Eujeanie

When are you coming? Powell's Books is currently closed. Honestly, as someone who lives near enough I would avoid Portland like the plague right now. You never know where problems will pop up next - the Pearl did have some issues a while back. I'd look at one of the suburban locations, just come into the city during the day to do whatever.

chrismwright2

End of next week. We're not married to visiting the bookstore. Its a trip that is apart of our move back home to Washington state. Slight preference for staying downtown though as this is our first visit to Portland (we know the timing isn't ideal...).

Only saving $20/night savings for an airport hotel or suburbs hotel... Worth staying downtown with this small price difference? ($240 vs $200)

edit: difference of <$10 / night for a pet friendly hotel. minimal difference in parking cost as well

GlobeTrttr83

Last few visits I stayed at the FFI next to the Colombia River across from Vancouver, WA, mainly due to location proximity to customer. It was an OK hotel, typical FFI. Definitely get a room facing the parking lot, not the road. You can get to downtown Portland in 20-ish minutes after traffic dies down in evening. I am a runner and really enjoy a nice 4-5 mile run along the Colombia River along the levee bike path towards the airport with great views of Mt. Hood in the background if its clear. So you can enjoy this part of Oregon without the chaos that plagues the downtown area, if you want.

kennycrudup

I boggle at that traffic trying to get on that bridge to Vancouver; I once tracked as my Uber driver sat on Airport Parkway for about 10 mins to go two blocks one afternoon.

rylan

I would advise caution for anything in downtown Portland right now, due to the crazy protests riots that have been going on unabated for a couple months. Recently they've been going after federal buildings/property but it can get ugly fast wherever the mob decides to go.

Eujeanie

Actually, there was some rioting pretty close to there just recently, since there is some Police or Federal building just south of that area.

I wouldn't care whether the prices are the same or a bit more or less, I would avoid Portland at this time. You never know where something will happen next.

chrismwright2

Appreciate all of the advice!

LD75

I will be flying into PDX in a few weeks and overnighting there before we go on a road trip. Initially I thought it might be nice to stay in a downtown Marriott and at least grab lunch, sightsee, coffee etc before we take off. However, on the app, I have been reading varying reviews - a lot of negative but then you will get a positive as well about how bad of shape downtown is in. I am not sure if this is exaggerated or its really a mess. If the latter, I will prob stay at the airport but I had hoped to see downtown a little.

For reference- I know peoples' opinions can vary widely but I lived many, many years in NYC in all different neighborhoods so I my tolerance may be higher than some or maybe it really is that dicey right now?

KE81

I’m temporarily living in Portland at the moment but I don’t venture downtown because I prefer other parts of the city. I did stay at the Duniway (Hilton) back in March and thought it was fine, but the Pearl District (adjacent to downtown) was definitely a bit of a ghost town back then with lots of boarded up shops, closed restaurants, etc. It may still make sense to stay downtown/in the Pearl so you can be centrally located and stay at a property a little more interesting than your usual airport hotel, but if you will have a car (sounds like you will), I’m not sure I would pay an exorbitant parking fee for the privilege.

I’ll actually be staying at The Nines this weekend for a special occasion—I’ll try to remember to report back.

Eujeanie

We live 2 hours away and would often go to Portland for some "big city" fun...until last year. Ever since May 2020 when the riots (oops, I mean "protests") began and continued and continued and continued ad nauseum we won't go near the place again, probably ever. I mean much, much longer nightly protests than any other city in the country. We had a couple of nasty, frightening encounters on the streets BEFORE this, but we are also seniors and this was our personal experience, YMMV.

Before this we had stayed at a great many hotels, went to dozens of restaurants, shows at every theater, but no more. If you do go, The Nines mentioned above was really unique and one of our favorites.

atzy99

I stayed at the Hi-Lo and it was exceptional. We got breakfast although that meant a muffin or a burger from their breakfast menu and a juice / fruit. We also had a welcome drink as we were celebrating a special occasion. Had a nice upgrade to the corner room/suite with a bathtub and the entry to the hotel is by keyboard access only. Although it's a little small and there wasn't much opened when I was there the, the hotel is nicely positioned with food trucks across from it in the evening for some cheap bites.

DELee

How long ago was your stay?

David

mildfrequence

I haven't been recently, but I generally am a regular visitor and I am in touch with enough people there/goings on to suggest that you are likely on the money here.

magendim

I used to go to Portland frequently pre-Covid and Nines was one of my go-to hotels and within walking of a lot of great places. The Nines was right smack in the middle of the rioting war zone so I'm curious what that area is like now. Not hearing good things about DT Portland these days though from my friends that live there and when I was there for a day trip last month, a drive around the DT perimeter was loaded with homeless encampments everywhere. I think areas like Nob Hill and Alberta Arts district are still great places to go but few hotels directly in those areas...

FlyerMD

Portland is fine. It'll be hot this weekend. The MAX light rail runs from the airport to downtown if you'd rather rent your car without airport fees. There's a CY right off the MAX line downtown, and a newly reopened and rebranded "Hotel Vance" in the Tribute Portfolio that was a Radisson Red for a bit under a year before COVID closures. Also a Moxy. Anything else will be quite a few blocks from transit and further from the downtown core.

That whole area around Pioneer Courthouse Square is fine now and the Nines is still there and running.

That said, many of the restaurants and shops downtown closed during the pandemic and still aren't reopened because people aren't coming back into the offices yet. (Not too much residential property downtown.)

Things are plenty safe as long as you avoid the bar areas around closing time which have had some problems in the past few weeks.