Looking at Kayak, Hotel Monteleone is $192 on reservetravel, the Holiday Inn French Quarter-Chateau Lemoyne on Dauphine is $139, and the Bienville House on Decatur (where we've stayed) is $159. Looks like the Marriott on the FQ side of Canal has rooms for $172 on Kayak.

Haven't been to the Holiday Inn (or known anyone who has), but it's a good location and well reviewed.

I've had out of town visitors stay at that holiday inn and it was fine. That said, IMO staying in the marigny is always a good idea.

Matt, I poked Orbitz, and you might also try here: [link]

or here: [link]

That said, IMO staying in the marigny is always a good idea.

Concur. I'd rather stay in the Marigny than the Quarter. All the goodness of the Quarter and none of the drunken fratty behavior.

Dana's first link looks like it is near my parents' time share, which I have never stayed at but it seems like a nice neighborhood from walking past.

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Thanks everyone! I checked the Bienville House yesterday and unfortunately they didn't have rooms available for the dates I wanted, but the others look promising.

I'm waffling now though, last night I found out I can book a room in the Crescent's sister hotel downtown at less than a third the price and still attend the Halloween event I'd originally planned on. It may boil down to which I'd rather hazard, New Orleans traffic or curving bluffside streets in the Ozarks.

We stayed at the Royal Street Courtyard in the Marigny when we were in New Orleans a couple of years ago, and I quite liked it: [link]

Matt, I've stayed in the Crescent AND in the sister hotel. The Crescent is cooler, but the other hotel is quite nice and not such a whopping climb up a hill.

Just booked a corner room there - I get a turret! As it turns out, they have a costume party on Halloween (backup plan if I can't get a ticket to the seance), and the day after they're screening Romero's Night of the Living Dead in the park next door.

Sounds awesome, Matt!