The main reason Shae and I decided to visit Louisiana during February is so that we could experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans towards the end of the month. We knew it’d be mayhem in the city during that time, so we decided to visit New Orleans twice – once during prime Mardi Gras time and once at the beginning of the month.
For our main Mardi Gras experience we booked a hotel in the French Quarter using points and free night certificates. For our initial stay though we booked a paid stay outside of downtown New Orleans, but only a short drive away. We managed to get a great rate at the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie thanks to Marriott’s Best Rate Guarantee policy – there’s more about that in the ‘Cost’ section below.
Overall, we had a very good stay as we received a nice upgrade to a spacious one bedroom suite. The breakfast experience left a little to be desired, but I’d be happy staying here again if we wanted to visit New Orleans and weren’t worried about staying downtown.
Here’s a full review of our 8 night stay at the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie in Louisiana.
Check-In
We were heading to Metairie from Lafayette which is only about 2.5 hours away. Shae, Truffles and I stopped off to go on the Tabasco Factory tour on Avery Island along the way, so we arrived at our hotel at about 5:30pm.
I’d contacted the hotel the night before our arrival to see if it would be possible to get a room upgrade seeing as I have Titanium Elite status. We’d booked a queen studio room, but the hotel’s website was showing that there was a two bedroom suite available. We didn’t need a suite that large, so I asked if it would be possible to get an upgrade to a one or two bedroom suite, figuring they might upgrade someone who’d booked a one bedroom suite to a two bedroom, with us getting the now-spare one bedroom suite. The person replying confirmed that we would indeed be upgraded which was a great start to our stay.
When we actually arrived at the hotel, Sharde checked us in and was very friendly and helpful. She confirmed that we’d been upgraded to a one bedroom suite on the third floor.
1 Queen Bedroom Suite
The room we’d been assigned was room 303 which was next to the elevator. We were a little apprehensive about its proximity to the elevator due to the potential noise, but it didn’t prove to be a problem.
When entering the suite the bathroom and kitchen were on the right, the living room straight ahead and the bedroom on the left.
Living Room
The living room had a sleeper sofa which had contrasting seat cushion covers which is presumably a deliberate design choice rather than them mixing and matching different seat covers. One side had a flat wooden surface which was useful to have as a place to rest a drink seeing as there was a side table on only one side. There was also a good-sized coffee table in front of it.
To the left of the sofa and bedroom door was a large cabinet with plenty of storage available. In addition to the desk that was part of the unit, there was a second desk on rollers beneath it, along with an office chair.
On the opposite side of the room to the sofa was a dining table with four chairs and a bookcase. This was in a sort of alcove space and was a great addition to the room. Not only did it make the whole suite feel more spacious, but it was a great space for Shae to set up all her stuff for teaching online.
To the right of the bookcase was the TV on top of a small storage unit. The TV channel selection wasn’t great, so we ended up using our Amazon Fire TV stick.
Kitchen
Every room at TownePlace Suites properties has a full kitchen, even studio suites. This includes a full-size fridge-freezer, dishwasher and microwave. A lot of kitchens like this only provide a double stove top, whereas the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie kitchens have a stove with four burners and an actual oven.
One of the cupboards contained dishes, plates and drinking glasses for four people, although it was missing a coffee mug.
There was silverware and cooking utensils in one of the drawers. Somewhat strangely there were four knives, two forks and one spoon. We travel with our own portable kitchen seeing as we travel full-time, so we just used some of our own silverware during our stay.
Seeing as there was an oven, it was nice to have a baking sheet. It would’ve been nice to have a frying pan though rather than just three saucepans.
Bedroom
The separate bedroom had a queen bed. While we’d have preferred having a king bed, the queen bed was comfortable and the fact that there was a door separating it from the living room meant it was very quiet in there at night.
Both sides of the bed had power outlets which is a feature Shae and I both appreciate to make it easier to charge our phones overnight.
In the corner of the room was a TV on top of a small storage unit. The bedroom wasn’t very large, so it was a bit of a tight squeeze to get between the bed and storage unit.
There was a small alcove on the right side of the bedroom which had a fairly tall dresser.
To the right of the dresser was a closet which contained bedding for the sleeper sofa in the living room, an iron and ironing board.
Bathroom
Rather than being attached to the bedroom, the bathroom was by the entrance of the suite next to the kitchen. Some people might prefer having direct access to the bathroom from the bedroom, but I preferred this layout as it meant I didn’t disturb Shae sleeping at night when needing to use the bathroom seeing as I’m usually up much later than she is.
The bathroom contained a bathtub with shower, along with the toilet, sink and vanity, with the shower having good water pressure.
The toiletries were Paul Mitchell and are some of my favorite hotel toiletries. The shampoo is good and their bars of soap are long-lasting.
Breakfast
Breakfast is complimentary for all guests at the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie, as it is at all TownePlace Suites properties. Hot options usually included fried eggs and ham, although there were sometimes cheesy omelets and pork sausage patties. The other breakfast options tended to be the same every day.
The breakfast experience wasn’t great though. TownePlace Suites fried eggs are mass-produced and extremely bland-tasting.
Availability of food was more of the issue though because the person who was in charge of breakfast most days during our stay didn’t do a great job at keeping items stocked. For example, there were often no eggs, sausage, granola, salsa, cheese, bread or English muffins available when I went for breakfast.
Breakfast is served at this hotel from 6am-9am during the week and 7am-9:30am at the weekend. Although the person in charge of breakfast didn’t actively remove breakfast items until it had officially ended, it seemed like she frequently chose not to refill items during the last 30 minutes. One morning she was standing by the entrance to the breakfast area and didn’t do anything the entire time, despite there hardly being any breakfast items to eat. In the end I asked if it would be possible to get some eggs, so she went off to make those.
Amenities
The hotel had a fitness room with a couple of treadmills and an elliptical, along with some weights.
The thermostat in the fitness room could be controlled by guests which I greatly appreciated as it meant it wasn’t too warm in there while working out.
Something that was a little strange is that there was no water provided in there – no water fountain or dispenser. You therefore need to make sure you come prepared with your own hydration before working out.
There’s a laundry room containing a couple of washers and three dryers, each costing $1.75 per load.
Out the front of the hotel was a covered gazebo with some outdoor seating and a grill.
The lobby contained a few amenities, including a pantry area where you could grab a snack, drinks, toiletries and even beer or wine.
Also in the lobby was a business center setup which had one computer and printer. It was right next to the front desk, so didn’t really offer any privacy.
Back by the lobby entrance was a coffee and tea station which seemed to be available 24 hours a day.
The freezers in the kitchens don’t have an ice maker, although they do contain a couple of ice cube trays. Just in case you didn’t plan ahead with making ice, the hotel had an ice machine you could use, along with a drinks vending machine.
Pet Policy
The TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie is a pet-friendly hotel. You’re allowed a maximum of two pets per room; there’s a weight limit of 50 lbs, but I’m not sure if that limit is per pet or total for two pets.
There’s a $75 pet fee per stay regardless of how long you’re staying. Seeing as we were there 8 nights, that would’ve worked out to less than $10 per night which isn’t bad. Having said that, they didn’t end up billing us the pet fee, so that was a nice bonus.
There’s a decent amount of grass around the hotel, with a fairly large grassy area at the back of the hotel which seemed to be the designated pet walking area.
There were a couple of dog parks somewhat nearby, although we didn’t end up taking Truffles to either of them. We tried taking her to one, but couldn’t get to it as it seemed to be located inside a country club or gated community.
The other one was at Lefreniere Park. We went there one evening but the dog park was fairly busy and Truffles doesn’t like a lot of attention from other dogs. We therefore took her to a large grassy section of the park, attached a long rope in case we needed to rein her in and let her run and play there instead. Lafreniere Park was very pretty, with a lake, walking paths and more.
Service
Other than checking in and out, we didn’t have any need to interact with the front desk staff. We declined housekeeping every day, so just picked up additional toilet paper and dishwasher powder from the housekeeping team when we saw them in the hallway as necessary.
The only downside service-wise was the person who was often in charge of breakfast as she didn’t do a great job with keeping breakfast items well-stocked. It was therefore noticeable when someone different was working at breakfast time as everything was kept incredibly well-stocked those mornings.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
The check-in time at the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie is 3pm, while checkout is at 12pm. One of the Titanium Elite benefits is a 4pm late check-out guarantee, so Shae and I took advantage of that before heading on to Lake Charles on our final day.
Wi-Fi
The hotel’s Wi-Fi was a mixed bag. During the day it seemed fine, but in the evening – especially from about midnight – it slowed to a crawl. It was so bad at times that I ended up using my phone as a hotspot.
Location
The hotel is right next to an AMC movie theater and shopping center, so you can walk to those. There’s a Popeye’s next door and a few other fast food places within walking distance at the shopping center.
Downtown New Orleans is about 20-30 minutes away depending on traffic, so it’s not particularly close, but it wasn’t a bad drive to get into the city.
Parking
Parking is free at the hotel and there were always plenty of spaces available around the property.
Cost
When initially looking at our accommodation options in New Orleans, the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie was listed as $109 per night before tax on Marriott’s website. When checking Hotels.com though, it was listed at $88 per night before tax.
Marriott has a Best Rate Guarantee policy where they guarantee they’ll match a better rate you find elsewhere, plus give you an additional 25% discount or 5,000 bonus points. I took advantage of this and chose the 25% discount given how long we were staying, so that reduced our nightly rate before tax to $66.22, or $75.62 with tax. Considering its proximity to New Orleans and the fact that every suite has a kitchen, that was a fantastic price.
Our eight night stay therefore came to a total of $604.96. Part of our stay was paid for using a credit card with a Marriott Amex Offer loaded to it, so that earned us a $50 statement credit, pushing the net cost down to $554.96.
I’d initially clicked through to Marriott from TopCashback, so we’ll hopefully earn 3% cashback on the stay. It looks like this has tracked at the $66.22 rate rather than the $109 rate which is fair enough. I’m actually just pleased it tracked at all as I wasn’t sure if making a Best Rate Guarantee claim would affect its tracking. That means we should get $15.89 cashback.
In case you’re interested in reading more about how to make a Best Rate Guarantee claim with Marriott, I wrote this post about my experience on Frequent Miler.
If we’d redeemed points rather than paid cash, it would have cost 16,250 points per night which takes into account the fact that you get the fifth night free on award stays. That’s not a bad redemption cost, but paying cash for our stay was much better value due to the low paid rate we were able to take advantage of.
Points Earned
We earned 2,649 base points for our stay. Most Marriott brands award 10 points per dollar spent, but their TownePlace Suites and Residence Inn brands only offer 5 points per dollar.
My Titanium status earned me 1,987 bonus points, plus I earned 500 bonus points as my welcome amenity from the status. My Marriott Bonvoy account was targeted for a promotion offering 2,000 bonus points on our first stay and 3,000 bonus points for our second stay during the promotion period. This was our second stay, so that got us 3,000 bonus points.
The stay was paid for with two different credit cards – one Marriott American Express card that earns 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar and a Chase Ink Business Preferred card which earns 3 Ultimate Rewards points on travel. We put $250 on the Marriott card to trigger the Amex Offer and the remainder on the Chase card. That means we earned 1,200 bonus Marriott points (we didn’t earn points on the $50 covered by the statement credit) and 1,065 Ultimate Rewards points.
That puts our total at 9,336 Marriott Bonvoy points and 1,065 Ultimate Rewards points which isn’t bad considering our net cost was only $69.37 after accounting for the $50 statement credit, or $67.38 once the cashback from TopCashback becomes payable.
Final Thoughts
We had a very good stay at the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie. It was great getting an upgrade to a spacious one bedroom suite and the hotel has some good amenities. The breakfast experience wasn’t great, but like I mentioned at the beginning of the review, I’d have no problem staying here again if we weren’t wanting to stay in downtown New Orleans.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! The hotel was pretty quiet, especially at night time due to having a separate bedroom that helped isolate any noise from the hallway. There was a good amount of grass, plus the hotel didn’t end up charging the pet fee.
Our Rating
Room = 4.9 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.5 / 5
Food = 3.2 / 5
Location = 4.1 / 5
Service = 4.2 / 5
Overall Value = 4.5 / 5
Total = 4.23 / 5
Address
TownePlace Suites, 5424 Citrus Blvd, Harahan, LA 70123
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