark this page if you want to go to the Super Bowl. If you know of a place with openings, or better yet, you are a hotel with openings, tell us how to book in comments below! (PS. If you still need a flight to Nola, Jaunted's got the scoop on that. Again, break open your wallet.)
Added Jan. 20, 10:58pm EST
· ST. CHARLES INN: This Best Western in the Garden District let us know they have rooms available for Super Bowl Weekend. We found a non-smoking king room open from January 31-Februay 4 for $850 a night. If you got the cash, hurry up and book now. We don't think it will last long.
Added Jan. 21, 1:03pm EST
· TOP TIER TRAVEL: This brother-sister travel agency has locked up several hotels in New Orleans for Super Bowl like the Four Points by Sheraton on Bourbon Street and the Holiday Inn French Quarter. Those are going for well over a $1,000 a night but the Hampton Inn and Suites Elmwood near the airport is "just" $450 a night. Peruse their options here.
EXPEDIA
· As we pointed out last week in our 5 Tips for Booking a Hotel Room for Super Bowl, all the good spots are sold-out (usually snapped up by the Big Game's corporate sponsors years in advance.) And the budget places are asking for outrageous rates for the weekend. Case in point, the Holiday Inn Metairie New Orleans Airport is open for $699 a night. But even this low-budget supply is dwindling with only 10 spots available as of January 14.
FAN EXPERIENCES
· FanExperiences.com is the official booking portal recommended by the NFL. The site is only showing nine hotels open for the weekend (Friday-Monday.) Again, these are mostly budget spots and except for the Motel 6 at $399 a night, all of them are outside of New Orleans-- in Baton Rouge or Houma.
Read on for more options
Super Bowl Hotels / Super Bowl XLVII Hotels / Hotel Booking Tips / Hotel News / → All Tags
5 Tips For Booking a Hotel Room for Super Bowl XLVII
Know of a hotel room open that's close to the Superdome in New Orleans? Let us know!
As we head into the final weeks of the NFL Playoffs, the mad scramble for hotel rooms in New Orleans, where Super Bowl XLVII will be held, has already begun. We told you that way back in October most of the hotels in the Big Easy were sold-out and that's still true.
Right now, doing a quick check on Expedia we see the usual budget suspects--anything with Inn in the second half of its name--in less-than-desirable areas of New Orleans still open for $300+ a night. So there is availability during Super Bowl weekend. But is it the kind you want?
Starting next week we'll be keeping our eyes out on who still has Super Bowl hotel rooms open, from the usual suspects like hotel booking sites and the official Super Bowl reservations site (at FanExperiences.com) to less conventional places like AirBnB.com, Craigslist, and our ever trusty HotelChatter tipline.
No matter where you begin your search for hotel rooms though, the same rules apply for finding a hotel deal for Super Bowl:
Keep reading to see our five tips for booking a Super Bowl hotel room
Hotel Renovations / W Hotels / Starwood Hotels / New Orleans Hotels / Hotel Bars / Hotel Restaurants / Photo Gallery / → All Tags
New Life for the W New Orleans- French Quarter
Last summer, we reported on on the W New Orleans - French Quarter's $9 million renovations, which are part of W's larger plan to update 11 of their North American properties, including outposts in Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
As the brand continues to expand internationally (new W's are popping up in Bangkok, Milan, Singapore, and Verbier), the idea seems to be to get back to what made the brand so innovative and aspirational in the first place, playing on its strengths of incorporating local elements, like food and music, into the experience. (We've also heard they hope to reinvigorate their in-house spa concept, as well, which could definitely use it.)
So if going local is the goal, then the NOLA property ought to fit right in. Set in the French Quarter (there's also another W near the Warehouse District), the property's 97 rooms were redesigned by NYC-based Nemaworkshop to reflect two iconic aspects of the city: jazz and voodoo.
Read on to take a look at some of the rooms!
Super Bowl Hotels / Baton Rouge Hotels / Louisiana Hotels / Radisson Hotels / Renaissance Hotels / Hyatt Place / Hyatt Hotels / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags
5 Last-Minute Super Bowl Hotels For Diehard Beyonce Fans
We feel we should preface this post with a big 'but...'
Yes, it's true that Beyonce will be the official act for the Super Bowl halftime show this February. Yes, it will probably be a better show than whatever weird Egyptian thing Madonna did last year. And yes, even you, who's left planning 'til the very last minute, can find a way to see Beyonce perform and have a place to stay.
But (we told you it was coming!) don't expect to find a hotel in New Orleans proper, as, from what we can tell, they're all pretty much sold out. A quick look online shows that not only are our usual NOLA faves fully booked, even the crumby ones on the outskirts of town are unavailable too.
So, what's a Beyonce fan to do?
Historic Hotels / Hotel News / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Marriott Hotels / New Orleans Hotels / → All Tags
Marriott Completes Its Takeover Of The Maison Blanche Building In NOLA
Plenty of time has passed since the historic Maison Blanche building first opened on Canal Street as a department store in 1908. Boy, would we have loved to have been a customer at the store in those days, picking through whatever kinds of hats, shoes, furniture and toothpaste folks used to buy in the 1900s.
These days, however, the building lives in hotel form. Two hotels, to be precise: the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, which opened in 2000, and, until recently, the Iberville Suites.
We say until recently, because the second hotel portion of the building just got taken over by Courtyard by Marriott, effectively sealing the deal on Marriott's deft usurpation of this gleaming Beaux Arts building. They must have been plotting all along!
W Hotels / Hotel Uniforms / Designer Hotel Uniforms / Jay Godfrey / New Orleans Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
Runway Worthy Uniforms are Coming to The W French Quarter
Ed. Note: We had to pull the images of the new uniforms per Starwood's request. When we get an approved photo we'll put it back up here!
The W New Orleans French Quarter’s $9 million snazzy new look will be unveiled in mid-August, but the styling isn’t limited to just to the hotel rooms.
It turns out that the hotel’s uniforms will also get a little updating from Jay Godfrey who has transformed the regular hotel uniforms into stylish, sleek outfits. Now, the staff will look pretty spiffy while work continues on the renovated guestrooms as well as the hotel’s new restaurant, and bar.
As you can see in the before and after photos, The staff at the W French Quarter will now wear European-style suits with a flattering slimmer shape. The guys will have skinny ties with complementing tie clips, and the ladies will wear pencil skirts with chic jackets. They can accessorize their uniforms with fashionable jewelry.
Videos / Hotel Construction / New Orleans Hotels / → All Tags
Watch This Implosion of an Old New Orleans Hotel
Who doesn't love a good hotel implosion?
In what is likely the perfect answer to a Monday afternoon, we present the below AP video of this weekend's big hotel implosion down in New Orleans. The building, the 17-story Pallas Hotel/Grand Palace built in 1950, is being cleared to make way for a new University Medical Center, but that doesn't mean it has to go quietly.
It took 400 tons of explosives, the evacuation of 200 people in the area, the closure of an Interstate highway and much nail biting to get the structure down yesterday morning, but it all went off without a hitch. No tears here for a fallen hotel though; the place had been abandoned for years.
Historical Hotels / New Orleans Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags
New Orleans' Historical Hotel Dining Rooms: The Sheraton-Charles
A while back on our brother site, Jaunted, we looked into how the NYC of the 1950s gave way to the NYC of today, sadly minus $1.95 steak dinners and the "famous rooms" that used to keep hotels hopping. It's important to note, however, that the famous rooms—selling a good time with dining, drinking and dancing to live music—weren't just a Big Apple exclusive.
Recently we came across a 1960 visitor's brochure for the Mississippi Coast, in which the New Orleans version of these famous rooms is advertised. We'll be focusing on a few the rest of this week.
Today, it's the Outrigger Bar & Lounge at the Sheraton-Charles Hotel.
Hotel Casinos / Hotel Construction / Louisiana Hotels / Ameristar Casinos / Hotel News / → All Tags
A $500 Million Gamblers' Paradise is Breaking Ground in Louisiana
In about two years, it’ll be time to hit the slots at a new $500 million casino and resort project planned for Lake Charles in Louisiana. Construction begins by July 20th for the new 700-room Ameristar Casino Resort Spa Lake Charles, which will have 1,600 slot machines and 60 gaming tables. Paging VegasChatter!
Other planned amenities include tennis, golf, a spa, pools, a pleasure boat dock, croquet and falconry. Yes, we said croquet and falconry. Pretty snazzy, huh? With all of those amenities, we’re glad to know that there will be plenty of parking spaces. Yep. There will be 3,000 spaces, with a thousand of them in covered parking on the 242 acres.
Historical Hotels / New Orleans Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags
New Orleans' Historical Hotel Dining Rooms: The Fontainebleau
A while back on our brother site, Jaunted, we looked into how the NYC of the 1950s gave way to the NYC of today, sadly minus $1.95 steak dinners and the "famous rooms" that used to keep hotels hopping. It's important to note, however, that the famous rooms—selling a good time with dining, drinking and dancing to live music—weren't just a Big Apple exclusive.
Recently we came across a 1960 visitor's brochure for the Mississippi Coast, in which the New Orleans version of these famous rooms is advertised. We'll be focusing on a few the rest of this week.
Today, it's the The Empire Room at The Fontainebleau.
