Start with the Dew Drop Inn. Frank Painia opened it in 1939, it became the most important rhythm and blues room in the South, it sat empty for fifty years, and it reopened in 2023 with seventeen rooms each built around somebody from the building's own history. Around it: a converted church in the Marigny, an 1883 porch bar under the oaks on St. Charles, and the Monteleone's rotating carousel. Be warned, the Black-owned lodging count in this city is genuinely small, and we would rather tell you that than pad it.
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Frank Painia opened this in 1939 and it became the most important rhythm and blues room in the South, where Little Richard improvised Tutti Frutti and Ray Charles slept upstairs. Seventeen rooms now, each built around a figure from the building's history, plus a music venue, restaurant and the Haven Pool Club.
Pip’s Tip Black-owned. A 1939 Green Book landmark, reopened 2023
An eight-bedroom contemporary house with a courtyard garden, just off Magazine Street in the Irish Channel. Books through Airbnb rather than a hotel engine.
Pip’s Tip Black-owned. Three minutes' walk to Magazine Street
Seventy-one rooms across four converted religious buildings where no two rooms match. Heated pool and courtyard, the Elysian Bar in the old rectory, and Frenchmen Street a short walk away.
Pip’s Tip A deconsecrated church, school, rectory and convent in one compound
Three 1861 buildings wrapped around a Saltillo-tiled pool and brick courtyard, with four separate food and drink outlets and a location right on Magazine Street.
Pip’s Tip A MICHELIN Key hotel. Chapel Club runs Friday DJs open to the public
A restored nineteenth-century mansion directly on the streetcar line, with a saltwater pool, a back patio and a modern Creole kitchen that locals book for themselves.
Pip’s Tip Fourteen rooms. Small enough that the bar feels like a private party
An 1883 National Register building, recently restored with its original mahogany, a new garden and patio, and drinks allowed anywhere on the grounds. People come for the porch whether or not they are staying.
Pip’s Tip The porch bar under the oaks is a city institution
An art-filled former City Hall annex that reads like a private residence, with coffee at your door in the morning and wine and charcuterie in the evening. Salon Salon sits behind a hidden door.
Pip’s Tip One MICHELIN Key two years running. Formerly Maison de la Luz
The Quarter's grand dame, open since 1886, with a rooftop pool deck and a literary pedigree running from Faulkner to Capote. Prime Royal Street position.
Pip’s Tip The Carousel Bar actually rotates. Family-run five generations
Seven warehouses knitted into one hotel, named for the city's first woman newspaper publisher, with a hidden brick courtyard on a genuinely quiet block. Couvant downstairs and live music in the Press Room.
Pip’s Tip Built into the old Daily Picayune HQ and the Peychaud's Bitters factory
Art Deco bones with a rooftop pool, an intimate jazz room and five drinking and dining outlets in one building, with DJs, live local artists and pool parties on the calendar.
Pip’s Tip 1928 Art Deco. Formerly the Ace Hotel
A rooftop pool with skyline views, the Commons Club and the Shag Room, and a calendar that gives you a reason to stay in the building. Named among Travel + Leisure's World's Best.
Pip’s Tip The strongest nightlife programming of any hotel on this list
An 1893 Waldorf Astoria with one of the great hotel interiors in America, a rooftop pool with private cabanas and a full Waldorf Astoria Spa.
Pip’s Tip The Sazerac Bar. The block-long lobby is worth the walk-through alone
Museum-quality art throughout, the largest standard rooms in the city, a rooftop saltwater pool and spa, and nightly live music in the Polo Club Lounge.
Pip’s Tip Entry through a private walled courtyard. The quiet downtown option
A fourteen-storey 1927 landmark on the streetcar route and well clear of Quarter noise, with four dining and drinking outlets and live jazz in the Bayou Bar Tuesday through Saturday.
Pip’s Tip Hot Tin on the roof is the best rooftop in the city
Design-forward Kimpton with the deliberately over-the-top Peacock Room as its signature drinking room, plus King Brasserie and a coffee bar off the lobby.
Pip’s Tip Directly on the Mardi Gras parade route. No pet fees
The restored thirty-four-storey 1968 World Trade Center tower, with a seventy-five-foot rooftop pool, the Chandelier Bar and two chef-driven restaurants in the building.
Pip’s Tip River views from most rooms. The observation deck upstairs is closed
A nineteenth-century coffee warehouse with exposed brick, timber beams and heart-pine floors, and a rotating gallery curated with the local collective Where Y'Art Works.
Pip’s Tip Nina Compton's Compère Lapin is downstairs
Seven restored cottages around private courtyards, one of which housed Audubon while he worked on Birds of America. The pool is billed as the oldest in the Quarter.
Pip’s Tip Seven cottages, a heated saltwater pool, 24-hour butler service
Edgar Degas lived here in 1872 and 1873, and the guest rooms are named for the family. Stays include the house tour and a Creole breakfast.
Pip’s Tip The only Degas home anywhere in the world open to the public
A Curio Collection hotel built into the WWII Museum campus, with 1940s design throughout and one of the larger rooftop rooms in the city on the ninth floor.
Pip’s Tip On the National WWII Museum campus. Rosie's on the Roof upstairs
A 1939 Green Book landmark where Little Richard improvised Tutti Frutti, shut for fifty years and reopened in 2023 by Curtis Doucette Jr.
Group rates when the family travels. Members hear first.
Sixteen cities in. Rest easy in the Crescent City.
