Ritz-Carlton New Orleans Review: Jazz, Art Deco, and the French Quarter's Best Address
- Hotel Website: The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
- Location: Google Maps
- Book: Check availability
- Room Type: Executive Suite – King, Sofa bed, 700sqft/63sqm, Living/sitting area, Separate living room, 1.5 Bathrooms
- Review Score: Results of our review
- Hotel Fact: Set within the 1908 Beaux Arts Maison Blanche building, our hotel highlights traditional Southern ambiance with an elegant interior that reflects the graciousness of Garden District mansions.
Other Luxury Hotels in New Orleans
Canal Street — the best location in the city
Right on the boundary of the French Quarter and the CBD. The entire city is walkable from this front door.Jeremy Davenport live jazz nightly – The Davenport Lounge hosts legendary jazz musician Jeremy Davenport and his band most evenings. This isn’t background music — it’s a proper New Orleans cultural event inside a Ritz-Carlton bar.
The 3rd floor lobby reveal – You take the elevator up expecting a lobby and what opens in front of you is one of the most beautiful hotel arrivals in the American South. The giant floral display, the grand staircase, the terrace beyond.
25,000 sq ft spa — one of the largest in NOLA
Steam, sauna, whirlpool, and signature Voodoo Ritual treatments. Plan time here even if you’re not booking a service — the facilities alone are worth it.Service that earns the name – From the valet team who handled multiple car moves without a single complaint, to the lounge staff who made every cocktail feel like it was made specifically for us.
Craft cocktails in an Art Deco setting – All that gorgeous marble, mahogany, and dramatic lighting — the 1920s New Orleans glamour is not decorative nostalgia here. It’s the actual building.
The main lobby is on the 3rd floor — not the ground level. The ground floor is valet, street entrance, spa entrance, gym, and retail shop. Everything else — check-in, the flower display, the Club Lounge, the outdoor terrace — is upstairs. Don’t be confused when you walk in at street level.
The hotel occupies the former Maison Blanche department store, a 1908 Beaux-Arts landmark. The 3rd floor lobby layout is a direct result of that building history — and it’s one of the things that makes this property unlike any other Ritz-Carlton in the portfolio.
The Club Lounge is on the 3rd floor lobby level, not a dedicated high-rise floor like at most Ritz-Carlton properties. It’s conveniently located steps from check-in and offers enhanced food and beverage service throughout the day.
Use the valet. Parking near the French Quarter is not a fun experience. If you need to move your car multiple times, the valet team here handles it without making you feel like you’re inconveniencing anyone — we did it several times and they were gracious every single time.
Want to save on parking? McRory’s Parking Garage is right next door: 129 Burgundy St, New Orleans, LA 70112. A practical alternative if you don’t need the car frequently.
The spa is 25,000 sq ft — one of the largest in New Orleans. Budget real time for it, not just a quick treatment. The steam room, sauna, and whirlpool are worth the visit even if you skip a booked service. Signature Voodoo Ritual treatments are uniquely New Orleans.
No outdoor pool. The only pool is an indoor option in the gym — no views. If a resort-style pool is important to your stay, this is worth knowing in advance.
Jeremy Davenport plays most evenings in the Davenport Lounge from approximately 5:30 PM to 11:00 PM. Confirm the current schedule with the hotel — but plan your evening around being there for at least part of it. There is nothing else like it in a hotel in this city.
🕒🏨 24-hour room service
🍸 Bar
🏋️ Gym
📋🏢 Meeting rooms
🐾 Pet friendly
🍽️ Restaurants
💆♀️ Spa
The Luxe Atlas Rating
Design: 10/10
Vibe: 10/10
Romantic: 9/10
Air Conditioning: 10/10
Room: 9/10
Food: 8.5/10
Location: 10/10
Gym/Fitness: 10/10
Cleanliness: 10/10
Wow Factor: 9/10
Overall Experience: 9.55/10
Our Relaxed Take: The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans (A French Quarter Favorite!)
There is one luxury hotel in New Orleans that earns the address it occupies — and The Ritz-Carlton on Canal Street is it. Perfectly positioned where the French Quarter meets the Central Business District, this property pulls off something most hotels in this city attempt and few achieve: it gives you the full New Orleans cultural experience while never making you feel like you’ve left a five-star environment to find it.
We were upgraded to the Executive Suite, received a champagne and chocolate welcome from Classic Travel on arrival, and spent our evenings exactly the way New Orleans demands — listening to Jeremy Davenport play live jazz in the Davenport Lounge with craft cocktails in hand. This is our full review.
- If you are trying to save a buck, park in the indoor parking lot next door McRory’s Parking Garage, address is: 129 Burgundy St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Checking In — The 3rd Floor Lobby Moment Is Real
You pull up on Canal Street, hand the keys to the valet — who is already moving toward the car before you’ve fully stopped — and walk through the ground floor entrance. At street level it’s understated: valet staging, the entrance to the spa, the gym, and a small retail shop with candles, clothing, and Ritz-Carlton branded gear. Nothing prepares you for the elevator ride upstairs.
The 3rd floor opens into a full traditional Ritz-Carlton lobby — the kind of arrival that makes you stop walking for a moment. The giant floral arrangement in the center of the room is the first thing you register, then the marble, then the mahogany, then the outdoor terrace just off the lobby with its courtyard view. The check-in desk is to the right, the Club Lounge is steps away, and the whole space carries the weight of the 1908 building around it without feeling stuffy or preserved-in-amber.
We were upgraded to the Executive Suite on arrival — and when we got to the room, a champagne and chocolate welcome from Classic Travel was already waiting. That’s the kind of arrival that sets the tone for an entire stay. We were out of the suite and back in the lobby bar within the hour.
- The outdoor terrace off the 3rd floor lobby is a beautiful spot for morning coffee before the city wakes up. On weekends it frequently hosts weddings — which adds to the atmosphere rather than subtracting from it.
Art Deco, Marble, Mahogany — The Building Does the Work
The design story here is simple: the building is from 1908, the Art Deco details are original, and the Ritz-Carlton renovation respected them instead of overwriting them. The marble floors, the rich mahogany millwork, and the dramatic light fixtures that line the Davenport Lounge and the lobby corridors all capture a specific era of New Orleans glamour — the 1920s and 30s, when Canal Street was the axis of the entire city’s social life.
It’s a different experience from the newer luxury hotels in New Orleans that recreate this aesthetic. Here you’re inside the actual thing. The building has earned its details. Walking through it in the evening, when the lighting shifts and the jazz starts filtering through from the Davenport Lounge, the sense of place is unlike anything a recently constructed property could offer.
The rooms carry this through with plush bedding and city views that look out over Canal Street and the terrace area below — a perspective that reinforces the feeling of being at the center of New Orleans rather than adjacent to it.
Executive Suite — 700 Sq Ft, Separate Living Room, City Views
The Executive Suite upgrade was a genuine surprise and we made the most of it. At 700 square feet, the layout gives you a separate living room with a sofa bed, a proper bedroom, and 1.5 bathrooms — a full bath and a half-bath — which for a couple sharing the space makes the morning routine considerably smoother than in a standard king room.
The views look out over the city and the hotel’s terrace below — and in New Orleans, a city view from a Canal Street hotel means you’re watching one of the most historically layered street scenes in America from your window. The bedding is exactly what you expect from a Ritz-Carlton: plush, well-layered, the kind of sleep quality that makes you reconsider your mattress at home.
One honest note: we didn’t receive turndown service during our stay, despite being out of the room in the evenings. It wasn’t something that significantly affected the stay — we were out late enough that it barely registered — but it’s worth noting as a gap from the usual Ritz-Carlton standard.
As Elite members, the hotel itself provided some very nice amenities upon arrival, and the Classic Travel champagne and chocolates were waiting when we walked in. Between the suite upgrade, the welcome gifts, and the canal views from the living room window, the first impression of the room was hard to beat.
The Davenport Lounge, M Bistro & the Best Freshly Squeezed OJ in New Orleans
The food and music program here isn’t just good for a hotel — it’s genuinely competitive with the broader New Orleans dining and nightlife scene, which is saying something in a city that takes both seriously. Two venues, two very different experiences, both worth your time.
Davenport Lounge
Bar: Daily 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM · Live Jazz: Most evenings approx. 5:30 PM – 11:00 PM
The Davenport Lounge is the beating heart of this hotel — and one of the better bar experiences available in New Orleans regardless of whether you’re staying here. The room itself is gorgeous: a full stage, long bar, and a mix of seating from bar stools to plush couches that lets you find your level depending on how the evening is going.
The biggest draw is the live jazz. Jeremy Davenport — a genuine New Orleans legend — plays most evenings with his band from around 5:30 PM until 11:00 PM, and what happens in that room when he’s performing isn’t a hotel lounge act. It’s a cultural event wrapped in Ritz-Carlton comfort. The craft cocktail program is exceptional. We ordered multiple rounds and every single one was made with care — not the rushed, high-volume bartending you get in the French Quarter bars nearby. Sitting on one of those couches with a well-made cocktail and Jeremy Davenport twenty feet away is, genuinely, one of the better ways to spend a New Orleans evening.
M Bistro
Breakfast: Daily 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM · Louisiana cuisine
M Bistro sits right behind the Davenport Lounge bar and is where we started every morning. The focus is local Louisiana cuisine, and the breakfast spread delivered — bacon, all the classic morning staples, and special egg preparations that go beyond the usual hotel breakfast formula.
One specific thing worth calling out: get the orange juice. You can immediately tell it’s freshly squeezed — it tastes the way orange juice is supposed to taste, not the way most hotels serve it. It sounds like a small thing but it’s the kind of detail that sticks with you. The morning staff were warm and attentive without hovering, and the space transitions from the evening Davenport energy into a comfortable, unhurried breakfast environment that sets the right pace for a New Orleans day.
The 25,000 Sq Ft Spa — Plan More Time Than You Think You Need
The spa at The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans is one of the largest in the city at 25,000 square feet, and it earns that square footage in the way it’s laid out — this isn’t a spa that uses the space for lobbies and corridors. The treatment rooms, the steam room, the sauna, and the whirlpool all have real depth to them. The signature Voodoo Ritual treatments are genuinely New Orleans — drawing on regional traditions in a way that doesn’t feel like a hotel gimmick.
Our advice: even if you don’t book a treatment, plan to spend real time in the facilities. The steam room and whirlpool alone are worth building into a morning or afternoon. Plan for at least 90 minutes if you’re going to do it properly — this is not a 30-minute stop.
Gym
Located on the ground floor alongside the spa. Large and impressively equipped — virtually every piece of cardio and weight training equipment you’d need for a full workout. Open access for hotel guests.
Pool
Indoor only — located in the gym area with no outdoor access or views. If a resort-style pool experience matters to your stay, factor this in before booking. The spa facilities compensate well for guests who prioritize that over swimming.
The Special Touches from Classic Travel
The team here just makes everything feel so unique and special. As an elite member, I received some really nice amenities directly from the hotel itself. A huge shout-out to Classic Travel! They gave us champagne and chocolate treats—that was so incredibly kind of them, and we loved it!
Also, the valet team was super helpful. I had to move my car a few times, and they were always quick and gracious to assist. Just a quick note: we didn’t get turn-down service, even though we were out, but honestly, it was no big deal—didn’t spoil our stay at all!
Is The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans Worth It?
Without question — and we can’t wait to go back. The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans does something genuinely difficult: it delivers the full luxury hotel experience while being completely embedded in the culture of the city around it. Most luxury hotels in New Orleans offer you an escape from the French Quarter energy. This one gives you a polished front-row seat to it.
The Davenport Lounge with Jeremy Davenport playing live jazz is not a hotel amenity in the usual sense — it’s one of the best ways to spend an evening in New Orleans, full stop. The building’s 1908 Beaux-Arts bones, the Art Deco detailing, the 3rd floor lobby reveal, the 25,000 sq ft spa, the freshly squeezed orange juice at M Bistro, the valet team who never made us feel like moving the car was a burden — all of it adds up to a property that earns its rating and then some.
The one honest note is the lack of turndown service during our stay. Minor in the context of everything else, and it didn’t affect our enjoyment at all — but worth flagging for guests who consider that part of the Ritz-Carlton standard they’re paying for.
If you’re looking for the best luxury base next to the French Quarter — one that connects you to the real New Orleans rather than insulating you from it — this is where you stay. Book it.
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Pictures of The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
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Frequently Asked Questions — The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
Yes — it’s the best luxury hotel in New Orleans. The Canal Street location, the 1908 Beaux-Arts building, Jeremy Davenport live jazz nightly in the Davenport Lounge, the 25,000 sq ft spa, exceptional craft cocktails, and a team that genuinely delivers on the Ritz-Carlton service promise make this a standout even within the broader Ritz-Carlton portfolio.
