For many years a fine hotel. Since about 2001, it has become more of an average hotel.

My husband and I stayed at the Pontchartrain Hotel June 23rd through the 27th. We had stayed there 12 years before for our 10th anniversary; this, too, was an anniversary trip. We had had a wonderful time before and thought the hotel was wonderful, but after reading all of the negative posts, we thought that maybe the hotel had gone downhill. How wrong we were! We arrived at the hotel at about 11 am. The lobby was sparkling clean and the employees couldn’t have been more helpful. We knew check-in was at 3; we asked if we could leave our bags and were informed that we could go to our room immediately! When we walked in (we were in the Charles Boyer suite), the room was spotlessly clean (a concern, given what we had read) and wonderfully cool. During our stay, the room was kept spotless, and our request for extra pillows wasn’t a problem. We had breakfast in the coffee shop. It was a bit pricey, but the Eggs St. Croix (Eggs Benedict made with crawfish instead of bacon) was delicious. We would, however, recommend the coffee shop a block or so down as a daily, better bargain. On Friday and Saturday nights, the hotel bar, which has a most gracious and friendly barkeep, includes a piano player who just stepped out of a Tennessee Williams play. The room, full of locals singing along, made us feel we truly were part of the local scene. We met a businessman who told us he started staying at the hotel when he couldn’t find a place in the Quarter; now, he’d never stay anywhere else. This reflects what we mostly want to point out; there were parts of the hotel that were faded and obviously reflected the former grandeur of the place, and we did have a problem getting wake-up calls ( thank goodness for the alarm clocks). The cable is basic and there isn’t an Internet connection in the room, although there’s a hot spot in the café. However, this is a hotel for people who want to experience the true spirit of the south. If you want to stay at a hotel were you want to know what to expect up front, such as a Marriott or Embassy Suites, this isn’t the place for you. The Pontchartrain is a place for travelers, not tourists.