Magnolia Hotel is a great location -- just a few blocks off of Canal near Camp, so it is a very easy walk to the French Quarter, or rail car line to get you just about anywhere. While the staff were friendly enough, they certainly didn't want to go above and beyond.
When we first checked in we were told check in is at 4 and we needed to come back (90 minutes later). Fair enough, but we thought we would see if a room was available and drop our luggage. When we came back at 4 we were given a room that was not made yet. The bed was clearly slept in and there were dirty towels all over the floor. When we went back to the front desk to tell them, we were told that we would just have to wait 30-60 minutes longer to get a clean room. We had dinner reservations, and after a long flight wanted to get cleaned up, so I asked if there was any other rooms available. You would have thought I asked for them to move mountains by their reaction. In the end we did get a new room quickly.
The room was fine - very similar to the photos shown. The bathroom could use a remodel and we had to have maintenance come and fix our shower stopper (it wouldn't pop up causing the tub to fill up while showering). The sink and counter also leaned forward, which meant if you used the sink there was a good chance you were getting wet. All in all, it was clean and not a huge deal, but could use an update for sure.
I wouldn't cross this one off our list. The price was very fair, the room was comfortable enough (although the AC isn't exactly powerful and I would imagine the summer would be a bit miserable) and it was extremely convenient to what we wanted to do while in NOLA.