New Orleans has always had a rich variety of accommodations options, from historic inns and B&Bs tucked inside vintage Creole-style houses in offbeat residential neighborhoods to glitzy, contemporary hotels in the Central Business District (CBD) and hip, adjacent Warehouse District. It's a given that virtually all of the city's accommodations are gay-friendly, but some target the GLBT market more than others. So with so many choices, and in so many neighborhoods, where's a gay traveler to stay?
After years of suffering through an accommodations shortage, New Orleans saw rapid hotel-room growth in the late ’90s. A few properties closed following Hurricane Katrina (sadly, one casuality was Kimpton brand's gay-popular Hotel Monaco, but that building now houses the excellent Hilton New Orleans/St. Charles), but the vast majority of the city's leading properties have since reopened, as have a few new ones.
For nearness to everything New Orleans is famous for, including the main gay-nightlife options, the French Quarter remains the hub of accommodations, with dozens of hotels in all shapes and sizes. Adjacent to the Quarter and just downriver, you'll find a number of gay-owned or gay-friendly smaller properties in historic and trendy Faubourg Marigny, which is also home to several gay-popular restaurants, bars, and shops.
The CBD and Warehouse District are next door, and although they're the domain of larger, often corporate-oriented hotels, they offer some outstanding deals to leisure travelers, especially on weekends.
Outside the CBD and French Quarter, greater New Orleans has significant numbers of charming inns and B&Bs (some of them extremely gay-friendly), mostly in the Garden District and Mid-City, as well as significant concentrations of budget- and mid-priced chain hotels, mostly in neighboring Metairie and Kenner. In the latter area, you're going to find some of the lowest rates in town, but you'll be a 15- to 30-minute drive from the French Quarter and gay nightlife (but for a couple of gay bars in Metairie). You can save money staying farther afield, and you'll be handy to the airport, but be sure to factor in those costs that concern lost time and added inconvenience.
An great resource for finding out more about the city’s many fine smaller properties is PIANO: Professional Innkeepers Association of New Orleans<@P>, an organization consisting of about 50 member inns and B&Bs. The organization’s website has a very useful online reservations and availability function that enables you to search for properties with rooms open, even at the last minute.
Gay-oriented properties are specifically noted on the site, but here's a list of reliable PIANO properties that have a strong gay following:
Grand Victorian Bed & Breakfast
B & W Courtyards
Lions Inn Bed and Breakfast
1896 O'Malley House
Elysian Guest House
Sully Mansion Bed & Breakfast
Elysian Fields Inn
Creole Inn
HH Whitney House on the Esplanade
La Maison Marigny B&B on Bourbon
Ursuline Guest House
Marigny Manor House
Chimes Bed and Breakfast
5 Continents Bed and Breakfast
Auld's SweetOlive Bed & Breakfast
Coccinelle B&B
Burgundy Bed and Breakfast
Of the many larger, mainstream hotels around New Orleans, a number of them stand out for their proximity to Bourbon Street's gay nightlife, for the degree to which they court the gay market, or both. In the French Quarter, consider the lavish Omni Royal Orleans, a beautifully decorated, historic property with a fantastic restaurant (the retro-cool Rib Room) and a perfectly central yet relatively peaceful location. The rambling and similarly historic Bourbon Orleans is another comfy, upscale option, and it completed a massive renovation recently. On the plus side, it's within a stone's throw of such famed gay bars as Bourbon Pub and Oz. On the negative side, the noise from Bourbon Street can be annoying---request a room closer to Royal Street if that's an issue.
Chic and handsomely decorated, the W New Orleans--French Quarter is known for its sterling service, mod room decor, charming courtyard swimming pool, high-tech amenities, and superb Italian restaurant (Bacco) - W also operates the W New Orleans, which is similarly stylish and gay-friendly, but it's just a few blocks away from the French Quarter, in the more biz-oriented CBD.
Other great and gay-popular hotel options right in the Quarter include the venerable Hotel Monteleone, where such notables as Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote often stayed; the posh Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, which completed a top-to-bottom makeover following Katrina; the affordable yet well-maintained and highly charming Le Richelieu, which is close to Faubourg Marigny and the French Market; and moderately priced Place D’Armes Hotel, only property directly facing glorious Jackson Square.
Just upriver from the French Quarter, in the CBD and Warehouse District, the Windsor Court Hotel has for years embodied the grace, warmth, and elegance of New Orleans. Spacious rooms are outfitted with Italian marble bathrooms and tasteful color schemes, and the hotel's New Orleans Grill serves some of the city's most rarefied cuisine. Harrah's New Orleans Casino & Hotel has made a big splash with its fab, AAA Four Diamond property---a 26-story tower with 450 big rooms and access not only to all-night gaming but some of the hottest new restaurants in the city: Besh Steakhouse and Riche among them.
Gay-popular hipster hangouts of note include the mid-priced Hotel Le Cirque, a cool design-minded property close to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art; the intimate Omni Royal Crescent, a chic boutique hotel in the Warehouse District; and the snazzy International House, with its lively bar and restaurant and mod rooms. The same owners also run nearby Loft 523, a chic little urban hideaway with minimalist-theme studio-like rooms done with low-slung beds and high-tech amenities.
Farther Uptown, in or near the Garden District, you'll find several of the gay-friendly B&Bs referred to above, plus a mostly ordinary but affordable bunch of chain hotels along St. Charles Avenue. This area is appealing for its distinctive architecture and proximity to Magazine Street shopping, but it's a cab ride away from gay bars.
