I am a person who knows deep down she was meant to have been born in the city of New Orleans, there is no place like it on this earth and the food, music, history, culture, etc....are just part of it. The biggest plus to NOLA is the people who live there, they are wonderful. I go to NOLA at minimum two times a year and the only hotel I will stay at is the wonderful Royal Sonesta Hotel. The hotel is just gorgeous, the rooms are great, the pool deck is the best in the city and is rocking during Jazz Fest! The location is prime and their staff is top notch. From the moment you arrive and their wonderful doormen (like Malcolm who always greets me with.... "My Queen is here"!) you feel like your in for an amazing experience. The bellman, the front desk staff, the concierge, all top notch! I've stayed in several other NOLA hotels years ago but once i discovered the Sonesta it was all over for me - - - I'm hooked! 6 stars in my opinion and worth the price!

Highly recommend the R club level - the concierge desk outside the elevators was a nice touch - we received several excellent food recommendations from these nice folks.

Great location on Bourbon - on this level you cant hear any of the partying from Bourbon.

Ate a Desire twice - once for lunch and once for breakfast - highly recommend both.

Will stay here again!!

This is the second year that myself and a group of friends get together for the Red Dress Run in NOLA. For both years we rented a balcony suite and a block of rooms for a party for both the Friday and the Saturday night. The hotel and staff need to be commended on the FIRST CLASS job they did in making the event a success. Working with everyone was a pleasure and they were so easy to work with. The staff remember us by name from last year and took care of our every needs promptly and with a smile. Everything was set up as we discussed and the staff removed a lot of headaches from the event. The rooms were all well kept and clean. We look forward to the doing it again in 2013.

THANKS ROYAL SONESTA!!!!

I stayed here over Veterans Day weekend as a girls weekend getaway. I've been to New Orleans, French Quarter several times in the last 5 years and always thought it would be cool to stay at the Royal Sonesta. I expected old world luxury, or at least a friendly and welcoming staff. Wrong. The doorman started the experience by not even acknowledging us as we arrived (walking a block down Bourbon since our cab had to stop there due to street closure for repairs). We opened the doors ourselves and proceeded to the registration desk. There was a line (no big deal, it happens) but when we got to the desk the clerk was wearing a uniform that was sloppy, and his attitude was not the southern warmth that I anticipated. He treated us like it was a bore that he had to check us in. We were in a good mood and upbeat, but he sucked the air out of that right away. We were not informed of any amenities, or given any information regarding the restaurants, bars, pool, etc., on property. I travel 75% of the time on business and pleasure and was sorely disappointed with the first 30 minutes at the Royal Sonesta.
Because you can't NOT have fun in the French Quarter, we enjoyed ourselves anyway! The hotel was in a great location of course, and we were able to walk around Bourbon, Royal, Decatur, Canal and afford ourselves of great food and atmosphere. The best dinner was at the Commander's Palace (cab ride away). I highly recommend it.
Back to the hotel. The rooms were okay, dated, but good enough. We had a shared balcony that overlooked the gardens. There was a wedding reception there over the weekend but they were not loud or boisterous.
The bar in the front of the hotel is a nice quiet place to have a cocktail away from the craziness on Bourbon and the mint juleps were very good - again the staff was not particularly happy to be there!
I actually don't know how they got such a surely doorman. I have stayed at several hotels in the area, Astor/Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, to mention two and the staff were always really nice and had that cool souther hospitality.
I don't recommend staying at the Royal Sonesta unless you really want a balcony overlooking Bourbon to throw beads from!