St. vincents, New Orleans

Do yourself a favour and stay at St. Vincent's Guesthouse. As soon you walk into the reception you feel welcome and at home. The staff is very very friendly and allways good for all sorts of tips on where to go and what to do. They know where to get the best crawfish, where to hit the music scene or witch tours are worth going on. The guesthouse is on Magazine Street in the Garden District which has a very lokal atmosphere. Just across the street there's a great little coffee shop, a block down (at Surrey's) you'll get the best breakfast in town and if you walk a couple of blocks uptown there's a lot of neat little restaurants and cafes. If you don't feel like walking you can catch the street car to The French Quarter - it'll take you there in 10 min. A really cool thing about St. Vincent's is that you can also just stay there. Sit in the garden or hang out in the reception cracking jokes with the staff - soon you'll want to take each and everyone of them with you on your further travels. Tine and Lone

This hotel can't be beat for the price. It was clean, the mattress fine, and the staff friendly. Additionally the location is great. I grew up in this neighborhood and I don't consider it dangerous. I loved being two blocks from Saint Charles and so close to the French Quarter. It doesn't have cable or room service, but I don't travel (especially to NOLA) to sit in the hotel room.

OK, so I didn't read one bad review about this place, and price-wise I cannot complain much. But be aware. There are cockroaches, so far in all of the three rooms I have been in. I have been switched around because of poor organization skills in the office. I had orginally booked the shared room (which is the same price as the private room!) and was asked to sign a paper that the establishment is not responsible for stolen items. The shared accommodations are said to include a locker, which was verified by telephone before I booked. I am told that their lockers are on backorder (luckily I have a car to store my valuables in when I am not carrying them with me.) Originally I was told that I would be kept in a private room should the dorm not be ready (including installed lockers.) They have not offered to reduce the price seeing that I am only receiving partial services. I am really disappointed with my experience here and will surely not stay here again. Neither will I refer this place to my friends visiting NO. Other hostels offer more for less (ie. locker, kitchen for 20$ a night). I am sorry St-Vincent's but you need to get with the program.

I have stayed at the St. Vincent's Guest House twice it the past 8 months. Both times as a volunteer working to rebuild New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The accommodations are sub-par to say the least. When we were there in May '07 our shower head did not work. Which was okay seeing as how we were in New Orleans to work not lounge around. And we just used a cup and the tub faucet and we were fine. There was at least one domestic disturbance that took place outside the front of the guest house and did wake up some of our fellow volunteers. Also, a cockroach ran across my face while I was sleeping. You definitely had the feeling you should keep your shoes on in the room. Our organization felt it was a decent enough place to stay on our return trip in December. We again had 17 people and several vehicles and St. Vincent's could accommodate all of us at a reasonable price (lower than the advertised price). When we arrived the staff had little knowledge that we were coming and had to scramble to put rooms together for us. (Not all room have heating, A/C). The first full day of our trip rained and we were not able to do the volunteer work we were scheduled to do for homeowners in the area. Since we had nothing to do we offered our services to St. Vincent's. They happily agreed to have us paint a guest room and several pieces of furniture. And we were happy to feel useful. Thinking we had established a great relationship with St. Vincent's we were shocked to be asked to leave one night early. You see it was New Years Eve and the day before the Sugar Bowl so they could get more money for the rooms. Mind you, we had booked through the first but apparently that was not good enough for them. We then had to find new accommodations on the busiest night of the year in New Orleans. Nice way to treat those who are trying to help you out. St. Vincent's is definitely not worth the advertised $74/night for the conditions of the guest house nor for the attitude of the owner.

i stayed in new orleans on a vacation with my husband at st vincent's guest house on magazine st,and i was very pleased with my stay,the staff at st vincent's was wonderful and helpful,and the rooms were really nice and comfortable,and recently painted and renovated. the area is full of tourists and everyone is walking. i must say the neighborhood is quite safe.and ill be sure to tell anyone who loves old historical buildings that they will be pleased to stay at this guest house.

I come to New Orleans once or twice a year to blow off some steam and visit old friends, and I’ve stayed at St. Vincent’s since I found it in 2002. The whole city, including the hotel, seemed pretty disheveled last year, and I started to wonder if it would ever get back on its feet. I’m glad to report that it’s rounded the bend, and I had a blast last weekend when I stayed at St. Vincent’s again. Like New Orleans, it’s not for the faint of heart, but it can still draw you in with its character and old world charm. The manager’s a real character, and the owner takes care of me whenever I need anything, like an extra space heater when the cold snap hit the first night after I arrived. The little restaurant is still closed, but the cool little coffee shop across the street now sells soup and sandwiches - good stuff, and cheap too. In my opinion, there are expensive places to stay, and fun places to stay. I like to settle into New Orleans like a warm bath, and this is the place to do it. It’s an awesome old building, a little tattered around the edges, but more loveable for it. And you can walk nearly anywhere worth going to. Call me a romantic, but I give this place four stars.

It used to be a clean, cheap place to stay before the hurricane. We went back in January of 2007 and it was aweful. I would not say that the major problems with the place are not due to the hurrican but a change in management. The problem is they don't clean anything. Judging by the clientele, they now rent rooms by the hour. All four couples in our group where given keys to disgusting rooms. The room they gave us had hair, dead bugs and several other unsavory items on the floor. Most of the rooms have broken windows in them. The pool and fountains had not been attended to in some time. We told the staff that we would not be staying, they yelled at us and called us ignorant. I am surprised this hotel is even an option on this website. This hotel was a costly mistake. Very few people in my traveling group got thier money back.

I booked this place online a couple of years before the hurricane and it was awful even then! I checked in with no problem and started to my room. The hallways were a maze, and around each corner it only got dirtier and nastier and had more cockroaches and empty beer and wine bottles. I found my room and the door was unlocked. The bed had a sheet over a bare mattress and a very thin blanket for cover. The bathroom was nasty with cockroaches in the sink and bathtub. I immediately tried to use the phone to find other accommodations but the phone didn't work. I went to the front desk and told them I was not staying. After several weeks I did manage to get my money back for the second night. I have stayed in many European hotels, bed and breakfast inns and hostels, and this one only compares with one in which I was forced to spend a night in London because I had no transportation and it was very late at night and was impossible for me to leave. I would not recommend this horror to anyone for any reason. If you can't afford to stay anywhere else, then you can't afford to go.

Pros: I felt very safe parking my car in the (FREE) attached parking lot. The location was perfect if you plan to use the public transportation system. The Magazine St bus route starts at Canal St and travel down Magazine Street and then turns back toward Canal St. The bus picks you up one block from Magazine St (Directly behind the Guesthouse)and drops you off on Magazine St directly infront of the Guesthouse. I thought that was great since we would return from the French Quarter in the middle of the night. The St Charles Ave street car was only a three block walk also. We got a really good hot breakfast each morning. It included scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast, juice and milk. It was prepared by the same really nice guy in kichen with a large serving window that allowed you to see the conditons that your food was made in. The front desk staff was extremely helpful in suggesting things to do and always offered to call for a cab or to book a tour for us. Our room was spacious enough for two double beds that were clean and actually pretty comfortable. The bathroom was larger than most hotel bathrooms. There was a corner area in our room that had a counter top and a place to put our luggage underneath it. There is a Walmart close by that is easy to drive to. Upstairs balcony overlooking Magazine St has tables to sit and eat or to just enjoy the view. The patio surrounding the pool was very peaceful and quite. It was nice place to relax and rest up from all the walking you'll do in New Orleans. The neighborhood is safe and has a ton of beautiful houses surrounding it because it is located in the heart of the Garden District. CONS: We were promised a microwave and frige (at no extra charge) prior to our arrival. Since we stayed for 8 days, we felt this to be of great importance. However, it took four days before we got our fridge and we never did get the microwave. During the last two days of our stay, the elevator had an out of order sign on it. That was a bit of a pain when it came time to load up our car. The phone worked but the tv did not. That didn't bother me much but it would have been nice to watch some local news in the morning while getting ready. OVER ALL: It was a great value and a great place to stay for those travelers on a budget and want to get the most of there vacation money. It's definately not the Hilton but, it was a safe and clean place to sleep, shower, store you belongings and eat breakfast. I will definately stay there again the next time I vist New Orleans.

This hotel should not even receive 2 stars!! The pictures LIE!! The odor as soon as you walk in was awful - the rooms were small, dingy and smelly. We were shown several, but could not stay because the smell was so bad and both of us had coughing fits while they were trying to find another room. This place was terrible and I would never recommend this to my worst enemy. I felt dirty when I left.