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Roosevelt New Orleans: A Waldorf Astoria Hotel Review

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Overall: The Roosevelt New Orleans embodies classic luxury in a well-kept, historic hotel.

Pros: Amazing value (especially for Hilton elites), great pool deck, beautiful antique furnishings.

Cons: Can’t think of any!

We paid: $0; 39,000 Hilton points for 1 night.

(Note: 39,000 points is a great deal and we got it because we stayed on a Sunday night following a holiday weekend. Normal range is closer to 40,000 – 70,000 Hilton points per night.)

How to stay here without paying full price:

  1. Get one of the Hilton Amex cards and link it to your Hilton account.
  2. Hit the minimum spend required in 3 months for the Hilton card you chose:
  3. Wait for your bonus points (and/or weekend nights) to come into your Hilton account.
  4. Once your bonus points/nights hit your Hilton account, search the app or website for award availability. Standard Nights at the Roosevelt New Orleans range from 40,000 – 70,000 points per night, meaning we got an exceptionally cheap award night. You can stack free weekend nights with a night you book with your points too.
  5. Book online through the Hilton app or website, OR if you want to stack your weekend night(s) to the reservation, you should call Hilton.
  6. Make sure to take advantage of your elite benefits during your stay, which at the Roosevelt New Orleans hotel means a $30 food and beverage credit and 1,000 bonus Hilton points.

For full step-by-step instructions, see my guide on booking Hilton hotels for free here.

Beautiful front of hotel
Image courtesy of the hotel

Full review – Hotel:

We were already sad to be staying here only one night when we checked in. And then we were even more sad when we were upgraded from a Standard Room to a luxury suite! This is, of course, thanks to my partner’s Hilton Diamond status from the Hilton Amex Aspire card. Nonetheless, this was an incredible upgrade from our 39,000-point cost for a Standard Room.

  • Picture of the bedroom of our huge suite at the Waldorf Astoria New Orleans
  • Living room showing a striped couch, plush ottoman, chair, and separate wetbar at the Waldorf Astoria New Orleans
  • half bath sink
  • View from other direction of the living room looking into the bedroom for our suite at the Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria New Orleans

This suite was probably about 1,000 square feet, no joke, with a fully separate living room and 1.5 bathrooms. Also, they had no problem checking us in a couple hours early before official checkin time.

As a Hilton Diamond, my partner’s benefits (aside from the incredible upgrade) included 1,000 bonus Hilton points and a $30 food & beverage credit to use on the property. I love how we receive bonus points even if we didn’t pay any cash for the room. Also, the restaurant and bar options are legitimately cool at the Roosevelt.

Review – Restaurants

We happily used our food & beverage credit (and then some) at the Sazerac bar. I ordered an actual Sazerac cocktail and my partner got the Ramos Gin Fizz, complete with the egg white foam:

  • Ramos Gin Fizz showing foamy egg white top of cocktail
  • Picture of a bourbon-based Sazerac cocktail, at the Sazerac bar, at the Waldorf Astoria New Orleans

We ordered a couple more cocktails and some snacks there and enjoyed excellent service at the bar. This is a beautiful bar with seriously skilled bartenders, so expect your cocktails to be handcrafted and, well, not cheap. About $14-$16 per cocktail is the norm. We loved every drop of it.

Review – Pool bar

This was a huge highlight for us. Our flight was departing in the evening, so we had some time to kill after taking advantage of late checkout. The hotel was really cool about allowing us to store our luggage AND take advantage of the rooftop pool for an extra hour or two. We caught some rays and bought some cocktails in the late afternoon.

  • chairs and umbrella on the roof deck of the Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria New Orleans
  • orange umbrella on a pool deck

There was a pool, but we didn’t swim in it, preferring instead to lounge and read. It was such a pleasant way to relax for a couple extra hours while waiting for our flight.

Picture of pool
Image courtesy of the hotel

Value per Hilton point:

As mentioned, the cost of only 39,000 points per night was exceptionally low since it was after the end of a holiday weekend. The cost of a Standard Room was therefore also low, only about $220 including taxes and fees, implying a value per point of .56 cents per Hilton point. This is in line with Hilton points’ value.

HOWEVER, my partner’s Diamond status got us upgraded to a suite that looked like it would’ve cost about $356 including taxes and fees, a value of .91 cents per Hilton point. This is much more valuable than Hilton points are usually worth.

Suites at the Roosevelt can cost as much as $1000 per night, and standard rooms normally run about $300, so your miles may vary, of course.

“Extras” we received:

  • Major room upgrade, worth about $136
  • $30 food & beverage credit
  • Early check-in (~$20)
  • Late check-out (~$40)
  • 1,000 extra Hilton bonus points ($5)
  • Total value of extras: $231 – and we didn’t even pay anything for the room!

Bottom line

We can’t wait to stay again.

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