For the "budget-conscious visitor" not content with the hotel experience but a little too wary of couchsurfing to take the full-on freegan plunge, this space on Elysian Fields might do the trick. For $15 a night, guests get their own key, full access to a kitchen with pots and pans, and a queen-sized bed for couples. The host is studying to be a tour guide and will provide a more personal experience with "offbeat recommendations" one won't find in Frommer's.
It's cabin living on St. Claude Avenue! This Bywater "guesthouse" rents for $25 per night and has a "bunk bed, a plant, a print, and will have a desk inside of it very soon." There's a/c and a space heater and the owner plans on adding on a screened porch.
↑ "Rosie's Cove" offers a few different room options in the Riverbend shotgun home (well, this is a new shotgun-home explanation: "each room connects to the following room, like beads connect to each other on a necklace") but this Cozy Corner is the cheapest bet. For $25 a night, a single guest can rest up on a futon in the living room. The exhaustive ad lists all one could ever want to know about the light, aura, and general vibe of the "ecosystem."
↑ The master bedroom in this 1940s Gentilly home is going for $39 a night. The 800-square foot bedroom has a queen-size bed, a twin bed, a sofa, and there's a private bathroom. The $100 security deposit and $75 cleaning fee is a bit higher than the other rooms featured in this price range, so no crazy "trash the hotel room" antics here.
↑ For $35 a night in the Marigny, guests get a king-size bed in the "fabulous emerald palace," which has its own private entrance. The "internationally traveling artists" who live in the front part of the house are willing to act as a 24-hour concierge and they provide bikes, plus the "beautiful fabric, and light art installation" in the trippy bedroom.
↑ For those completely willing to skip the small talk and happen to not be of the male variety ("Girls only, bros.") this $15 per night option in the Lower Garden District might be a deal. Note, however, the strikingly young hosts. Oh, and the fact that they advertise a kiddie pool as an amenity. — April Siese
· All Renters Week 2013 coverage [Curbed NOLA]