TV Restaurants

Is Empress Hotel Still Open? Hotel Impossible Update (New Orleans, LA)

Hotel Impossible, Season 5 New Orleans, Louisiana

Current status

Open

As of October 2026, Empress Hotel is open — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026.

What the source shows: Yelp's page, updated August 2026, and Booking.com's current 2026 pricing page both show recent guest activity at the hotel, even though the hotel's own website returned almost no readable text on automated fetch. How we decide a status →

What happened after Hotel Impossible?

Hotel Impossible (Travel Channel) featured Empress Hotel in the episode "The Big Sleazy" (S5E12), which aired 2015-01-13, located at 1317 Ursulines Ave in New Orleans, Louisiana's Tremé neighborhood, within walking distance of the French Quarter. The hotel's own website, empresshotelneworleans.com, returned almost no readable text to our automated check, though it did load with an HTTP 200 response. Third-party listings, however, show continued activity at the same address under the same name. Yelp's page for the hotel, updated in August 2026, and Booking.com's current 2026 pricing page both carry recent guest ratings, and Google Places lists the business as operational.

Booking.com's listing shows an aggregate rating built from 180 reviews, with guests noting the location's proximity to Louis Armstrong Park and Bourbon Street and describing complimentary coffee served on the property's balcony each morning; some reviews also describe dated fixtures and inconsistent hot water in certain rooms. No news coverage, licensing record, or ownership announcement describing a change of hands was found for the property. Because the hotel's own website carried no usable text during this check, this account relies on Yelp, Booking.com, and Google Places rather than the operator's own statements; a future review with a fuller read of the operator's site could add confirming detail.

The episode Hotel Impossible, Season 5

Episode 12
Aired
Title: The Big Sleazy · What was featured: the hotel's hospitality operations near the French Quarter

Also in Season 5 Hotel Impossible

Season 5: 7 of 12 still open · 4 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 12 Season 5 episodes →

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Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the hotel — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources we checked 2 references

  1. Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/empress-hotel-new-orleans
  2. booking.com https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/empress-new-orleans.en-gb.html
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Record hi-057 · checked by Cal Marchetti.