Review: Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans

Why book?

For the consistent and impressive levels of service that you can count on from the Four Seasons brand, with a peppering of local flavor.

Set the scene

This being the Four Seasons, you can imagine it’s a well-heeled coterie of linen-suited and sun-hatted holiday makers, all being welcomed by perhaps the suavest-looking lobby staff in the city. There’s a cultured, urbane look to most of the guests sipping Martinis at the bar before they dine at one of the hotel’s flagship restaurants.

The backstory

The formerly-derelict World Trade Center at the riverside end of Canal and Poydras Streets is enjoying a new, high-end lease of life thanks to a $530 million investment by The Four Seasons group.

The rooms

Consistently high standards are an expected hallmark of any Four Seasons property, and their New Orleans outpost is certainly no exception. Floor-to-ceiling windows grace both the city and river-view rooms, all replete with white oak fixtures and a stylish mid-century modern look. The white Carrara marble bathrooms are memorably chic, and above each bed there’s a delightful plaster wall relief of magnolia flowers.

Food and drink

The Chandelier Bar has quickly become one of the most memorable watering holes in New Orleans, with its showstopper eponymous chandelier a gleaming cascade of some 15,000 crystals. The restaurants, too, bring out the culinary big guns. Chef Alon Shaya’s ground-floor restaurant Miss River is a tribute to the region’s flavors and has a beautiful, modern Art Deco dining room. Chef Donald Link’s newest city venture, Chemin à la Mer ("The Pathway to the Sea"), has an equally innovative regional menu, celebrating the bounty of the Mississippi River all around its grand oyster bar.

The spa

The spa meets the standards that you would expect for a Four Seasons property, with a full range of up to the minute therapeutic and beauty treatments. Male guests might be tempted by their ‘Southern Gentleman’ package.

The neighborhood/area

Set tastefully back from busy downtown streets, the discreet entrance opens up into a striking lobby. Acoustic wooden bafflers frame the space and help create a sense of intimacy, with grand works from local artists peppered about and instilling a tangible sense of place. You’re almost immediately thrust into the gleaming environs of the hotel’s chandelier bar, which engenders an immediately-welcoming sense of that famed New Orleans revelry.

The service

There’s a Louisianan friendliness that further softens the polite formality of the Four Seasons brand, and I was greeted by name and with smiles as I came and went and came again. Again, I’ll make the case that these are the smartest-dressed hotel staff in town, with their fitted blue tunics and Panama hats.

For families

The hotel is ideally placed for family exploration of the city’s downtown attractions, and is attached to Vue Orleans, the city’s only observation deck.
Eco effort

The hotel reflects the stated policies of the Four Seasons brand and its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) program

Accessibility

The property is fully ADA compliant, with a wide range of mobility and accessibility features.

Anything left to mention?

In the guest rooms, high-tech control panels make personalizing the ambient preferences an easy matter, and there are also wireless phone chargers and grooming accessories such as clothes brushes in the closets. The hotel’s heated outdoor infinity pool is the only one of its kind in the city, and there’s a tranquil garden courtyard, an eight-room beauty atelier and a cutting-edge fitness center with Peloton bikes.