The Hotel Meridien New Orleans was designed by August Perez & Associates and opened in 1984 to accommodate crowds attending the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.

[2] Four months later, in April 2003, La Salle sold the hotel for $92.5 million[3] to CNL Hospitality Properties.

[4] The hotel suffered some flooding during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

It was evacuated on late August 28,[5] and the flooding included some water filling the basement and part of the first floor.

Despite this, the generators began running out of fuel, and the hotels lost air conditioning, but there was still enough energy to use lights.