NEW ORLEANS -- As Hurricane Ike barreled toward Texas last week, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin invited evacuees to his town, saying he wanted to return the favor for all the help folks in the Lone Star State had given people driven out by Hurricane Katrina.

Eyewitness News

Nagin urged those fleeing Ike to just request the "Mayor Ray Nagin special" when they booked their rooms.

On Saturday, after people asking for the special got only baffled looks, Nagin issued a statement saying the comment was a joking remark and just "my attempt to lighten the mood."

"I think the mayor, in the spirit of thanking the Houstonians and Texans for their graciousness and hospitality, wanted them to know they were welcome here and could get good hotel rates," Mavis Early, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association said on Saturday. "But there in no one Ray Nagin special rate, because that would be illegal."

It is against federal antitrust laws for hotels to collectivelyagree on rates, Early said.

"There are certainly good rates in New Orleans this time of year," Early said. "And people will be able to find rooms."

As baffled reservation clerks in the area faced more and more requests for the special, Early's group sent an e-mail to hotels urging them to make appropriate accommodations in the spirit of cooperation.

Nagin's little joke did not lighten the mood for at least one person who fled Baytown, Texas for New Orleans.

Mary Jane Bernard called City Hall on Friday to complain about her inability to get the "Nagin special."

"The woman I spoke to said he was just saying that in jest and that I was taking it too seriously," Bernard told the New Orleans Times Picayune. "For them to say we're taking things too seriously isjust unconscionable. It's not a joking matter when you're running for your life just like the people here did three years ago."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)