Lucky Inn

Yolanda made check-in easy, and there was also a helpful young woman whose name I didn't catch. She pointed us toward good places to eat and enjoy our visit. The staff were friendly and the rooms were clean and nice to look at. We had an excellent stay and I'd happily book this hotel on my next visit to New Orleans. 10 out of 10, would recommend.

The place looked cool, but that didn't make up for the problems. We liked that it was gated and felt fairly safe, though we wouldn't stay again. The bathroom was missing a toilet paper holder and towel holder, and there was other broken stuff too. When I told the front desk, the man just stared as if it wasn't his problem. We had to ask several times for hand soap, and he seemed not to know what I meant. Nothing felt properly clean. The air conditioning was the most frustrating part. We couldn't control the fan, which kept turning on and off. When it was off, the room felt stale and dry, and it was hard to sleep. After evenings out, the room was at 75° each time, even in mid May. As others have mentioned, some things advertised online weren't there. The missing mini-fridge was the biggest disappointment, and there was no cable TV, so we had to cast from our phones. The man who checked us in on Friday was very unhelpful and rather rude. He wouldn't make eye contact with my wife, even though she had made the reservation. The woman who checked us out Monday was great.

The staff were all really nice, and the place is close to the street car. A day or 3 day transit pass is worth buying. It sounds like management or the owners are the source of the problems, and I feel for the staff who have to deal with them. We arrived to find they didn't have our reservation. It took nearly an hour to sort out, which disrupted our evening plans. Our first room was tiny, with one small bedside dresser, two coat hangers, no fridge, and a smart TV that required logging in or casting from our own devices. It wasn't fully clean, and the AC didn't work. The first-floor walls were thin too. They couldn't reach maintenance when we asked about the AC, so they offered another room. It was almost identical, but at least the AC worked. A roof and a bed. What more can you expect from a hotel these days?

The renovations have made a real difference, and the hotel has clearly tried to change its feel and reputation. A lot of the reviews seem outdated. We came in with low expectations but were impressed by the friendly staff and our clean, comfortable room. It's about a 10 minutes trolley or bike ride to downtown, or around a 30-minute safe walk via Canal street. While we were there, the staff happened to host a free crawfish boil, with bottomless Cajun food and beer before we went out. Check it out!