Portland OR hotel/motel
 

My husband and I will be in Portland OR at the end of September for a few nights. I'm looking for suggestions for a hotel or motel. We don't want to spend more than $100 a night.
Thanks so much !!!

What part of Portland?

Not sure of which area you want, but the McMenamin properties are fun. The Kennedy School is the closest to the core part of Portland, but then there is the Edgefield in Troutdale if you are headed toward the Gorge area at all. Their website is www.mcmenamins.com. Each property is unique and quite interesting. The rates are usually around $75-$100.

Another option would be to try Priceline.

Try the Porland Orgeon Visitors Assoc website - they have hotel specials - you can call and talk to a real person who has always been helpful - I like to stay at the Marriott on the water - and through the visitors assoc they can usually get you a deal that includes parking and breakfast - the Marriott is nice because walking distance to downtown shopping - easy access to walking paths along the river -
and easy location to get to - its one of my favorites

We have stayed at the Benson Hotel which is a beautiful, old four star hotel in the downtown area. We paid $65 in Jan. using Priceline.com. Last December we paid even less on priceline. Take a look at BIddingfortravel.com before you bid to see what hotels people are winning and at what price.

I must admit that the room was not spectacular but the public areas were amazing as was the service.

Thanks for the suggestions. The area isn't crucial. We will have a car. But we will be without one our last day and need to get to the train station. So we don't want to be miles away. We've never tried Priceline (it scares me a bit)

The Kennedy School rules. My husband and I stayed there one night a few summers ago when we took a coastal trip from LA to Seattle. The Kennedy School was the highlight of our stay! From the moment we arrived, we hopped around like school-kids, giddy with excitment. We kept on thinking it was all just too good to be true - we wondered if we had encountered a cult and whether or not we would be breakfast for the staff in the morning. We really didn't care because it was one of the most enjoyable times we've had in our entire lives. Not kidding. We are going back this May to spend a few more days. I recommend the Hammerhead package. You must book on their website:

http://www.kennedyschool.com/index.p...ion%20Homepage

Halya,

I do soooooooo recommend Priceline to you. The "end of September" will be a perfect time to garner a great hotel deal, and you can select the "downtown" core as a limit to where you might randomly be lodged.

You can go to www.biddingfortravel.com and READ all about how the Priceline system works.

Once you are absolutely sure of your time in Portland, then you can begin bidding on Priceline. At the "end of September" there should be no urgent need to bid for rooms before, perhaps, early September. But if you are FIRM on your dates in Portland then it wouldn't hurt you to try to bid earlier.

I'm somewhat familiar with downtown Portland, and have stayed there a few times (among many in the general Portland area). I can't think of particular spots west of the river there that would be particularly UNdesirable.

Here is a link to biddingfortravel's list of downtown Portland hotel possibilities:

http://p070.ezboard.com/fpricelinean...icID=162.topic

YOU can mandate the minimum "star rating" on this list that you will accept, for whatever bid you eventually make.

A random comparison for "The Benson Hotel" (4-star) in downtown portland for the night of March 25...

someone at biddingfortravel spoke of a winning bid amount of "$61"... (with tax and fee = "$76")... while the best unrestricted rate on their website is $124.99 PLUS taxes, making it $140.61 total

THAT was for someone getting only one night... if you book for 3 or 4 nights, then the single Priceline fee is spread over a few nights of savings, and relatively less expensive.

(wildly guessing here, from past Priceline experiences)

A winning "bid" of "$61 per night" for 3 nights might run to a total bill of $210-215 with taxes and fees... ALL payable as soon as your bid is accepted, and then your bill after your stay is either "zero" or some nominal parking and/or 'energy' fee imposed on EVERYONE by the hotel.

IF you booked that hotel directly, at $124.99 a night base rate, for 3 nights, you're up to $421.84 including 12.5% tax.

Now you may not be able to call that true "savings", because you never would have stayed there in the first place, but surely you upgraded your accommodations and probably enjoyed your surroundings a bit better as a result. And you may have truly "saved" the diff between $100 a night you were prepared to spend, and the $215 you would have committed to the Priceline room.

Priceline, in summary, just gives the larger hotels access to the spontaneous last-minute people who used to drive into down with dad hunting the "No Vacancy" signs at 9 o'clock at night, or later.

For the larger hotels, that represents revenue where they might have otherwise just had an empty room.

So at least investigate www.biddingfortravel.com

well if you want to do something really fun stay at the Edgefield in Troutdale- same owners as Kennedy School- they have a winery/ brewery/ movie theatre/
great restaurant and also a pub type restaurant/ in the summer they have outdoor barbecues and cook salmon on a stick/ they have entertainment in the winery on the weekends/ beautiful grounds/ used to be the "poor farm"
and every door and pipe and wall is painted with whimsical art work -
its also on the road to the Columbia Gorge- its a very fun destination- and not too far to downtown.

Check www.tripadvisor.com. Silver Cloud gets very good ratings in Portland, but it may be out of your price range.

I stayed at DoubleTree Lloyd center and paid under $100 for a summer weekend night. For me the location was important - no car, so I had to be on the MAX. Check their website for specials.

If you stay at a SingleTree can you get it for under $50? :-?

Please don't be scared of Priceline! You can probably get a fantastic 4-star hotel in downtown Portland for under $100 a night with Priceline - probably close to $60/night and an extra $20/night for parking. Once you go to BiddingForTravel.com and see that you're most likely going to get one of only a few nice hotels, you should realize there's not much risk involved. Just don't book until close to your departure because Priceline reservations are non-refundable/non-changable. Book something now you can cancel, then try Priceline in early September and see what happens. I've gotten oodles of great Priceline hotels even at the last minute.

Andrew

Mr. Kal: how about a tent under a single tree?

halya, I hear ya about the Priceline scare. I would want to know where I was staying first! My son came very close to using Priceline on his trip to Portland a couple of week ago, but decided to go with our favorite hotel, The Riverplace in the end. :D

He was very glad they did, they had a wonderful trip. Good Luck and enjoy Portland! ***kim*** ((f))

If you want a specific hotel, you shouldn't use Priceline. Period. Or if you really aren't concerned about the price of the hotel, there's no point in using Priceline. But when someone says they want to spend under $100, they are probably concerned about price. It's well worth it for a 4-star in Portland, because experience at BFT shows you are likely to get one of only a few nice hotels. I wouldn't recommend bidding 3-star in Portland because location varies widely, even to the east side of the Willamette River, and one of the hotels (Four Points Sheraton) has had some negative reviews. There aren't any 4-star hotels in Portland east of the Willamette that I know of.

All you have to do is search this forum for "priceline" to read all the satisfied customers Priceline has, especially in Portland.

Andrew

Faina,
We'll always have Yountville and my ((&)) tent.

Ditto Andrew on P'line.
If you have no concern about price like Mommie Dearest then you really don't have to worry. LOL!
++kal++

The prices at the Riverplace in September, range from $161 to $191 unless you have AARP which would get you a basic room for $141.

We should do a GTG at the Kennedy School or Edgefield and have Kal come. Somehow I think he would love it!

Only if we can get him to do the Fat B***tard imitation too :)