We stayed at the Royal St. Charles during the first weekend of Jazz Fest this year. This is a nice little boutique style hotel. The room was clean, well appointed, but a little small. Although small rooms do seem to be the norm in New Orleans. There is a small lounge in the lobby that is kind of a dance club thing at night, and they did have coffee and sweet rolls and muffins out in the morning. This hotel was a block outside the French Quarter and a block south of Bourbon Street, about a 5 minute walk. It is also on the St. Charles Streetcar line, which we used to go out to the Garden District for lunch at Commander's Palace. It isn't the best hotel that I've ever stayed at in my life, but I wouldn't hestitate to stay there again on my next trip to New Orleans.

We were guests at this hotel the night of 5/18/08. Our hotel room was entered by a hotel master key and several expensive electronic items were removed... these items were NOT sitting out, they were packed into our luggage as we were preparing to check out and leave New Orleans. We had packed up and headed down the street to grab breakfast before checking out. We returned to find things opened and missing. These items were not left out in plain site, our luggage was rummaged through. A police officer was onsite within 30 min (which we had to call) to take the report.

The front desk manager (Gabby) was very rude during the whole process. We were informed by her and "Aurthur" that they had to do a lock check... apparently this takes 3+ hours to do (???). At least 4 to 5 times during this process (waiting on the lock check and dealing with the police) we overheard her talking with housekeeping via radio if room "402" was vacated yet to so they could flip it. Very odd that the MANAGER on duty doesn't seem to recognize which room # was just broken into and the guests from that room are standing in front of her. She never seemed to recognize us each time we returned to the front desk.

As we wait, we discover at least one other room was robbed (9th floor) and the lady we spoke with was just as upset about the treatment by the hotel staff as we were. My guess is there were several more rooms hit, the guests had not returned yet to find items missing.

It is now 2 days later and the General Manager of the hotel will not return phone calls, although she did tell us yesterday that the lock check DID show it was a hotel master key that accessed our room.

When my husband and I arrived we were given a room without a window.. The room had no window!!!! It would never occur to me when paying $230.00 a night in the US to ask if the room had a window. They wouldn't transfer us that night, all full. They did transfer us the next night.
I think all the rooms with 2 double beds have no window. Fortunately our third person ended up not coming so we could change to a room with one double bed. None of their information tells you that some rooms have no windows. I think at this hotel we found the only cold, unfriendly people in all New Orleans.
And when you leave, they tell you there's a mandatory $6.95 a night charge for the phone, whether you use the phone or not. This is also not listed on the hotels.com information.
For people who are bothered by noise, there is loud construction in the street and a loud bar that's part of the lobby.
Avoid this hotel.

The Royal St Charles is a very nice place. The selling point - handsdown - is the price. During Jazzfest, my wife and I booked a weekend room here for less than 1/4th comparable hotels in the area.

The location is very nice. Corner of Canal and St Charles. One block of Bourbon.

Room was suprisingly large, with huge wall of windows.

Breakfast "buffet" was just coffee and danishes, but was free, so cant complain.

We have now stayed three times here, and will definitely return. Perfect for a nice, clean, and very inexpensive bed.

I give a big thumbs up.