Buchanan Lofts

Spacious and stylish lofts in the heart of downtown Lafayette! I travel a lot for work (roughly 80% of the time) and when I found out I would be in Lafayette for six weeks, I immediately looked for short-​term rental options. I know, I hate giving up hotel points but I really wanted something more of a residential feel, and with a kitchen and some room. I also love Lafayette and wanted a centrally located place since I wasn’t just going to chill in my room and watch tv all night.
Buchannan lofts met all my requirements… and then some! My loft had a full kitchen with a regular sized fridge and stove. The room was spacious with two beds. One bed was upstairs and a little more private, while the other was on the main flood and was only separated from the kitchen/​living room by a curtain. There was a dining table, love seat, chair with foot stool, and desk. Even with all that furnature, the loft did not feel cramped. Exposed brick and exposed duct work /​lighting added to that cool loft feel. The owner was very friendly and helpful. The kitchen is fully stocked with dishes and there is a dish washer.
Some minor negatives are the fact that you have to walk a few flights of stairs to get to the lofts and there is no elevator. The room was clean, but did have some wear and tear. Nothing major but it was here and there, and give the impression that the loft wasn’t as clean as it actually was. I also didn’t like the towels in the bathroom or the shower. I’ll probably bring my own towels next time and I would have had a stand up shower and not a shower with a tub. The tub isn’t a soaking tub so was basically useless. The price seems to be a little on the high side for the area (but I am cheap so I could be wrong). At that price point I would like better towels, bed linens and to walk in and feel like the place is immaculate. While the location is great and close to some great restaurants downtown, during the week downtown is pretty dead… but that is not the lofts fault.
My negatives are really nit-​picking and overall the lofts are a great option for all types of travelers. I would definitely stay again if it is in the budget. Check them out when staying in Lafayette… you really will be glad you did!

This is apparently the best place to stay in Lafayette based on talking to many people who are attending a music camp here «Balfa Camp». It bears repeating that things are different in Louisiana so don’t expect to see an attentive innkeeper at all and make sure you have the door entry code in advance, very much like some places in Europe. Everything is handled electronically. That said, my wife and I are having a lovely time sharing this artistically remodeled and appointed loft with a couple of fellow musicians. The lofts are right downtown where the best restaurants and music revues are for Festival Internationale. There is convenient parking and a coffee shop on the ground floor open early most days. We usually visit Lafayette every year and definitely plan to stay here again.

To set the stage, we travel a lot for business and pleasure. We stay in both expensive hotels and value chains (like La Quinta, Holiday Inn Express, Drury Inn, etc.). We’re not difficult as all we expect is a clean and comfortable room. We rarely write reviews, but due our very negative experience at Buchanan Lofts, we felt compelled to write one. Also, we are originally from the Lafayette, LA area and love the downtown area. We were so happy to see good reviews for these lofts as they are right off Jefferson Street downtown. We planned extra time in Lafayette over the Christmas Holidays to enjoy the downtown area with this to be our base. Unfortunately, in our 25 years of traveling, we had to do something we have never had to do before: We had to vacate the room shortly after check-​in because our room was filthy. We have never been more disappointed.
My wife and I checked in and we were taken to our loft. The room was modern and looked fantastic. Shortly after we were in the room, my wife noticed food crumbs scattered on the stove. She found paper towels under the sink, and with a dry paper towel, wiped the surface of the stove and her towel came up black with a dirty/​greasy residue. We’re thinking…“no big deal” as maybe someone forgot to clean the stovetop this morning. She dampened the paper towel, and quickly cleaned the stove top. There were some food crumbs on the countertop adjacent to the stove, so she wiped them off the crumbs and her paper towel was filthy again. She begin wiping the countertops and quickly noticed that countertops were ABSOLUTELY FILTHY! Now all of a sudden, we’re thinking «what else hasn’t been cleaned in here?» That’s when we began looking around and we noticed dried up coca cola on the desk (it was just very thick syrup left so it must have been there for days. The window sill was thick with dust (hadn’t been wiped in many days). We went to the bathroom counter and wiped the counter and got the same result. The shampoo, conditioner and soap were in a clear glass plate. The plate was so smudged that the shampoo and soap stuck to the bottom of the plate. The area rug where the sofa was sitting had not been vacuumed (crumbs and hair on a dark brown rug so easy to see). My wife took a clean paper towel and did quick wipe on the leatherette sofa and YUCK… it was absolutely filthy! Dirty enough to know that this this furniture had not been wiped in months. The floor was filthy and tacky as well (like it had been dust mopped over and over again, but hadn’t seen a wet mop in a long time). We called the Assistant Manager (Jennifer) to come to the room. We showed her the stack of paper towels on the counter that were black and told her this room was not clean. We recognized that for this room to become even reasonably clean would take a couple of hours of some elbow grease. She apologized over and over again but there were no other rooms available. Jennifer acknowledged that this room was NOT clean and went on to admit there were «some problems’ with the cleaning crew. Some problems? Jeez… this crew was doing NOTHING to clean for quite some time. We told her that we had prepaid to guarantee our stay there and even if we had to pay for the first night, we would have to find another accommodation. Jennifer said „you owe us absolutely nothing, and we sincerely apologize…“ She proceeded to refund the entire amount immediately to my card and we promptly received an email showing full refund.
Hours later, we received a message from Jennifer saying that her boss (Leah „THE Manager“) said she was going to charge me for one night which was $ 170 plus tax (over $ 190.00 with tax). So let me get this straight… we are being charged $ 190.00 for a room that was acknowledged for being ‘dirty» by her assistant manager? After playing phone tag with Leah to discuss and finally leaving a voicemail message that we never got a response now for 3 days, we felt compelled to warn other fellow travelers of the problems at Buchanan. Based on our experience, be prepared to pay a premium for a filthy room. However, look at the upside — you are near downtown! I love to support home grown businesses and was really hoping for so much more. Unfortunately the entire experience could not be more disappointing.
It should be noted that we had no intentions of leaving any review (much less a negative review) when we originally left the Buchanan Lofts with our bags in our hands disappointed. We thought — «oh well — they made a mistake.» However, now that we are being charged for a room that we couldn’t stay that was acknowledged by the assistant manager for being ‘not clean’ we felt it was very important to warn fellow travelers who are considering to stay there.
NOTE: Be prepared to lug your bags up 2 long flights of narrow stairs to your room. There is no elevator. Saving Grace: We checked into Homewood Suites-​Airport. Awesome and $ 60/​night less.

I normally do not take the time out to write reviews, however Buchanan lofts deserves one. This has to have been one of the best experiences I have ever had while traveling domestically or internationally.
You find the entrance to the lofts tucked between a downtown Lafayette, Louisiana coffee shop and local salon.
Upon entering you find a small desk. The entrance/​front desk is a mixture of urban contemporary meets vintage feel.
Upon going to your respective loft you can find a full kitchen (refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, microwave and dishes!!!). Typically there are hardwood floors throughout your respective loft and you have access to a large bathroom with washer/​dryer in your loft or on the premises.
You have a secured parking spot (useful if there is a festival or busy Saturday night in downtown Lafayette).
Leah the owner/​manager is amazing. The amount of care and thought put into the lofts makes this one of the best stays in any city and dare I say many countries.
If you plan on visiting Lafayette for work or pleasure this is an ideal location (central to everything in Lafayette) and not far from some good restaurants.
To top off the entire experience it is well priced. You can’t find better pricing and accommodations than Buchanan Lofts in Lafayette.

UPDATE: I just had to write and update this to let you know that I received a letter a few days after our stay from Buchanan Lofts. It enclosed earrings that I had left on the night stand! It was such a nice gesture and I was so appreciative.
We had a very nice stay at Buchanan Lofts. The apartments are nicely decorated in a modern style. We enjoyed that it was a large room and that we couldn’t hear anyone in the hallways or in other rooms. We had booked the studio apartment, but the owner gave us an upgrade because there were other rooms available. The location is great and you can walk to anything in downtown Lafayette. The owner gave us restaurant and music suggestions, and the café next door was cute and the person working there was very friendly.
I decided not to give it 5 stars for a couple reasons. First, the hot water ran out during the second shower of the morning. The first shower was about 10 minutes, and about 10 minutes into the second person’s shower, the water started to get less hot, and 5 minutes later it was cold. No one had done dishes or ran water. It was very strange. Also, the pillows were terrible (small complaint because the bed was amazing). My only other complaint would be that there was a lack of sponges or anything to clean with.

«Am I in NYC? Paris? Milan?»
Buchanan Lofts has the style and sophistication to rival any major metropolis. But don’t leave your room looking for a baguette or a bagel, you’re the middle of Cajun country now. (Forget about boring bread and search the countryside for boudin, crawfish and cracklings.)
Large, comfortable and luxurious, Buchanan Lofts is the perfect homebase for your rustic Cajun roadtrip. Full kitchen (too cook up your farmer’s market/​butchershop finds), immaculatly clean bathrooms, spacious lounge areas. The lofts have everything you need in a home away from home.