#1 in New Orleans · Forbes Four-Star · AAA Four Diamond
Windsor Court Hotel
The New Orleans grande dame that trades French Quarter noise for suite space, European art and the Grill Room, the city's most polished luxury address since 1984.
The New Orleans grande dame that trades French Quarter noise for suite space, European art and the Grill Room, the city's most polished luxury address since 1984.
The Windsor Court is New Orleans's most composed luxury hotel, a Forbes Four-Star grande dame in the Central Business District with 400-square-foot entry rooms, a deep ladder of suites, the Grill Room and Le Salon afternoon tea. Book it for space, service and calm; book a French Quarter hotel for atmosphere.
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Scored on our six-point framework. See our methodology for how the criteria are weighted.
Because no other hotel in the city delivers space, dining and service at this level, year after year, without leaning on French Quarter theatrics. The Windsor Court opened on Gravier Street in 1984, built by Orient-Express Hotels as a British-accented counterpoint to the Creole townhouse hotels a few blocks away, and its public rooms still hang an extensive collection of European art and antiques reported to be worth more than 12 million dollars. The record backs the ranking: a Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star rating held every year since 2007, an AAA Four Diamond rating for 18 consecutive years, Travel + Leisure's best hotel in New Orleans in 2025 and a place on its Top 500 hotels in the world list for 2026.
One point of honesty the hotel's own marketing blurs: this is not a current Forbes Five-Star property. It is the city's benchmark grande dame, the address locals book for board dinners, fortieth birthdays and anniversaries that want a quiet suite rather than a balcony over Bourbon Street. That is exactly the job it does best.
Book a Deluxe Suite, and add Club Level if the budget allows. Entry-level guest rooms run 400 square feet, already generous for New Orleans, but the 600-square-foot Deluxe Suites are the property's signature: a king bed, a separate living space and a private balcony, usually for a modest step up in rate that is the best money you will spend here. The ladder keeps climbing from there. Premium Suites reach 800 square feet with a separate dressing area, the Two-Bedroom Corner Suites stretch to 1,250 square feet with two full bathrooms and a large wet bar, and the James J. Coleman, Jr. Presidential Suite tops out at 2,780 square feet on the 22nd floor with private rooftop terraces and its own gym.
The single upgrade that changes the texture of a stay is Club Level, on floors 19 through 22. It buys a dedicated concierge and lounge access covering enhanced continental breakfast, traditional afternoon tea, evening cocktails with hors d'oeuvres and nightly desserts, which effectively replaces two meals a day. Higher floors also carry the best CBD and river-direction views.
Time your arrival for a Friday. Le Salon tea only runs Friday through Sunday, the Club Lounge covers your cocktail hour, and the Grill Room serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday only, so a Friday-to-Monday stay catches everything. Arrive Monday or Tuesday and the hotel's flagship restaurant is closed for dinner.
Yes, with one scheduling caveat: dinner is served Wednesday through Sunday only, 5:30pm to 10pm. The Grill Room remains the Windsor Court's flagship, cooking modern American food with a distinct New Orleans flair in a formal, art-hung dining room, and it stays one of the better values in the city's luxury dining thanks to a gourmet "meat and three" plate lunch priced at 28 dollars on weekdays. Saturday and Sunday bring a jazz brunch from 7am to 2pm, which has become the easier way to experience the room without a tasting-menu budget.
When the Grill Room is dark, the Polo Club picks up the slack with classic cocktails and elevated pub fare until 11pm on weeknights and midnight on Friday and Saturday, with live piano nightly and late jazz sets on Friday and Saturday. A coffee bar, Last Sunday, runs daily from 6am to 3pm, and in-room dining runs around the clock. Book the Grill Room ahead on weekends; the room fills with locals as much as guests.
Le Salon is the hotel's traditional English afternoon tea, priced at 80 dollars per adult and 50 dollars per child, with seatings Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 11am and 2pm. Each service opens with a light cocktail or sparkling pour, moves to a properly brewed pot chosen from a curated loose-leaf list, then lands the tower of gourmet tea sandwiches, house-made scones and desserts, all to live harp or piano. It is one of the few genuinely distinctive rituals in a New Orleans luxury hotel and a fixture on the city's celebration calendar.
Reservations are mandatory, by phone or OpenTable, and weekend seatings around holidays sell out well ahead. The 2026 calendar adds themed services, including Mardi Gras, Easter, Mother's Day, Halloween and holiday teas, some of them adults-only and priced separately, so check the theme before booking a table with children.
Strong for a city hotel. The rooftop heated saltwater pool is open to registered guests daily from 6am to 10pm, with a seasonal poolside bar serving drinks and light fare cabana-style from 11am. The Windsor Court Spa, which Forbes rates Four-Star in its own right, is open to guests and the public by reservation, with a sauna, steam room and relaxation area alongside facials and body treatments; there is also a fitness centre and EV charging.
On location, 300 Gravier Street puts you a roughly ten-minute walk from the edge of the French Quarter, two blocks from Canal Street's streetcar lines toward the Garden District, and a short walk from Canal Place shopping and the Warehouse District's museums. Louis Armstrong International Airport is about a 25-to-30-minute drive depending on traffic. Check-in is 4pm, check-out noon, and a 100-dollar-per-night incidental hold applies at arrival. Pets stay for a 150-dollar per-stay fee with a bed and bowls provided.
Recent Tripadvisor reviewers rate the Windsor Court 4.8 out of 5, and the pattern in the write-ups is consistent. The praise clusters around staff who remember names and follow through, immaculate and unusually spacious rooms, the Club Level lounge's all-day spread, the Grill Room breakfast and the quiet, which guests repeatedly frame as a relief after evenings in the Quarter. Nobody complains about cleanliness or noise, which is rarer in New Orleans than it should be.
The criticisms are just as consistent, and worth weighing. Some guests find the traditional, formal register "stuffy" and old-school compared with the city's newer design hotels, and several note that the surrounding CBD blocks feel flat after dark next to the Quarter or the Warehouse District. The 56-dollar-plus-tax nightly valet adds up across a stay, and rates spike hard around Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest and major convention weeks, when entry rooms can cost double the roughly 350-to-400-dollar low-season floor.
Our counter-recommendation: skip the Windsor Court if French Quarter atmosphere is the whole point of your trip, and book Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street or the design-led Maison de la Luz instead. If you want the biggest rooms, the steadiest service and a serious in-house restaurant, stay here.
It wins on suite space, dining and service consistency; its rivals win on history, design or neighbourhood. Within our New Orleans ranking it sits at #1 with an aggregate editorial score of 9.3 out of 10. It is calmer and more classical than the Roosevelt New Orleans, whose Sazerac Bar and gilded block-long lobby make it the grand-hotel spectacle pick, and more traditional than Maison de la Luz, the city's most design-forward small hotel. For the full field, see our New Orleans hotels guide; couples weighing it for a romantic trip should also read our New Orleans honeymoon hotels rundown.
| Hotel | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Windsor Court | Suites, dining, business, calm anniversaries | CBD quiet over Quarter atmosphere |
| The Roosevelt New Orleans | Grand-hotel glamour, Sazerac Bar cocktails | Bigger, busier, more convention traffic |
| Maison de la Luz | Design lovers, couples, intimate scale | No full restaurant or suite inventory |
| Hotel Monteleone | French Quarter energy, Carousel Bar | Smaller rooms, livelier and louder |
The Windsor Court sits at 300 Gravier Street in the New Orleans Central Business District, a short walk from Canal Street and roughly ten minutes on foot from the edge of the French Quarter. The location trades the Quarter's noise for a quieter downtown address.
Not by Forbes Travel Guide's current count. The Windsor Court has held a Forbes Four-Star rating every year since 2007 and an AAA Four Diamond rating for 18 consecutive years, and Travel + Leisure named it the best hotel in New Orleans in 2025. It is the city's benchmark grande dame, but the Forbes Five-Star badge belongs elsewhere.
Le Salon afternoon tea costs 80 dollars per adult and 50 dollars per child, with seatings Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 11am and 2pm. Themed teas through the year, such as Mardi Gras and holiday services, can be priced differently, and reservations are mandatory.
Overnight valet parking costs 56 dollars plus tax per night with unlimited in and out privileges. The hotel cannot accommodate oversized vehicles, buses, RVs or trailers, and nearby self-park garages are the cheaper alternative if you do not need the car daily.
Yes. The rooftop heated saltwater pool is open to registered guests daily from 6am to 10pm, and a seasonal poolside bar opens at 11am when weather permits, serving drinks and light fare cabana-style.
Yes, well-behaved pets are welcome for a non-refundable 150 dollar pet comfort amenity per stay, which includes a plush pet bed and bowls in the room.
Check-in is at 4pm and check-out is at noon. Early arrival and late departure depend on availability, and a 100 dollar per night incidental hold is placed on your card at check-in.
Off-peak pricing, suite upgrades and subscriber-only offers, flagged only when the value is real.