The Royal Sonesta New Orleans

The location

The room seemed tired

I rearely review online unless it's a great experience or a poor experoinece. This is my second time staying at the RS in less than an 6 month period. Noise was an issue then, but a huge issue this time facilitating a review; therefore, I'll stick to this experience and not the one in Novemver, 2025. I checked into the RS Tuesday, April 28, for 2 nights, arriving in my vehicle about 3:15PM. I've stayed there for decades, beginning in the mid 1980's and have enjoyed it. Never an issue with noise that I recall. Until now. There were a lot of check-ins Tuesday, so I was prepared to wait for a Bellman. About 15 minutes or so went by, I decided to haul my luggage on 2 trips because it was obvious there could be a lengthy wait. The room was fine, on the third floor, with a courtyard across from the check in area. All good the first day, a bit noisy, but nothing unmanageable. I needed to get an early start on Thursday (out of the hotel by 6-6:15AM), so I was trying to go to sleep early, a few mintes after 9PM. That's when all the fun began. The music coming from the Jazz Playhouse, located in the main lobby/bar close to where you check in, was very loud. I'm a light sleeper, could hear everything, so this music goes on for about another hour. I called downstairs and asked how long this would go on, was they start "winding down at 10:30PM." Finally the music stopped, but some of the revelers made their way to the courtyard for the party to continue. Now, it's ever louder (hello security - where are you? What about your "quiet time?"). This goes on until midnight at least. No sleep yet, I'm getting up at 4:45AM. What's really funny is the RS has these little signs by the elevators that says "Quiet time begins at 10PM." Well brother, it's anything besides quiet. If this is quiet, I'd hate to hear loud. Funny, they don't abide by the rules they set or make any effort to enforce them. Then, right on cue after the music/noise stops inside the hotel, the drunks start rolling in from Bourbon Street. Now, I have 2 women talking loud enough (guess a few doors down) to continue on with the no sleep night. Loud enough I might add that I might as well have gotten up and joined them. Again, where is security? Finally, I fall asleep around 2AM, not very soundly, wake up at about 4:15AM and head for the shower, essentially no sleep. The hot water, which is barely warm, takes about 10 minutes to reach its maximum temperature, literally. If the water were any cooler, you would be taking a cold shower. How fun. So I'm dead tired and get to top it off with a cool, not warm, shower. All this at premium price for a Royal No Sleep Night. I got downstairs to leave and gave the front desk clerk the business how ridiculous this has been. This is not how a premium hotel, or at least premiun priced, operates. Now, in all fairness to the RS, she compensated me for the poor experience. First, I appreciate it, but I did not come there to be compensated and don't need your money. If that were the case and what I was after, I'd be at some flee bag inn close to the airport. The clerk tried convincing me all the noise was coming off of Bourbon Street. I shut that down in a hurry because, as noted, I know the hotel thoroughly and it's a bunch of BS. Was nowhere close to a balcony room. Plus, I could, and did, look out of the window door from my room. She relented and agreed. I was checking out with 2 other guys in line behind me, and asked one of them if they heard the noise or was it just me, and he responded "definitely." That's it. I hope the RS does not respond to this with the canned company line about how much they care about the customer experience and all that crap. Up your game, RS. That's a good start. You're better off at one of the highrise hotels on Canal Street if you are sensitive to noise and/or a good night's sleep is important. (Disclaimer: I have no friend or family member working for the RS or any other hotel in the New Orleans CBD. The only reson I didn't give it 1 star is because of the compensation.)

The location was the highlight of the stay. That's it!

Beautiful hotel lobby and common areas. The room 3108 was very small, old and dated. There's no room for personal hygiene stuff or anything in the bathroom. The room smelled old and moldy, the curtains and carpet were filthy. The best thing I can say, is the bed was comfortable. I wouldn't stay here again. I would definitely go somewhere more clean and up to date.

ES un hotel que esta bien, pero necesita ya remodelación! EXCELENTEMENTE UBICADO, en corazón del entretenimiento

esta un poco viejo. Necesita mantenimiento y actualizacion

Room was large and well appointed, location was great.

Balcony was a shared balcony, one door didn't lock securely therefore was a security issue. We couldn't turn our shower on, called down to front desk, waited over an hour, no one came to address issue, we had to go out and had to leave with a sponge down, later in the day we finally got someone to come and it had been turned off so hard, as it leaked, it took the maintenance guy some effort to turn it on, we were scared of breaking it ourselves but at least he knew how it should have turned on. House keeping was appalling, one day we didn't get any housekeeping but our towels were wet from the leaking shower, took 2 attempts to get towels delivered to the room. We paid top dollar to stay and didn't feel it was worth the price we paid per night. Also worth knowing if Bourbon St is closed when you arrive you may not be able to get dropped off at the door and may need to drag your bags a little way, as we discovered.

The staff here are all genuinely nice! Wilbur helped us with our luggage and made us feel like friends. Joe from the valet was just as congenial and helpful. The hotel itself was great but the reason I’ll be staying there again is the people :)