The Whitney Wyndham Hotel

Description

In a city where the past is always present, the historic Wyndham Whitney Hotel offers timeless ambience, modern amenities and a location easy for leisure and business.

At the edge of the Warehouse/Arts District, mere blocks from the French Quarter and Convention Center, the 93-room hotel stands out in 19th-century style amidst office towers and federal buildings.

Indeed, the wheels of commerce and comforts of home converge, quite literally, in the building envisioned by French architects and erected in 1850 at the corner of Poydras and Camp streets. Listed in the National Registrar of Historic Places, originally the headquarters of the Times Democrat newspaper, which later merged with the Picayune newspaper to form the present-day Times-Picayune, the building became a Whitney National Bank branch in 1910, and still is today.

The bank shares a large room with on-site Creole restaurant Lil’ Dizzy’s, owned by local restauranteur Wayne Baquet. Sit in the main room or request the table in the old bank vault for the buffet of gumbo, seafood omelets, fried chicken, bread pudding, incredible French toast, or other New Orleans favorites, such as the owner’s signature Trout Baquet, topped with lump crabmeat and lemon butter.

Don’t be surprised if you need a nap after your meal. If so, you can repair to one of Whitney’s 73 rooms or 20 suites, where pillow-top mattresses await. Or plan your next meal or outing using WebTV or free in-room Internet while lounging in ergonomic chairs.

Cozy, comfortable and affordable for its location, the Whitney feels neither too large nor too small, perhaps just right -- a feeling that hotel staff try to capitalize on with a personalized approach, such as the time they surprised a guest with a birthday card signed by the entire staff.

There is limited meeting space in the hotel -- a 487-square foot, 20-person meeting room is available -- but groups with larger needs can access the 17,000-square foot Pan American Conference Center, with auditorium and video-conferencing, across the street.

Business travelers will be accommodated further once a planned business center is complete; until then, hotel staff is happy to print and fax documents behind the front desk.