Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has reached a milestone: 100 hotels worldwide. The property that gets to carry the number is Fairmont New Orleans, which also marks the brand's return to the city after roughly 20 years away.
Rather than a classic French Quarter townhouse, this one occupies 17 floors of the old Bank of New Orleans building — a 31-storey tower designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1970. The designers deliberately leaned into that era instead of colonial nostalgia, restoring original touches like the cypress ceilings, decorative bronze panelling and lobby floors from the bank days. The result is a hotel that celebrates a decade New Orleans architecture buffs often skip over, all oil-boom glamour and mid-century swagger.
Inside, Rockwell Group handled the interiors, mixing saturated colour, Louisiana flora motifs and globally influenced patterns. The lobby is positioned as the social heart — expect a mirror-clad staircase, a three-storey chandelier riffing on magnolia blossoms and Spanish moss, Italian brass relief panels, and a Lobby Bar with a six-marble 1970s floor mosaic meant to draw in locals as much as guests.
There are 250 rooms and suites, styled as residential-feeling retreats with floor-to-ceiling windows and, in some king rooms, 'faux balconies' with café tables — a wink at the city's porch culture. The food programme is a genuine draw: Emeril Lagasse brings Delmonico Steakhouse here for its first outing outside Las Vegas, alongside The Café by Emeril for breakfast and lunch with French-Creole leanings. From early December, more opens up: a 31st-floor rooftop pool, Bleu Perdu bistro with Mississippi River views, Third Measure (a late-night cocktail bar developed with Neal Bodenheimer of famed local bar Cure), plus a 900-square-metre spa with skyline-view sauna.
For event planners, there's over 1,800 square metres of meeting space across nine venues, including two ballrooms that keep the building's original cypress ceiling and bronze details.
Why it matters for travellers: New Orleans already has no shortage of places to stay, but a flagship Fairmont gives the city another serious luxury option outside the Quarter's orbit, with big-name dining and a rooftop with actual river views. If you're visiting for Mardi Gras season, a game at the Superdome or just eating your way through the city, this puts you near the CBD with a very legit cocktail bar downstairs (well, almost downstairs).
