Sheraton on Canal St. or W French Quarter?

i%26#39;m a platinum starwood member and redeemed points for my upcoming 3 night stay (4/24 to 4/27) and first time in nola. the sheraton and w french quarter costs the same to me. i need some help with figuring out where to stay - sheraton or w french quarter?

we%26#39;re spending most of our day at the jazz fest so the evenings will be spent in the french quarter. since the sheraton is a host hotel, will it not have good service as it will be filled with thousands of people? bonus of the sheraton is that i will have club level access, meaning free internet/printer, free breakfast, free sodas and water, and free access to the gym (which my husband has to get a workout in everyday). although the old nola charm of the w french quarter is appealing and being able to walk right out the door with bars/restaurants right there is nice as well. i actually like walking but i%26#39;ve read that walking in the evenings even in the french quarters is not safe. is that true given that there will be a lot of tourist during jazz fest? is it that much difference in terms of safety of having to walk back from lafitte%26#39;s blacksmith shop to the sheraton vs. back to the w french quarter? help! i cannot make my decision.

any feedback would be most appreciated! thanks!!!

Sheraton on Canal St. or W French Quarter?

Safety is not a problem in the French Quarter. The Sheraton to me is better than the W as We%26#39;ve had two experiences with the W on maintenace and staff attitude issues and noise there. It is very easy to walk the quarter as its very short blocks and you will be very close being at the Sheraton. You see a police presence all around and what you don%26#39;t see are the plain clothes police that are there. It is the headquarters of the 8th district NOPD. (Royal St.)Please use the search feature here on trip advisor for a wealth of information as the safety question is asked very often.

Sheraton on Canal St. or W French Quarter?

I actually prefer the W on Poydras to the W French Quarter, which is located on the other side of Harrah%26#39;s Casino.

I%26#39;m not a big fan of the Sheraton in general because it%26#39;s a big, convention style corporate hotel, and you lose a lot of the New Orleans charm, and I like the location of the W French Quarter better. But, if you%26#39;re going to use the freebies, then it might be worth it.

Also, the French Quarter is arguably the safest part of the New Orleans, so it%26#39;s pretty safe walking around at night, as long as you use common sense and stick to the main roads/touristy part of the Quarter.

Can you use your Starwood points at the Westin? It would be my first choice.

The Sheraton is large and well-located. I personally don%26#39;t care for really large hotels so that%26#39;s a big strike for me. Still, it%26#39;s a good solid convention hotel.

The W hotels in New Orleans are both among the weakest in the W chain, I think. I%26#39;ve read too many ';bad service'; posts over the years from both. My experiences have been similar in my limited dealings with them.

The verdict: for me, it%26#39;d be the W French Quarter ONLY because of location. And I%26#39;d be very specific about wanting a quiet room away from the street and their own ';faux trendy'; courtyard music.

thank you everyone for the feedback. we ended up staying at the sheraton and thought that was the perfect decision. proximity to the french quarter indeed was very close as the three blocks to bourbon st. is short (5 min). checked out the w in the french quarter during the day and thought location was a bit off as we would count it as located in ';a dark alley'; at night time vs Canal St. which is well lit and has a good amount of people walking around and also the street cars running. we also walked along the water and felt that the westin is slightly far from bourbon st. (10+min) vs the Sheraton%26#39;s 5 min walk.

the pastries served during breakfast in the club lounge are the best - light and flaky - even better than cafe du monde%26#39;s beignets! evening spread is nothing to rave about although the cookies were addictive. the sheraton must have a great baker. linda who works in the lounge is the sweetest lady ever!

from catering unlimited at the jazz fest, my husband had the best fried chicken ever - crispy and light and somehow kept the meat juicy and tender, even the white meat which a lot of times tend to be on the dry side. the fried chicken at coop%26#39;s place was no comparison although the portions were huge at coop%26#39;s place.

boiled crawfish (cold) at crescent city brewhouse was spiced very well. even our friend who grew up in the area was impressed but still cannot get over paying $11 for 1.25 lbs.

went to ACME on arrival night (Fri) at 11:15pm and to our dismal, ACME closed at 11pm. saw Felix%26#39;s across the street which was still serving. did not have the atmosphere that ACME had but our final verdict is that we liked Felix%26#39;s raw oysters better. prices for a dozen at both places are about the same, at $10.50 or $11. we thought the ones at Felix%26#39;s were more creamy and sweet. we went to ACME on Sunday at 2pm so not sure if that had to do with not getting the best oysters. the grilled ones at ACME were tasty but a bit heavy and I much prefer raw oysters than cooked ones. On Monday at 2pm, went back to Felix%26#39;s for another two dozen before heading out to the airport. how come we cannot get LA oysters in san francisco???! LA oysters are buttery like kumamotos but double the size. yummy! when they are that buttery, they are easy to slurp down no matter what size!

spotted cat had a talented band playing on sunday. was told that they will close for a couple of weeks, and will reopen under another name. checked out maple leaf also but was disappointed that they were still charging a $20 cover at 1am on a sunday!

music talent in nola is incredible! it%26#39;s easy to stumble upon good music during the day and night.

glad to have checked out jazz fest and nola for the first time. i much prefer the smaller, more intimate venues so the bars on frenchmen were my favorites.

I%26#39;m glad that the Sheraton worked out so well! And thanks for your report!

But $11 for a little over 1 pound of crawfish?! And cold crawfish and that! It really bothers me crawfish is marked up so much in the French Quarter! Oh well!