Ok NOW I don't feel as crazy :-). I just booked a room at the Renaissance Porto as well but didn't see anything about the opening date. Thought it was very suspicious to have zero reviews, zero blog articles, google satellite view showed empty lot, etc. I'm planning on staying in June, taking the train up from Lisbon (a few nights at the Memmo Principe Real), and then from Porto head to Ponta Delgada (any hotel recs there?!)

I was surprised that from this hotel to the central area says 30 min on google maps since its only 2km or less. I would think at least heading downhill it should take a lot less. I booked a refundable room and will watch to see how the early reviews look but so far, I'm hoping for a great stay. I've been to enough hotels in Europe where I "chanced" it and these days am leaning more towards a hopefully more guaranteed comfortable stay.