This hotel is pretty spartan but it's a great value for what we paid. There's a continental breakfast to fill up on and the streetcar goes right in front of the place down to Canal Street.The staff was a couple of hot chicks who I felt went the extra mile to take care of our specific needs.Stay here if you want to pay less but get value!

We had a great stay at the Clarion Grand Boutique! After checking out early from the pitiful Garden District Hotel down the street, I was happy to discover the CGB had a decent continental breakfast, very nice American-style restaurant (reasonably priced), a microwave and refrigerator in the rooms, and spacious rooms (NONE of which are at the Garden District Hotel). I don't know if new management has taken over since the previous reviews, but currently this hotel has everything one would need for under $100/night and we would definitely stay here again.

This was our first trip together and both our first to New Orleans for Susan and I. I have flown to Florida and Utah, but don't remember the seats in the airplane being so small. However, both the flight and luggage process went smoothly. What we didnt expect is for downtown Canal Street in New Orleans to look like New York City, which we had just departed from. No matter, the Clarion Hotel seemed nice, so we checked in and found out we should've called to confirm that we in fact requested a smoker's room even though our arrangements
said we did when we booked online. Apparently, there was a big college rivalry basketball game in town and the parents and fans were staying at the hotel. So they were booked solid, and the room we got was small like the one I grew up in about 10 feet by 10 feet tops with two double beds, 19 inch tv, mini coffee maker and small fridge underneath. We quickly made friends with housekeeping and they "helped" us out with an ashtray for Susan and said don't worry about it. The friendly front desk employees said to check back everyday to get bumped up to that smoker's room. Day 3 - I guess they liked us so much (or we bugged them enough, everytime we came in and out of the hotel the first two days) that they gave us a suite that was available and boy that was very enjoyable! There was no restaurant in the hotel itself nor closeby but they did serve a very lavish breakfast every morning down in the lobby with eggs, sausage, biscuits, fruits, cereals, coffee, tea, waffles, you name it! The first two days we walked everywhere because the downtown trolley we were looking forward to, right in front of our hotel according to the online brochure, ended up being under construction and out of service during our entire stay there, but we managed to find our way around. On day two, we discovered through the tour shacks at the other end of Canal Street that you can buy a bus pass for $5.00 good for three days getting around New Orleans. The locals were friendly, some a bit out there but all in all it was a safe ride where ever we chose to go. There is lots to see and do in New Orleans and for us two girls out in the world we had a blast! We saw the incredible Aquarium, the well designed Zoo, the Farmers Market, the Mardi Gras Museum, and a swamp tour, there is a free ferry to take across the mighty Mississippi, even ghost tours and a vampire tour which we divulged in, plus plenty of bars & restaurants with all kinds foods an drink to enjoy. Harrah's Casino had an excellent buffet though I felt the price was a bit high at $20 per/person. I'm not a big eater so I didn't think it was worth the price, however, the food was outstanding. Now I'm no gambler, but I tried a slot machine anyway just to say I did it. It was the first time in my life. I won $1.25 and we left. During our stay, the weather was generally nice (around 70's) except for an occasional shower. I recommend the taking the trolley (there was one working down the road off a side street) for a nice tour of the garden district. The fee is reasonable ($1.50), and our bus passes included the trolley fee so that worked out great. There are plenty of taxi's though for those who want to spend the extra money. We did take a taxi down Canal street to the casino that night because of rain which cost $7.00 plus tip for about 10 blocks. Even though we were there for a 7 days, we still did not see as much as we would've liked.
Our stay there was during St Patrick's day week so there was lots of partying in the streets at night, we started at Pat O'Brien's which crowded quickly after dark and they had a very friendly waitstaff and Susan insisted we try every green colored drink on their menu, we then ended up at the Cat's Meow singing karoake! We decided to head back to our hotel around 9:30PM for the night as a parade was coming down Bourbon Street and beads were being thrown everywhere! I caught a few as we headed toward the hotel. Once back on Canal Street we saw two gentlemen walking our way towards hotel so asked them if we could walk along side them, we heard its not safe at night in some areas and so we made it to our hotel safely for a well needed night's rest. On the day of our departure, the airport shuttle picked us up outside our hotel no phone confirmation needed, it was on time, very friendly and we were on our way home again with no problems just a bit crowded on the plane again. I gotta tell you, the first class seats in this plane looked like the normal seats on my florida flight. All in all we had an oustanding time, met some great memorable people and enjoy the city of New Orleans. It's definitely worth a trip back there now that we know what the City is all about. And I feel the staff at our Clarion Hotel is one of the reasons we would stay there again.

Our stay at the Clarion Grand Boutique was very pleasant. We did not have to drive anywhere since the trolly stopped right in front of the hotel. The food at the Copeland downstairs was great. I will not soon forget our waitress Karmalia. Good luck with school and your future. We enjoyed our stay here very much and have already recommended this hotel to our friends.