The W Hotel in the French Quarter is a traditional boutique hotel.
It is not the typical W hotel with all the amenities, but it is small and charming and in the heart of the French Quarter.
The Courtyard is terrific with a great lounge atmosphere and perfect for happy hour, evening cocktails, and gathering with friends. The pool is really just for looks, kind of murky and VERY small. I think the W hotel downtown is probably better equipped if a nice pool is what you are looking for.
We stayed in a Spectacular Room which is bigger than a Wonderful Room and features a balcony.
I wouldn't spend the money on this room if you are not planning to be in your room much. The balconies are not the charming French wrought iron balconies that you see in the suites and the ones on the street side (Conti) can be noisy. Not noisy with Mardi Gras revelers, but the garbage truck etc. We got a fan and the white noise muffled that somewhat. We switched to a Mega Room when one became available and the room was well worth the wait. These are old carriage houses that open to the courtyard and are much bigger than the other room types. They include a separate private courtyard with a hot tub and are very charming, exactly what you would expect from the French Quarter. However, the price tag on these can be high, so I would recommend this room if the difference in price between the Spectacular Room and Mega Room was less than $200 per night and you plan to relax near the hotel that day.
If there is a lot of courtyard activity, there is a chance that could be disruptive, but there is a lot of white noise with the fan which blocks that out well, too. There are only 4 of these rooms in the hotel, though, so if you go hoping for an upgrade as part of a rewards program, don't count on it.
The hotel staff is great, very helpful and attentive, checked on us several times, arranged a taxi at 5:30 in the morning, very nice.
The restaurant is AWESOME, rivals Emerils but without the dress code and wait list! GREAT food!!
I would recommend this to anyone who can afford $400 for the Mega Room, wants to be in the Quarter, but not on Bourbon, and prefers a hotel's charm over standard amenities like a spa or 24 hour concierge.

The W French Quarter sets itself apart by its great staff. They really went out of their way to make our stay Wonderful. At every encounter they personalized their service. They even gave us a ride in the hotels Acura to Cafe du Monde.

The physical property is exceptional. The courtyard offers a welcome buffer between you and the city. The pool area is small but very comfortable. Our room was typical of most W's, our view was of the courtyard.

Typically I would not bring the kids to a W, but the French Quarter W is less "niteclub esque". The kids loved the pool. Overall, this property is at the top of my list when traveling to New Orleans.

The W French Quarter is by far my favorite FQ hotel. I always splurge on one of the suites and i am never disappointed. The staff is amazing and they most certainly go above and beyond. I just adore the W's whatever/
whenever service. This is the place my fiancee and i like to hit up when we just need to relax for the weekend.

We stayed here for almost a week and enjoyed our stay very much. The staff were very helpful at any time of the day. We are coffee hogs and cannot function without coffee as soon as we get up so we requested a coffee maker in the room which was taken care of. They do, however, give out free coffee in the lobby.
I wouldn't say the rooms are big - in fact, we found it a bit too crowded. But the beds were great.
The pool, work out areas are wonderful.
We liked this hotel because of the location. Everything is walking distance but still away from the traffic noise.
We did find the walls to be thin since we can hear screaming kids in the hallway.