Search
755 hotels
Review of The Columns Hotel 1*
This is a 2-star crash pad pretending to be a 4-star hotel. I wish I did my due diligence before booking this place but I didn’t. This review is for anyone who is actually doing theirs. Hopefully they will move on and book elsewhere, and won’t have to experience what I did.
America’s Worst Hotel has everything-Almost everything that is the exact opposite of what they advertise on their website. A couple of Parachute robes and Aesop toiletries do not make a 4-star hotel.
Let’s start with the big stuff.
NO HOT WATER, from mid-day till the late evening on April 11th, 2022.
No communication to guests what was going on. I reported the hot water issue before I left, for the day. Even though there were workmen crawling all over the hotel on this particular day (noted), they didn’t bother mentioning that they already knew about the hot water issue. When I arrived back later that night, the “manager” had his head in the ceiling in one of two, very large, newly made holes that were in one of the first floor event rooms. I was told, he was trying to fix a busted pipe. (Where’s the plumber? ) The water had been shut off to make the repairs. I had to leave the Columns very late that night, and book another hotel before my departure back to L. A the next morning, just so I could get a hot shower.
NO HEAT in my room.
On the third night of my stay, it got very cold in New Orleans. I got to use the digital thermostat in the room (part of their “modernization”, apparently). IT was working, but was not attached to any actually heating coming out of the vents. The digital thermostat was clearly functioning. I am digitally savvy, so it was very easy for me to figure out. It was turned on to full blast (74F). NO HEAT, no sound from the vents for over an hour. I had to ask the night manager for a blanket (I got an extra bedspread). He admitted to me he had no idea how the thermostat works. Not surprising as there is NO actual manual or instructions for guests on how to use ANYTHING in the room. Leviton (? ) plugs in the outlets for the lights, lamps, etc. What do foreigners do? It was an ice-bucket in there. I had to use the extra bedspread plus the filthy yellow coverlet, whatever, at the end of the bed to keep from freezing. In fact, the whole hotel is freezing.
restaurant/bar not open as stated.
The Columns “Hotel” advertises on their website that they have a bar with food (menu on their website) that closes at 10:00 PM on Friday nights. Not so. I arrived on Friday night to find they had shut the bar/restaurant two hours early for a party that they had booked in the hotel. I booked my flight early, on purpose, so I could eat after my flight, in the hotel. Absolutely zero communication to their guests about this. It seemed to be a surprise as well, to friends that were throwing another event at the hotel the next day, who came to the Columns to meet their friends that night.
NO WORKING INTERNET/Wi-Fi for guests.
On the very first night of my arrival, after finding out that the Columns had shut the bar and restaurant early to their guests, they also closed their “In room / on demand Food and Beverage” room service! What to do? Well, order something through Uber Eats, right? Hopefully from your laptop? But oh wait, you can’t connect to their Wi-Fi. After calling the front desk from my cell-phone, an employee kindly gave me the password to their private Wi-Fi. I was firstly told that they were going to restart their router, JUST FOR ME. Ha ha, heard that one before. I was told that New Orleans in general has bad internet. Right. Seemed to work just fine on their private network, and perfectly well in the next hotel I had to book into.
LIGHTING IS A JOKE
Don’t be fooled by the pretty pictures on their website. While the downstairs areas, bar and restaurant could qualify as appropriately lit, the guest rooms are not. I had to ask for better lighting in my room because I could barely see to change my clothes the night I arrived. They brought me another lamp. I still had to purchase my own light bulbs the next day, to be able to see for the rest of my stay. The second floor hallway is so dimly lit, it is astonishing. They have a runner, not carpeting, in the hallway. The runner/rug is not affixed to the floor, so it buckles and moves! I tripped on it and so did my friend who stayed there, who had a broken ankle. This hotel is a lawsuit, waiting to happen. What are they trying to hide? The filth on the floorboards, like in my room? Are they obeying their state laws for disabled people? One, wonders. They have an elevator in the hotel I was told, that hasn’t been fixed in two years. That was after being told before my arrival, that they were working on it.
LOADING ZONE BLOCKED FOR GUESTS
So, the very front of the hotel, where one would unload their luggage was blocked the ENTIRE TIME of my stay (four days) by a beat-up gray car. If an Uber arrives to pick you up, you have to crawl over big tree stumps to get to them. It wasn’t clear to my friends and I till our last day that there was another pathway to the street, closer to the end of the block/property. When asked a group of employees out front, why that car was there for days on end, one employee replied that they think it was a guest of the hotel. Another employee responded right after, that they think it belongs to a person in one of the apartments next door. (? ) This is in a LOADING ZONE. COLUMNS-PRETEND YOU ARE A HOTEL! I mean, what? Was that the handyman that you pay nothing that lives in the hotel’s, spot, perhaps? Sure seemed like it by the responses of the employees.
I didn’t have a TV in the room, but some rooms did. Where’s the modernization in that? There was a TV cable hookup in the wall, up high. Lovely to look at little brass hole, but no tv. No way of contacting the front desk. No phones in the room. You had to get dressed and go downstairs, or use your own, hopefully charged cell-phone to contact the front desk. Again, “modernization”.
Before I was even able to check out of the hotel (a day early), they charged my Amex card. I did enquire form the front desk person, who was at this point THE ONLY STAFF LEFT IN THE HOTEL, why they did that. (Not their fault-someone off-site told them to do that). I didn’t get a full detailed receipt what I was charged for, and I have requested it via email and I have had NO response. And just today (May 5TH), they have created another charge to my credit card almost a FULL MONTH after I have left there, for who knows what.
I have traveled extensively and have stayed in a variety of accommodations, in may different countries. Some were dismal and some were great, but always received what was expected. This is the largest BAIT AND SWITCH I have ever experienced, with any business, ever. Don’t believe me? Just read their reviews (unlike I did) and see what they did to their guests during this year’s Mardi Gras.
The people that work at The Columns are not to blame for these egregious events. They are doing the best they can and god knows what they have to deal with on the back-end. This comes from the top.
The owners of this hotel have NO BUSINESS being in the hospitality industry. Zero. None. They need to shut this hotel down, do extensive repairs to the plumbing, electricity, heating and to whatever else they didn’t do their due diligence on when they bought this hotel, in order to have a functioning business.
Lipstick on a pig, indeed.
America’s Worst Hotel has everything-Almost everything that is the exact opposite of what they advertise on their website. A couple of Parachute robes and Aesop toiletries do not make a 4-star hotel.
Let’s start with the big stuff.
NO HOT WATER, from mid-day till the late evening on April 11th, 2022.
No communication to guests what was going on. I reported the hot water issue before I left, for the day. Even though there were workmen crawling all over the hotel on this particular day (noted), they didn’t bother mentioning that they already knew about the hot water issue. When I arrived back later that night, the “manager” had his head in the ceiling in one of two, very large, newly made holes that were in one of the first floor event rooms. I was told, he was trying to fix a busted pipe. (Where’s the plumber? ) The water had been shut off to make the repairs. I had to leave the Columns very late that night, and book another hotel before my departure back to L. A the next morning, just so I could get a hot shower.
NO HEAT in my room.
On the third night of my stay, it got very cold in New Orleans. I got to use the digital thermostat in the room (part of their “modernization”, apparently). IT was working, but was not attached to any actually heating coming out of the vents. The digital thermostat was clearly functioning. I am digitally savvy, so it was very easy for me to figure out. It was turned on to full blast (74F). NO HEAT, no sound from the vents for over an hour. I had to ask the night manager for a blanket (I got an extra bedspread). He admitted to me he had no idea how the thermostat works. Not surprising as there is NO actual manual or instructions for guests on how to use ANYTHING in the room. Leviton (? ) plugs in the outlets for the lights, lamps, etc. What do foreigners do? It was an ice-bucket in there. I had to use the extra bedspread plus the filthy yellow coverlet, whatever, at the end of the bed to keep from freezing. In fact, the whole hotel is freezing.
restaurant/bar not open as stated.
The Columns “Hotel” advertises on their website that they have a bar with food (menu on their website) that closes at 10:00 PM on Friday nights. Not so. I arrived on Friday night to find they had shut the bar/restaurant two hours early for a party that they had booked in the hotel. I booked my flight early, on purpose, so I could eat after my flight, in the hotel. Absolutely zero communication to their guests about this. It seemed to be a surprise as well, to friends that were throwing another event at the hotel the next day, who came to the Columns to meet their friends that night.
NO WORKING INTERNET/Wi-Fi for guests.
On the very first night of my arrival, after finding out that the Columns had shut the bar and restaurant early to their guests, they also closed their “In room / on demand Food and Beverage” room service! What to do? Well, order something through Uber Eats, right? Hopefully from your laptop? But oh wait, you can’t connect to their Wi-Fi. After calling the front desk from my cell-phone, an employee kindly gave me the password to their private Wi-Fi. I was firstly told that they were going to restart their router, JUST FOR ME. Ha ha, heard that one before. I was told that New Orleans in general has bad internet. Right. Seemed to work just fine on their private network, and perfectly well in the next hotel I had to book into.
LIGHTING IS A JOKE
Don’t be fooled by the pretty pictures on their website. While the downstairs areas, bar and restaurant could qualify as appropriately lit, the guest rooms are not. I had to ask for better lighting in my room because I could barely see to change my clothes the night I arrived. They brought me another lamp. I still had to purchase my own light bulbs the next day, to be able to see for the rest of my stay. The second floor hallway is so dimly lit, it is astonishing. They have a runner, not carpeting, in the hallway. The runner/rug is not affixed to the floor, so it buckles and moves! I tripped on it and so did my friend who stayed there, who had a broken ankle. This hotel is a lawsuit, waiting to happen. What are they trying to hide? The filth on the floorboards, like in my room? Are they obeying their state laws for disabled people? One, wonders. They have an elevator in the hotel I was told, that hasn’t been fixed in two years. That was after being told before my arrival, that they were working on it.
LOADING ZONE BLOCKED FOR GUESTS
So, the very front of the hotel, where one would unload their luggage was blocked the ENTIRE TIME of my stay (four days) by a beat-up gray car. If an Uber arrives to pick you up, you have to crawl over big tree stumps to get to them. It wasn’t clear to my friends and I till our last day that there was another pathway to the street, closer to the end of the block/property. When asked a group of employees out front, why that car was there for days on end, one employee replied that they think it was a guest of the hotel. Another employee responded right after, that they think it belongs to a person in one of the apartments next door. (? ) This is in a LOADING ZONE. COLUMNS-PRETEND YOU ARE A HOTEL! I mean, what? Was that the handyman that you pay nothing that lives in the hotel’s, spot, perhaps? Sure seemed like it by the responses of the employees.
I didn’t have a TV in the room, but some rooms did. Where’s the modernization in that? There was a TV cable hookup in the wall, up high. Lovely to look at little brass hole, but no tv. No way of contacting the front desk. No phones in the room. You had to get dressed and go downstairs, or use your own, hopefully charged cell-phone to contact the front desk. Again, “modernization”.
Before I was even able to check out of the hotel (a day early), they charged my Amex card. I did enquire form the front desk person, who was at this point THE ONLY STAFF LEFT IN THE HOTEL, why they did that. (Not their fault-someone off-site told them to do that). I didn’t get a full detailed receipt what I was charged for, and I have requested it via email and I have had NO response. And just today (May 5TH), they have created another charge to my credit card almost a FULL MONTH after I have left there, for who knows what.
I have traveled extensively and have stayed in a variety of accommodations, in may different countries. Some were dismal and some were great, but always received what was expected. This is the largest BAIT AND SWITCH I have ever experienced, with any business, ever. Don’t believe me? Just read their reviews (unlike I did) and see what they did to their guests during this year’s Mardi Gras.
The people that work at The Columns are not to blame for these egregious events. They are doing the best they can and god knows what they have to deal with on the back-end. This comes from the top.
The owners of this hotel have NO BUSINESS being in the hospitality industry. Zero. None. They need to shut this hotel down, do extensive repairs to the plumbing, electricity, heating and to whatever else they didn’t do their due diligence on when they bought this hotel, in order to have a functioning business.
Lipstick on a pig, indeed.
Nightly rates
from
Whoa.