I have stayed at the Avenue Plaza for several years because I bought a timeshare there in 1997. The comments about the walls-and-ceilings needing work were correct, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of New Orleans, in any way. Its location (Garden District) puts it in a charming and safe-looking part of town, but you do need to catch the trolley (stops right in front of the hotel) to get to the CBD or French Quarter. Several good restaurants are within easy walking distance. There is a nice steakhouse within the building
Service at the Avenue Plaza was probably at its worst just-before the renovations. Since the hotel was partially (often mostly) closed, staffing was not at its normal levels. The Hotel changed-owners in 2003, which was good for the renovation-needs. I have found the new Owners to be responsive to needs, so far.
This isn't a five-star hotel, it is a three-or-four star hotel with a relaxed location in a beautiful town. The Pro-spa is four-stars. The room sizes-and-facilities are four-stars. The building is 55 years old, and now has some needed renovations.
There are more glamorous locations with closer proximity to CBD and French Quarter, but this is a hotel for people that want to mix NO's excitement with some relaxing downtime.

Stayed here for thanksgiving. We were supposed to have a non-smoking room but the room they gave us was clearly a smoking room. When we asked to change rooms, they gave us a lot of attitude and said things like, "well, its a non-smoking room and someone must have smoked in there". When I said that there was an ashtray in the room, the front desk person said that someone must have requested it. I found it interesting that one could request an ashtray in a non-smoking room.

They finally moved us, but in the transition, I left a pair of shoes behind (my fault, of course). By the time I realized they were missing, the shoes had "dissappeared" from the room. The front desk said that housekeeping did not find any shoes. Yeah, right!

To make the stay less inviting, housekeeping staff yelled at each other down the hallway as they cleaned at 8:00am each morning. It made it rather difficult to sleep to say the least.

The ONLY positive thing that I could say about this place was that the location was perfect for getting around and right next to the street car stop.

I'm not terribly picky about hotels, but the attitude of the staff as a whole would dissuade me from staying at this place ever again.

We stayed at the Avenue Plaza Hotel last March.

We stayed in a one-bedroom suite which was sorely in need of some work. Paint was peeling, walls were scuffed, some lights worked, some didn't, the remote controls worked only sometimes. The bathroom was the worst, hardly any room to put cosmetics or anything else.

The service here isn't fabulous. Several times we asked the evening clerk for directions, to which she responded somewhat nastily, "Why would you want to go there?" When we actually made it to 'there' (Magazine Street) we were thankful that we didn't take her advice to just stay in our little corner of the Garden District. By the way, Magazine Street has wonderful, wonderful little stores, cafes, and galleries. Definatly worth the trip. Also, we were two couples sharing a room. Every day we'd have to call down to get a 4th set of towels as EVERY day they would leave us only 3 even though we kept telling them we would need 4 sets everyday and asked them to note it in housekeeping. This is a mild inconvenience, but annoying to have to keep calling.

The location is great, close enough to the French Quarter via Trolley to enjoy the action there, but far enough away to have some peace and quiet when you needed it. It goes without saying that the Garden District is lovely. We spent at least two days strolling around looking at the architecture.

Overall, this place is fine to stay at, but nothing fabulous. The kitchen is nice if you aren't interested in always eating out. However, if this was where I owned Timeshare, I'd be very upset at how they are keeping up the property.

We stayed at the Avenue in April with my entire family for my cousin's wedding. First of all, we booked the room from ratestogo and got our room for $100 less (highly recommend that site if you are booking at the last minute)! Then upon arriving at the hotel and seeing our room, we were astonished. We had a full kitchen untensils and all with a dining room table and 4 chairs. In the living room, there was a fold out couch. The bedroom was seperate. Both the living room and the bedroom had huge windows overlooking St. Charles Avenue & the streetcar which stopped right in front of the hotel. The bathroom wasn't huge, but it also had a window (a small one) overlooking the Avenue. Granted, the rooms all needed work done, paint etc. but that was a small price to pay for such a wonderul location & comfort. Did I mention, my family members who paid at least $50 more than we did, didn't even have a seperate bedroom & living room? We really got lucky! This is a great hotel to stay in if you want to enjoy all of New Orleans. For $1.50 you can ride the trolley down to the French Quarter, drink all you want, and ride the trolley back home! No drinking and driving. Also, if you have never seen it, the Garden Disctrict is BEAUTIFUL! I believe the hotel is going through extensive renovations right this moment, and will be shut down until at least August, but we WILL return and stay there again in October!