Excellent hotel! Wonderful for those who like the energy of New Orleans, but not the chaos of the French Quarter. Close enough for a long stroll to get there, but far enough away that you don't have to experience it if you don't want to. Excellent restaurants within walking distance and many art galleries. Will be staying at this one again!

This hotel lives up to its name. It is like staying in an art gallery. Art in the rooms, lobby, restaurant and a sculpture garden inside. We stayed for 5 nights in an interior view room which was very quiet. I booked through the Marriott site and received breakfast with the stay. Quite a deal! The hotel staff was all very helpful and we enjoyed the spectacular rooftop pool/spa. I was attending a conference at the convention center and this hotel was a short 5 block walk -very accessible. The only downside would be the price for parking, but this was similar at other area hotels.

This was our first time to stay in the Arts District and we couldn't have been more pleased. This hotel, part of the Marriot chain, is a wonderful redo of a warehouse in an up and coming area of New Orleans.
The hotel is set up to show off local art and it does that well, with courtyards of sculpture to beautiful blown glass lighting to the water feature in the lobby to painting on many of the walls. The carpeting was brightly colored and added to the look I would call very hip.
I must say that I did book this through Priceline for under $70 so that enhances my appreciation. There are five floors total and we were on the fourth.
Our room was roomy enough and had a very good bed and nice chairs. The bath, though small, was nicely appointed with a granite counter and Kohler fixtures. Everything was clean and new looking. Towels were nice and thick. There was a coffeemaker, safe and a fridge that we did not use.
Internet was around $12 a day but one could use the hotel computers free in a room off the lobby. Valet parking is $28 a day but on weekends one can park at the meters around the hotel free of charge.
Emerils Restaurant is 1 block away, Mothers (on Poydras) and Harrahs are 3-4 blocks and the Quarter is another 3-4 blocks beyond that. We walk a lot so that wasn't a problem. While we couldn't hear any street noise, you could hear conversations (barely) next door so I question how much insulation/soundproofing is between rooms. The elevators ran well and smoothly and one always seemed to be open and ready to go on the lobby level.
There was a pool/hot tub on the roof that we didn't get to try. I also saw a fitness room on one of the floors.
All and all we had a good experience at the Renaissance Arts and would recommend it to anyone and would definitely go back.
One last thing, 2 blocks away there is a glass blowing studio on Magazine St. (where the lobby light fixtures were created ) that has some incredible works displayed. You can also watch glassblowers at work and I even signed up for a 2 hour glass and made a paperweight and a small vase. Very fun!

On our first night at approx 5AM we were woken up by kids running, screaming and playing in the hallways - opening and shutting exit doors and running up and down the stairs. We called the front desk and they said they would send security but the noise never stopped. (Apparently there was a cheerleading competition in town and a bus full arrived in the early AM and literally took over the hotel - where were the adults that should have been monitoring them??). The noise carried on into the morning and throughout the day. We spoke with the front desk and the clerk did comp our breakfast but said nothing could be done and that 'they were leaving Sunday'. We were on this trip for our anniversary and as you can imagine this but a serious damper on it. Please note - we informed the staff that it was our anniversary and requested a quiet room long before we arrived.

I understand that large groups can take over the hotel and that it isn't the hotel staffs job to monitor them but certainly they could have done more - like speak with the adult(s) in charge and let them know there were compaints of kids running wild.... Overall this ruined our day as we had little sleep and no energy to do anything. We tried to rest in the room during the day the noise and kids running literally up and down the halls was still happening. We actually ended up getting a room at a different hotel that evening rather than deal with noise and lack of sleep again.

In general the walls seemed to be really thin. We could hear our neighbors TV like we were in the same room and anytime anyone above or around us showered, it sounded like they were in our room.

Another issue - we had asked for a refrigerator - well in advance of our arrival. Upon check in we were told it would be brought up by housekeeping. It never was and we never heard another thing about it. Frankly, while it was the least of our concerns it was still a disappointment never to hear anything else about it.

Room condition - the bathroom didn't seem entirely clean and there were actually long hairs on two of the towels and the glasses looked dirty. There was a huge black stain on the carpet near the left side of the bed. The room itself was huge and the bed & bedding were very comfy and the office chair and stuffed lounge chair were both in new condition.

On the exterior it looks like a nice hotel - the lobby & room decor was certainly nice enough, however, there is more to a '4 star' hotel than dressing it up.

On a positive note we enjoyed the restaurant - great food & service. And to be fair the front desk clerks were always nice enough but never offered and real solutions or went out of the way to fix the problems.