Travel in city New Orleans

In a bid to win over a younger audience to its hotel chains, Marriott International is adding Taylor Swift's Eras tour to its loyalty program.

Marriott International's Bonvoy rewards program is tapping into the Taylor Swift frenzy, granting Bonvoy members the chance to experience Swift's Eras Tour through either a sweepstakes or the Marriott Bonvoy Moments platform, where members can trade in hotel-stay points for experiences, concerts and sporting events.

Get your friendship bracelets ready, because Marriott Bonvoy wants to send you to not one, not two, but three separate Taylor Swift concerts around the world. 

Like its iconic gumbo, New Orleans is a fascinating cultural stew. No city in the world can lay claim to all the Big Easy offers: French-Creole cuisine, the spiritual home of jazz, one of the world’s longest (and most well-known) Mardi Gras celebrations, over 130 annual festivals and an abiding laissez les bon temps rouler (“let the good times roll”) local vibe.

There is a yellow house in New Orleans—a pretty pile in Marigny (French Quarter-adjacent) that is home to my favorite Airbnb: a pied-à-terre on the building’s second floor with two balconies, ceilings higher than heaven, and a wealth of period hardware and finishes so fabulously abundant you'll remember them forever. It’s also the perfect distance from Frenchmen Street: the walk takes less than five minutes but nary an errant all-night note will reach your ears so long as the windows remain closed.

United Airlines is bringing more adventure to travelers, with an additional 100+ flights being added to the summer flight schedule. Flyers can visit more destinations across the United States and Canada, with plenty of opportunities to enjoy a picturesque outdoor adventure.

With Super Bowl LVIII in the books, the countdown has started for travelers to book their trip to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX in 2025.The Big Easy is one of the most prolific Super Bowl hosts ever as it will tie Miami with 11 games hosted next year. Meanwhile, the Caesars Superdome will host its record eighth Super Bowl on February 9, 2025.New Orleans last hosted the Big Game in 2013. According to New Orleans & Company, Super Bowl XLVII's showdown between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers brought an estimated $480 million in economic impact to the city, the state of Louisiana and surrounding areas. In 2025, the city anticipates that number to be well over $500 million.The influx of visitors for the championship matchup is expected to provide a jolt to small businesses across the city and region, benefitting hotels, restaurants, cultural attractions, bars, venues, shops and transportation providers, among other businesses.Airlines are already gearing up for next year's Super Bowl, with United Airlines running a special Big Game marketing campaign encouraging travelers to book their flight to New Orleans right away to take advantage of its popular no-change fee policy.

Well, we’re almost there.

While each Super Bowl is unique, some things never change. And in this case, it means that the Kansas City Chiefs are again Super Bowl champions and quarterback Patrick Mahomes is again going to Disneyland.

Spirit Airlines has been flying to Cancun for two decades, and is celebrating the milestone with an anniversary sale that has flights starting at just $79.

New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, draws millions of visitors year-round to experience the city's rich and thriving live music culture. While some of the best talent can be heard in the clubs, bars and streets, one of the biggest draws for live music enthusiasts is the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds Race Course.

After a record-breaking 115.1 million viewers tuned in for last year's Super Bowl, companies across all industries, including travel, are putting up big bucks—$7 million for 30 seconds of air time to be exact—to get their brands in front of America's eyeballs this February.

With its glittering seas, colorful harbors and beaches filled with primary bright umbrellas, the French Riviera is a visual treat most everywhere you look. For an even more vivid mise en scène, head to the Côte d’Azur in spring, when this ribbon of revered coastline hosts numerous spring festivals, and towns pull out the stops to celebrate a cherished local bloom or fruit.

A major draw of being in New Orleans during the weeks of Mardi Gras parades—now underway ending with the Big Day on February 13th-is, naturally, sampling the restaurants in the city. But for those who can’t make it to the Big Easy during this stretch, or simply miss it and want to relive the dining experiences at home, it’s easy to get signature dishes from some of the city’s most famous eateries and bakeries shipped to points around the U.S. Various New Orleans establishments have partnered with Goldbelly and the shipments arrive in refrigerated or frozen form with instructions on how to defrost and heat them, bringing them close to on site restaurant form. (When scanning the city’s offerings, though, be warned that they’re not always grouped together. Type “New Orleans” and keep scrolling; other cities may be mixed in.)

Everyone knows Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. But smaller cities and towns around the world put on epic parties of their own. The events—which mostly began as a sort of pagan late-winter celebration in Europe and morphed into a global kind of Catholic last hurrah before the austerity of Lent—are lively, colorful and often steeped in tradition. UNESCO has put many of them, both in Europe and in its former colonies, on its List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

It’s no secret that New Orleans, the 300-plus-year Louisiana port town situated along the banks of the mighty Mississippi River is known for it’s spirited revelry, jazz music, butter-rich food, buzzy cocktails (the Sazerac was born here) and annual Mardi Gras celebration — commencing this February. For leisure and business travelers looking for a quiet respite, you’re in luck. Below, the best of Crescent City’s outdoor spaces, leafy parks, natural beauty boutiques, healthy eats, spas and hotel offerings.

If you’re an American traveler, you’ve likely done this sort of calendar math, spotting where all the paid holidays fall this year and figuring out how to combine them with your own limited paid time off (PTO). 

It’s a new year for events and the books are already filling up. After Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour took 2023 by a storm, and gave short-term rentals a big jolt, we wanted to see if 2024 events would have a similar effect.

Located steps from storied St. Charles Avenue in the Warehouse District, Virgin Hotels New Orleans is like no other place to stay in the city. Guests who visit during Mardi Gras are likely to discover some special surprises.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with John Barnhart, a 32-year-old who left Tampa, Florida to travel, and work, around the world.

Beads at the ready – Mardi Gras is just around the corner.