No, the Hilton at MSY isn’t a terrible airport hotel (it’s kinda good actually)

The best thing about the Hilton at the New Orleans Airport (MSY) is that it’s extremely consistent with other airport Hilton properties in the US. Nothing surprised me.

The worst thing was that (despite being located directly across the street from the airport), it’s not all that easy to get to. That said, I enjoyed my stay, and you’re darn right I would do it again.

A full review of my one night stay at the New Orleans International Airport Hilton

First of all, I need to set your expectations for this review: what you are about to see isn’t going to be anywhere near as nice as what you saw in my review of the Hilton at the Munich Airport (MUC).

However, if you read my review of the Boston Logan Hilton, this isn’t likely to be all that surprising. Here we go…

Location

I know. Looking at the map below, it appears as if the Hilton at MSY is located directly across the street from the airport. It almost looks like a walkable distance, right? Wrong!

Yes, this Hilton is located directly adjacent to airport property. However, it’s on the backside of that property, and requires a 10 minute shuttle ride to reach. Walking would take, like, forever.

Hilton MSY airport shuttle bus — Not gonna lie. The shuttle bus ride from the airport took a little longer than I was expecting, which had me thinking that I inadvertently got on the bus for the ORD Hilton instead.

Hilton MSY exterior — Uh…unless palm trees are native to Chicago these days, I do believe this is the right place. Whew!

Hilton MSY main entrance — Shoutout to my critical thinking skills as I approach the main entrance. Just because I review chain hotels for fun doesn’t mean that I’m totally out of touch with reality.

The lobby (and checking in)

One nice thing about traveling so frequently is that I’ve learned not to get excited when walking into the lobby of any Hilton branded hotel. The one here at the New Orleans International Airport was extremely sterile and generic, and there was nothing about it that made me nod my head in excitement with their interior design decisions.

Hilton MSY lobby and reception desk — The lobby (and reception desk). I’m digging the ‘cookies and cream’ vibe all up in here.

It should be noted that I didn’t even have to check in at the reception desk. I checked in via the Hilton mobile app instead, and conveniently received a digital key to my room hours before I arrived.

Hilton Hotel New Orleans airport lobby — I wasn’t kidding about the ‘cookies and cream’ thing. Whoever designed this lobby was obviously craving a large bucket of the stuff.

Getting to my room

I reserved a corner room on the 6th floor during the check in process. That request was granted, so it was a bit of a hike up the elevator and down the hallway (all the way to the end). The hallways are most certainly on brand with the overall style and design that Hilton is going with these days.

Hilton Hotel New Orleans airport elevator — I have reason to believe that the person who designed this elevator is not the same person who designed the lobby. Either that, or he/she had a satisfying ice cream break in between tasks.

Hilton MSY Guest room hallway — Is hotel hallway carpet not the best thing ever? Wherever I go, I am never not surprised.

Walking through the hallway at the Hilton hotel New Orleans airport — Second-guessing my decision to reserve a room all the way at the end. I had a bit of a hike!

Hilton hotel New Orleans airport corner room door — Room 648. My attempt at choosing the most antisocial room on the property seems to have paid off. I’m liking the seclusion!

Room overview

My room for the evening (648) was just as squeaky clean as the lobby. I appreciated the fact that it didn’t smell like bleach and chlorine – which is something I’ve experienced a lot (maybe too much) in Hilton properties over the years.

Hilton hotel New Orleans airport corner room — My lair for the evening. This looks good. Perhaps not as cozy as the suite I had at the FCO Hilton, but good nonetheless.

Hilton MSY king bed — Want to know what else looks good? This bed!

Hilton MSY king bed size — I want so badly to bet you $100 that I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight, because future me already knows that it’s a bet that you are going to lose.

The overall size of the room is what I would refer to as ‘generous’. It was a very decently-sized standard-issue hotel room.

Hilton MSY room looking towards Main entrance — How awesome is it that I can’t even see the door because of how thicc the bed is?

Hilton New Orleans airport room — It’s not a badly designed room actually. This is pretty sweet for a Hilton!

Hilton New Orleans airport in room desk and TV — Here’s a better picture of the desk that I was so awkwardly standing over in the last pic. It’s nice, but RIP to your toes (and crotch) if you stumble around too closely to it in the darkness of the night.

Hilton New Orleans airport in room chair — Just has how the carpet matches the drapes, the chair matches the wall.

Hilton New Orleans airport ice bucket and tumblers — Warning: an ice bucket (with tumblers) are provided, but you’re gonna have to bring your own hootch.

Hilton MSY room review — What the ice bucket saw when I was taking pictures of it just now.

Hilton MSY nightstands — Because it ain’t a proper hotel review without pics of the nightstands, right?

Hilton MSY in room phone — Speaking of the nightstands, that’s where you’ll find the phone. And if you squint hard enough, you might even see the speed dial button for the year 1992.

Hilton MSY in room refrigerator — You’re darn right there’s an in-room refrigerator! I appreciate the fact that looks slightly more modern than the phone.

Hilton MSY ironing board and closet — There’s no telling how ‘vintage’ the ironing board here in the closet may be however. Frankly, I didn’t care enough to find out.

The view

I usually prefer to have a room facing the terminal (and the runways) whenever I stay in an airport hotel. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be this time. My room was overlooking the back parking lot – which was totally my fault.

I chose this room on the mobile app (which had no reference to where the airport was), so I have no one to blame for this goof but myself.

Hilton MSY open window blinds to view — The view from the window looks rather lush, doesn’t it?

Hilton MSY room view from the sixth floor — Don’t get excited. I know this seems nice, but…

Hilton MSY room view of parking lot — …this unedited wide-angle shot shows the reality of the situation. Come on, man!

Looking out the window of the Hilton MSY airport hotel — Here I am trying to decide whether I’m going to show you the pretty highly-edited pics, or the depressingly realistic unedited pics.

The bathroom

Dear whoever it is who is in charge of designing the bathrooms for airport Hilton Hotels in the US: you’re doing it wrong.

Seriously. The bathroom in my room for the evening was not any nicer than what I experienced at the Comfort Suites at the Anchorage Airport once. Thankfully it wasn’t any worse, but that’s not the point. Was there a survey of some kind which revealed that most US travelers don’t give a crap about bathrooms? I’d love to see that data.

Hilton MSY airport hotel bathroom — The bathroom. On one hand, it’s probably one of the most generic hotel bathrooms I’ve ever seen. On the other hand, it looks like a mighty fine place to take a dump. Just sayin’.

Hilton MSY bathroom vanity — At least it’s clean. And hopefully sterile.

Hilton MSY bathroom sink — How are we supposed to wash our dirty underwear in a sink this small?

Hilton MSY bathroom review — *“Perhaps the use of crude toilet humor isn’t the best way to present a fair and balanced hotel review…”*

Hilton MSY shower, tub, and shower head — Moving on. Here are detailed pics of the tub, shower, and shower head. One of these days I’m going to screw up and inadvertently include a pic with a reflection of my junk in it (I just know it). Thank God today is not that day.

Hilton MSY bathroom soap and towels — Typical Hilton bathroom amenities. The soaps were nice, but the criminally thin towels were not.

On-site restaurant

Yes, there is an on-site restaurant at this particular Hilton, which I found to be a fairly decent value for the money. I paid $18 for full access to the breakfast buffet. It was OK.

Hilton MSY restaurant entrance — This is what the restaurant looked like at 9 AM on a Tuesday. Hello? Anyone home?

Hilton MSY restaurant gated entrance — It’s almost as if they would prefer that I would dine somewhere else. I don’t blame them at all considering how snarky I tend to get in my reviews.

Hilton MSY breakfast buffet — This isn’t a bad looking breakfast buffet if I’m being honest.

Hilton MSY breakfast buffet food — OK, yeah, the breakfast buffet at the Grand Westin in Munich totally ruined me, but I’m hungry, so this’ll have to do.

Hilton MSY breakfast — What can I say. I like protein, OK?

Hilton MSY restaurant interior — At least there was nobody nearby to witness the carnage as I shoveled all that stuff into my face.

Pros and cons of the Hilton at MSY

Thinking back on it, if I didn’t take all the pictures and video clips needed for this review, this experience would likely be eradicated from my mind within six months or so. This is a very generic (but clean and safe) hotel. It’s not bad, but it’s certainly not worthy of being called ‘fantastic.’

Pros

It’s a very clean property. Everything from the lobby to the hallways to the room was squeaky clean.
It’s very consistent with other US airport Hiltons. There’s nothing that makes this one any better or worse than the others.
The airport shuttle service is very convenient thanks to how high frequency it is. You won’t have to wait long.
Maybe I just got lucky, but it was very quiet during my stay. I slept like a baby.

Cons

Yeah, it’s located directly across the street from the airport, but it still requires a 10 minute shuttle ride to reach. And don’t even think about walking.
Dining options are somewhat lacking IMHO. You’ll be better off getting food in the airport (or somewhere nearby).

No, the Hilton at MSY isn’t a terrible airport hotel (it’s kinda good actually)