I had a conference to go to in New Orleans earlier this month so I made a weekend out of it and stuck around. I had never been to New Orleans before and was excited to see what the city had to offer. Plus, at various odd times, the Floridian in me wants some Southern food. GRITS!!
Well, unfortunately for me, what the city had to offer that weekend was WRESTLEMANIA XXX. Yes, the 30th anniversary of Wrestlemania with Hulk Hogan coming out of retirement and everything. Wrestling fans from all around the world — who knew this was such a global empire! Hotel rooms were hard to come by, especially central ones. For my conference, I was staying at the iconic Hyatt from Hurricane Katrina. 1000+ rooms! And they couldn’t accommodate me for the weekend, just to give you an idea. So The Ritz it was. Not many wrestling fans stay at The Ritz, apparently.
Not that I was complaining, of course. You could do worse than The Ritz for a stay in New Orleans. Here’s what I liked and disliked:
What I Liked…
- The location…just two blocks from Bourbon Street, The Ritz was super easy to walk to/from with most of the things I wanted to do for the short amount of time I had. You might know I love walking, so this was awesome.
- The bar…live music most nights I was there! Great bands too.
- The spa! I didn’t use the spa for any beauty treatments, but after a day of a lot of walking, I really needed a hot tub. The Ritz has one! It was great. Although they wouldn’t show me to the locker room because I wasn’t using the spa so I had to get changed in the bathroom. Annoying.
- Room service. Biscuits and gravy for $10. Pretty fantastic.
What I Disliked
- The whole “you can have free Internet because you’re a Marriott Rewards member but only on so many devices” thing. I have A LOT of devices. Also, even though I was a Marriott Rewards member and I was supposed to get Internet for free, they still charged me for it so I had to deal with that at check-out.
- The distractedness of the check-in staff. It was like my desk clerk had memorized a script. It was off-putting. I expected better of a Ritz…something more personal and welcoming. He was talking so fast I had to ask him to slow down.
- The lack of security cameras. Maybe they were super-secret-hidden cameras but there were a couple of times where I came in off the street and there was no doorman to greet me. And no cameras. (Again, unless they were very well-hidden.) Call me a wimp but because New Orleans has its unsavory bits and there are A LOT of drunken louts, I did feel a little unsafe in and around the hotel at times.
Would I stay here again? Maybe. It was expensive. I was trapped into it because I booked my plane ticket to New Orleans before I booked my hotel room and when I booked the plane ticket, I didn’t realize that Wrestlemania was in town. I am sure there a are places to stay in New Orleans that are just as nice as well as cheaper, so I might look at those first before I commit to The Ritz again.
