Take the extra deal. If you're planning to eat at Urban Farmer (and it's good), that and the bottle of wine alone are worth more than $80.

Have a great trip to PDX.

since only two items are avail for the extra $80 I decided to just book a night on points and one at a AAA rate.

The AAA rate of $125 got a Superior room with ATRIUM VIEW

but points stays offered this room OR the Deluxe with City View (both at 10K pts). The "paid" rate is like $50 more for the Deluxe room. I'm wondering why both are options on Points stays. . wouldn't the deluxe city view be much better? Or not??

I've emailed the hotel to ask if my "paid' stay can be changed to a Deluxe city view room so we wont have to change rooms between the paid and points stays. I'm still hoping for Club Level room but just in case I'd at least like to know we'll have the same room for the two nights were there.

If the can't make the paid stay the same I guess I could always use another 10K points stay but i'm starting to run low and would like to hang on to them in case needed for room or suite upgrades.

Volunteer Opportunity = Free Night or 50% Off
 

Stay report
 

We Stayed Saturday night on a paid reservation for two rooms. I agree that this is one of the best Starwood properties in the US. However there are some issues that took away from our experience.

Check in- Early check in at 12:30pm allowed :)...No upgrade offered and no amenity offered or in the rooms :(. On Previous stays there would at least be a bowl of fruit. Lounge access given--as stated earlier, this is the best lounge in the Starwood group. Colin, the lounge concierge exceeded our service expectations.

Room- Small interior rooms overlooking the atrium, but still very nice. I brought my daughter on this trip and she stayed in the 2nd room. This is where the surprise came in. She suffers from allergies to cats and dogs and was up all night sneezing and her eyes were swollen shut the next day. I love the fact that this hotel is pet friendly, but I had assumed that they would have specific rooms set aside for those guests. I would suggest that they at least designate a specific floor for pets, as I am sure there are many guests that have allergies.

Overall this is still my favorite hotel in Portland and I will continue to stay there, unless the children come along--then it will be at the Westin to avoid the allergy issue. I think if the Westin is going to succeed it will need to offer some amenity to compete with the wonderful lounge that the Nines offers. Maybe they could offer Platinum members drinks and breakfast in their restaurant The Daily Grill.

They may have specific rooms and unfortunately, for whatever reason, you may have gotten one of those. I don't understand why in this economy you did not get an upgrade esp. based on your status, but, if my speculation is correct, you may have gotten one of those pet friendly rooms -- it seems from your daughter's rxn you did.

In that instance, the hotel has no way of knowing that anyone in your party has such allergies, and given your knowledge of the pet friendly aspect of this proeprty, they could have rightly assumed that you did know of the possibility that you would be assigned one of those rooms -- after all, as you noted, the hotel states that it is pet friendly.

Long story short = In hopes of avoiding this type of situation in the future at any pet friendly hotel -- advise the front desk of your needs -- do not expect them to be able to read your mind!

Hope your daughter is better. :)

I agree about bringing up the allergies in advance next time. However when I was checking out and asked the agent at the counter about being able to request rooms that don't allow pets--I was informed that they do not set aside any rooms specifically for pets--that all their rooms are available for pet use---so unless a policy change goes into effect, I will be out of luck.

Or, perhaps she takes a Claritin before she arrives at the property? :)

As someone who has a signiicant cat allergy - and who takes daily medication for it - this concerns me. I know that the hotel changed their pet in lounge policy based on comments in this thread. I hope that they are still continuing to read it, and will rethink the need of a certain room block for pets. For me personally, it is the rare dog to which I am allergic - but cats (and horses) really do me in. Having some identified rooms for cats so that guests with allergies can have alternatives would be a big step forward.

;)I find it strange that the hotel would open up all rooms to pets. From what I have read, it seems that most hotels have designated rooms for pets -- not always the most desirable -- and that they do this because of the signficant cleaning problems that could occur. Why a hotel would allow this possibility to occur in all its rooms is beyond me, and given the concerns of SanDiego1K and our other poster, I would hope that if the hotel is reading this that they amend their policy.

As a pet owner, I think it is great that we can take our pets into a hotel -- I have yet to do so, however. On the other hand, I don't want to deal with a pet's cast offs ;) if I decide to stay at a certain hotel and not be traveling with my pet. Now, as the above demonstrates, there are even better reasons advanced why only certain rooms should be set aside for those who wish to travel with their pets.

What are the details of the Club lounge at this property? How many food presentations does it offer throughout the day? (Complimentary breakfast, lunch snacks, tea time, dinner snacks, complimentary cocktails or happy hour??) thanks.

We booked the same deal as Hvanv0405, the rates were closer to 184 a night, so the 229 is definitely worth it when you throw in a bathrobe and breakfast.

I have heard mixed reviews about the Urban Farmer -- but there are so many amazing restaurants in the area, so if we are unhappy, we'll just putter towards the Pearl Bakery.

As many others have mentioned, they have an outstanding lounge. I'm not sure of the exact times or length of the food presentations (at least 2 hours) but I believe it's roughly:

8am - Continental Breakfast
11am - Sandwiches
5pm - Evening Hor d'Oeuvres
8pm - Dessert

Complimentary drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) during all lounge hours.

We're currently here at The Nines for one night. It's my second paid stay here. Just a few notes:

The lounge is awesome as everyone has put it.
Platinum amenity---- they gave me 500 points. What is the typical amenity for this property? I was under the impression that they were not to do that?
Upgrades- first paid stay got upgraded to a club level room. This stay--no upgrade, the hotel is completely booked full.
Staff- great as usual, address me by name, etc.

There was not a fruit bowl or anything of that sorts in my room when I arrived, nor did I receive an email from the manager pre-arrival asking if there is anything that I need. This isn't as big of a deal to me as it is to others.

Besides my confusion on the plat amenity, it was a great stay besides a concierge fiasco (rectified immediately with comping my parking).

You are right - only TWO Luxury Collection hotels are authorized to give the 500 Point Platinum Welcome Amenity - and the Nines isn't one of them. The last time I was promised such an amenity by an unauthorized LC hotel, it NEVER posted. I doubt you will ever see yours - but let us know what happens.

Calling William, the Starwood Lurker. Unless the rules have changed, it sounds like there is a training issue at this hotel.

Thanks for the clarification. I figured this. I asked multiple checkin agents at different times if 500 points was the plat amenity, and they all said it yes.