Bourbon Orleans: French Quarter 3-star getaway

Any vacation, whether it is a weekend getaway or extended stay, is made better once a central homing location to area attractions has been established.

When in New Orleans’ French Quarter the Bourbon Orleans Hotel offers comfort, hospitality and old-style class to patrons wanting to slow their pace, take in the music, experience the food, and become consumed in the arts and attractions of a world famous vacationing destination that is also a unique setting for business meetings and special events.

Just a little more than an hour drive from Houma or Thibodaux, and approximately 90 minutes from Morgan City, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel is located in the heart of activity at 717 Orleans St. between Bourbon Street and Royal Street.

The Bourbon Orleans is one of the most historic combination structures in the Vieux Carr/ and is in easy walking distance to live music establishments, restaurants and taverns, art galleries, specialty shops and attractions of cultural and historic significance.

“The great thing is that we have a very unique hotel,” Bourbon Orleans Director of Sales and Marketing Laurie Guidry said. “It is not going to be the same cookie cutter hotel.”

Display Event

Owners of the Bourbon Orleans combined efforts with the Dauphine Orleans, St. Louis Hotel, Wyndham Riverfront, Audubon Cottages, Crowne Plaza New Orleans Airport Hotel and the Hotel Le Marais to host the New Orleans Hotel Collection and introduce specialty packages for tourists and business travelers alike. Each hotel highlighted what is available in the Crescent City based on their individual locations.

As for the featured French Quarter hotel, invited guests to the Bourbon Orleans’ portion of the promotional collection were treated to an overnight stay ideal for adult couples wanting to surround themselves in southern hospitality and simple elegance in a 3-star setting that genuinely is as comfortable as being at home.

After a cocktail reception, dinner was served with a sampling of the hotel’s typical Roux of Orleans restaurant menu, which opened with appetizers of jumbo crab cakes, Louisiana shrimp and goat cheese crepes.

An oyster Rockefeller soup was served as well as the selection between a house salad crowned with cane vinegar dressing and candied pecans or salad midi with champagne marinated tomatoes, fresh basil, avocado and goat cheese.

The entree selection for the evening offered a choice between pecan-crusted puppy drum, pasta jambalaya or filet Marchand de Vin.

It did not take long looking at the hotel restaurant’s regular menu, as well as the specials for that night, to determine this was an eatery aimed more toward grown up tastes and an appreciation for the culinary arts. There were no chicken nuggets to be found. But that detail is not an indication that the Bourbon Orleans is anti-family according to Guidry. “I’m sure if you had someone who had to have chicken nuggets, we could figure out how to get it for them,” she said with a smile in her voice.

Hotel dining also includes unique choices from the Bourbon Oh Bar, off the lobby along Bourbon Street, Napoleon’s Itch Wine and Martini Loft, and the Cajun and American fare of Paillard’s Restaurant.

Following dinner on the night this hotel was being displayed, guests were invited to a third floor suite with a sleeping loft that offered exterior access to a large wrap-around balcony common on many French Quarter structures, to enjoy Bananas Foster and a selection of fruits and cheeses.

From the balcony view, overlooking the immediate area, General Manager Mark Wilson pointed out music bars on Bourbon Street, a backside view of the St. Louis Cathedral in the opposite direction and a small smoke shop across the street from his hotel where a selection of fine cigars could be found for relaxed enjoyment in the comfortable summer night air.

While younger guests were thought to have taken in some of the late nightlife of the quarter, older members of the group were ready to retire to their rooms by 10:30 p.m. Hotel management said street sounds might be heard. However, none seemed to filter through the walls and windows of this structure, an example of hotels that are not built like that anymore.

Property History

The Bourbon Orleans is comprised of four adjacent structures, with the Orleans Ballroom, since 1817 it has been designated the oldest in New Orleans, as well as the hotel’s main lobby, caf/’s and kitchens.

Up twin winding staircases is featured the original grand ballroom, which at 2,712 square feet is being renovated to its period splendor with crystal chandeliers suspended from a 20-foot ceiling, full length windows and double doors to an exterior balcony.

Along with the Orleans Ballroom was the Orleans Theatre, which first opened in 1815, was destroyed by fire in 1816 and then reopened in 1819 after being rebuilt.

The second structure is a red brick building that houses most of the hotel’s meeting rooms. While in a district that dates back to the 18th century, these accommodations offer technological connections to assisting in the planning and development of business for the 21st century.

A third structure with guest rooms was added to this building complex in the 1960s to enclose the present-day pool and courtyard.

The fourth structure is a small cottage where administrative offices are housed and are only a short walk for management to get wherever they might be needed within minutes.

While each building is unique to itself, the combined aesthetics provide the sights and sounds that blend them together as being unmistakably a common property.

For decades the Orleans Ballroom and Theatre were gathering places for galas, weddings, and political conventions. Unconfirmed tradition has it that Andrew Jackson announced his candidacy for president here in 1828.

The Orleans Ballroom, prior to the Civil War, was often referred to as the Quadroon Ballroom, where free men and women of mixed race would gather for formal events with the intention of securing young women of that racial distinction an arrangement with wealthy Caucasian men that could provide a woman of his liking with a home of her own and financial support for her family.

By 1881 the era of grand balls and arranged relationships for mutual benefit began to wane, and the Orleans Ballroom was sold to the Sisters of the Holy Family, only the second order of black nuns ever to exist in the United States.

The religious order founded a school for girls there in 1850, St. Mary’s Academy, and in 1860 opened a hospital for needy blacks. Services offered by the Sisters of the Holy Family eventually outgrew the Orleans Street facility and it was sold when they moved to a new location in East New Orleans in the early 1960s.

A real estate developer bought the old property and in 1964 the Bourbon Orleans Hotel was born. A series of renovations and upgrades took place over the years. This included a restoration of the building’s historic design in 1984 and completion of a $15 million restoration project in 2004. Hotel staff state that more renovations are to be complete in mid-October, but any indication of active construction was not noticed by guests and caused no inconvenience or disruption of hotel services.

Hotel Features

With the decorative flavor of old European elegance that is far from ostentatious, the Bourbon Orleans features 218 non-smoking guest rooms with private balcony views of either the Cathedral Gardens, hotel courtyard or street life of the French Quarter. Among those guestrooms are 25 townhouse suites, 15 junior suites and 15 deluxe rooms with full balconies.

Each room includes the expected 42-inch cable television, coffee maker, ironing board and hair dryer. It is also pleasantly noticed that the rooms are handicap accessible, have wireless and high speed computer connections, cordless two-line telephones, work spaces, in-room safes and beds of a comfort level that removes any worry of experiencing the typical inability to sleep during the first night of a hotel stay.

Guest services include the presence of a concierge, a full fitness center, outdoor heated saltwater pool, laundry services, safe-deposit boxes and 24-hour valet.

For business meetings or special events the Orleans Ballroom can seat up to 350 people. The St. Mary Salon and Courtyard can accommodate 150, and St. Ann Cottage features two flexible use meeting rooms and a courtyard, including the St. Joseph room that comfortably holds 77 people.

Area Attractions

Getting in good with the staff, an easy accomplishment, has added benefits for guests and includes being directed to small getaways for coffee, beignets and sandwiches at unknown to typical tourist locations such as the Royal Blend or the Caf/ Beignet.

Attractions accessible by foot include the famed St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, the Jazz Museum, the Old U.S. Mint, Old Ursuline Convent, the French Market, antique shops, art galleries, boutiques and unlimited live music.

“There is so much to do,” Guidry said. “There is the whole local theme. Frenchman Street is the locals’ Bourbon Street. That’s where the locals go for live jazz. But of course Bourbon Street is Bourbon Street. You can do so many things.”

Orleans Collection

While enjoying the sights, sounds and flavors of the French Quarter was part of the Bourbon Orleans event for their special group of invitees, as well as everyday activities for all guests, options for special stays were not lost as interest in longer stays grew.

The New Orleans Hotel Collection includes a Pay One Price promotion. With this package single prices starting as low as $119 a night, rather than the regular $250 price for off periods of the week or year, offers more than just a room. This package includes free parking (normally $34 for 24 hours), free shopping coupons and a free Continental breakfast.

The Gas and Go special provides a rebate of up to $29 with a two-night stay. Simply present a gas receipt upon check-in to claim this deal.

Mardi Gras World is the package that offers overnight accommodations and entry for two into the Blaine Kern Mardi Gras Showrooms.

These and other hotel collection packages can be found at www.neworleanscollection.com or by calling a reservation agent at (855) 798-6642.

Guests and employees

Memorable experiences of working or playing at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel are not exclusively reserved for promotional guests.

Kate Beadle of Portland Oregon and Claudia DeRoma of Minneapolis, Minn., are sisters of a family scattered across the country that chose New Orleans as the location of a reunion and the Bourbon Orleans Hotel as their central stay location while they catch up with one another’s lives in one of the most memorable cities on earth.

“We’ve only been here one night,” Beadle said as the sisters shared a moment over breakfast. “The room is comfortable and people are great. We were told it would be noisy, but it wasn’t that way at all.”

Charles Jupiter is a front desk agent at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. “I love working here,” he said. “It is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. You get to meet a lot of interesting people. There are a lot of personalities.”

“Clientele differs,” Guidry said. “During the weekday will be more of the business crowd. The hotel does about 70 percent leisure and 30 percent group meetings. There are a lot of local folks that come down for the weekend.”

Route of return

Since personable guests of the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, not wanting to miss any attraction, would normally be getting around the French Quarter on foot, by carriage ride or on streetcars, this getaway takes far less than one tank of gas to enjoy.

“The Bourbon Orleans is the Grand Dame,” Guidry said comparing this location to other establishments the city has to offer. “We are the jewel of the quarter. That’s the great thing about New Orleans. You have people from Houma. You have people from Baton Rouge and Lafayette. It is a melting pot with people from all over the world. It is an international destination at your doorstep. That’s what makes it special.”

Guidry offered a reminder that in addition to the New Orleans Collection discounts, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel offers special events and packages throughout the year that cater to a variety of interests. It is a trip that could easily become a tradition.

Bourbon Orleans: French Quarter 3-star getaway