Kimpton Hotel Fontenot

They call it the Central Business District, but unlike its counterparts in most other places, it’s one of the city’s liveliest neighborhoods — the business of New Orleans, after all, depends to a great extent on entertainment. It’s the perfect location for a hotel like the Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, a truly stunning reinvention of what was previously a relatively undistinguished chain hotel. The result is among the Kimpton group’s most attractive establishments, and the aesthetic and experience are carefully tailored to New Orleans.

Its rooms, for example, display just the right measure of French influence, alongside the understated modernist-inspired design that is a Kimpton signature. And luxurious little details like the custom-made mattresses and the Atelier Bloem bath products elevate the Fontenot beyond the ordinary boutique-hotel experience.

As do the public spaces. This is a famously hedonistic town, and a hotel won’t get far without a decent restaurant and bar. Thankfully the Peacock Room is up to the task, an eccentric, French-accented fantasy with a 19th-century bar, while the café, Gospel Coffee and Boozy Treats, puts a New Orleans spin on a corner coffee shop, with the option to spike anything on the menu with a shot of your favorite spirit.