GoSaints

as a Platinum for the last few yrs, and having done a lot of work/play travel to my hometown of New Orleans-- i've stayed in most of the Marriott properties there, mostly at the non-FS properties.. My favorite is the CY Convention Ctr/Warehouse Dist. because the location is great, as you are a 15 min walk or a 5 min cab ride from the Quarter or the Superdome, but far enough away so that the all-night partying crowds won't affect your sleep.. Also it is probably the most unique-looking CY i've ever stayed in, the lobby and dining areas are very 'New Orleansy' and as others have mentioned, it's done up in the Warehouse District style with lots of exposed brick, high ceilings, beams, skylights, etc.. I have stayed on the aforementioned floor 2A before-- the rooms on that floor are really nice, kind of like small Warehouse style apartments, one of the rooms i stayed in was taken up by an enormous hot tub that consumed about 1/4 of the room.. But my favorite room is a suite on the 5th floor, and i call it the 'Super Bowl Suite' because we have good luck whenever i'm in town for a game and stay there.. Also, i have to say that the staff there are very friendly and helpful.

the RI and SHS are very close to the CY ( within a 2or 3 min. walk in either direction) so the location qualities are similar-- SHS is more modern and, i believe, larger.. RI is not quite as nice as the CY and SHS, but the RI is the only Marriott property in the City that accepts pets, so i wind up staying there sometimes.. also, though the RI is very near the other two properties-- the walk to get there seems a little more dicey and the couple blocks surrounding it slightly darker than the location of the CYand the SHS-- anyone familiar with NOLA can tell you that these things are different from block-to-block.. Also, parking at the RI isn't as convenient as at the CY and SHS; you have to walk all the way to the back of the hotel and across the street, as opposed to being within the structure as with the other two.

I only recently (last month) tried the CY on St. Charles & Canal (near French Quarter) and it wasn't bad-- the location is, in some ways, better than the other hotels i mentioned, since it's directly across the street from the FQ and and close to everything else-- but it's an entirely different vibe than the other properties-- a lot more hustle-and-bustle, high-rise in the City type-feel than the other hotels, which are a little more out-of-the-way and low key.. Also, our room was pretty small, but this is probably due to the fact that we arrived late on BCS weekend and got whatever was left.

If i had to choose, in order, i'd stay at the CY Conv. Ctr., SHS, CY FQ, RI.