My husband and I, along with 2 other couples, traveled to Oregon to see the total solar eclipse this past weekend. We spent 1 night at The Nines before heading to the Willamette Valley for 2 nights at The Allison Inn & Spa--closer to the eclipse totality zone.

The Nines is a great boutique feeling luxury hotel with a tremendous hard product and a good but not perfect soft product. The hotel looks amazing. The rooms/suites look and were amazingly well appointed. Everything felt very luxurious and eclectic--perfect for a city like Portland. The service had a few misses, but overall it was quite good. The service misses were more obvious at the better rated Allison Inn and Spa, actually, so these may reflect the more casual, relaxed nature of the Portland and Oregon markets--where the Nines, the nearby but dated Heathman, and the Allison properties very well might constitute the bulk of the luxury hotel sector.

I had booked a One Bedroom Suite almost a year in advance, knowing the eclipse would cause issues. The hotel kindly had agreed to upgrade me in advance first to a Hospitality Suite, then to the specialty Frank and Meier Suite, because of my Ambassador status and because we had 2 other couples booking rooms there, too. And because I asked! 

A few days before arrival, I was informed that we had been further upgraded to the Nines Suite, the hotel's top accommodation. 

Check In

Check in for us was a bit curious. We arrived with one other couple around 1 pm, so we knew our rooms/suites would not be ready until 3 pm. We took the elevator to the 8th floor lobby and check in desk.

The front office manager came to greet us personally, which was quite impressive. She informed us that while our friends' room wouldn't be ready until 3 pm, our suite should be ready before 2 pm. They said we would receive a call letting us know. That didn't turn out to be the case, however.

Ultimately, at 2:30 pm, having heard nothing after a lovely lunch in the hotel lobby restaurant, we checked again with the front desk...and our suite still wasn't ready. Having set the expectation, this was disappointing and didn't reflect well on the manager or the hotel team.

We finally got into our suite at about 2:45 pm. 

Room

Below are descriptions of the 3 room types that we had among our group: The Nines Suite, a Club Deluxe Room, and a Club One Bedroom Suite.

THE NINES SUITE

The Nines Suite is amazing...and huge at 1768 square feet. 

The entry is reasonably unassuming:

The entry hallway, just off of which to the left was a powder bath, a hall closet, and the entry to the buter/kitchen area:

The entry hallway ended with another hallway, which opened up into the grand two story living room. The living room had plenty of seating, and was attached to the dining room and bar/kitchen/butler area:

The chic dining room:

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The butler/kitchen behind the bar had a doorway into the dining room and the other door back into the entry hallway as previously mentioned. There was a full kitchen with wine refrigerator:

Down the hallway in the other direction from the living room was the bedroom and a study/office across the hall. The hall ended with a locked door that presumably permits addition of an additional bedroom if needed.

The study:

The master bedroom across the hall was spacious and had lots of natural light with a generously appointed and chic master bath:

The TV rose from the base of the bed cabinet, much like we have in our home. 

The lack of frosted glass for the toilet room was curious to us--a simple yet still cohesive solution for privacy. The lack of a trash can in the main bath was also curious; the only trash can was in the toilet room.

The air con was the biggest miss for the Nines Suite. it simply didn't cool well. For the hotel's top accommodation, this was very disappointing for me, as I am well known for needing it to be 68 F to sleep. The main living area had one thermostat that never dropped below 74 F. The bedroom had a separate thermostat that never dropped below 73 F. 

CLUB DELUXE ROOM

Our friends had a club room and a one bedroom suite. They upgraded our friends to the Club floor on the 12th floor so that they would be down the hall from us. Unfortunately, that seemed to also give them the smallest possible room (219 square feet) and darkest possible room.

The room was very nicely appointed. It was just very small and very dark with the one small window. You clearly want to ask for a larger room if at all possible.

The bathroom was single vanity but otherwise fine.

Their air con worked very well, fortunately. 

CLUB ONE BEDROOM SUITE

Our other friends had a one bedroom suite that was upgraded to the Club level. It was very spacious and well appointed, but they felt it was a little dark.

The entry was wide and open:

The spacious living room:

The bedroom was at the end of the wide entry hall:

The bathroom was off the entry hallway next door:

The air con worked very well in this suite, as well.

Service

Service overall was very good.

Check in was not handled well insofar as setting false expectations, as I mentioned previously. Not only did I complain about that, but there were two guests before me in line who complained about the same thing--being promised a room would be ready over an hour before it actually was ready. Perhaps we can chalk it up to housekeeping not being prepared for the eclipse selling out the hotel, but that isn't saying great things about management.

The hotel staff brough up a nice welcome treat to our suite for us and our friends:

That is a pretty good bottle of Pinot Noir, about $45 retail.

When my air con didn't seem up to snuff, I called for an engineer--who came very promptly. He was extremely kind and helpful in trying to make it better, but he did advise that the big room wouldn't improve much. They did send up two fans to help, and those fans did save me--though I still didn't sleep so well. Of course, this air con issue won't be an issue for most, only those of us who require it be quite cold. (Our friends' rooms all got very cold, so this could be an issue only for the extremely large Nines Suite.)

We asked for extra water, and they brought up 8 bottles. No problem!

We did have trouble getting an answer on the phone a few times, probaby due to the hotel being sold out for the eclipse. Still, that's a no-no.

Service in the lobby bar and both restaurants was excellent. Room service delivery was pretty prompt (under 30 min), too. 

Overall, I'd say service was very good.

Dining

Food and beverage service was very good, though our breakfast room service orders weren't too hot. Otherwise, we were extremely pleased!

We had lunch at the Urban Farmer restaurant in the main lobby level on the 8th floor. Excellent food and service.

We had drinks that night in the lobby area. Service was again friendly and pretty prompt.

We had dinner at the top floor Departure restaurant, which is also quite the snazzy and chic bar scene. Food and service was excellent again. 

It says a lot that we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the hotel for our one night stay--and really enjoyed them. Very impressive.

CLUB LOUNGE

I am not a fan of Club Lounges or Executive Lounges in luxury hotels, as I generally believe these are where people go to save money by squeezing in their entire family and all their children for a buffet style feast that in no way epitomizes luxury. That was the case here at the Nines, too.

There were families literally hanging outside the door to the Club Lounge waiting for anyone else to enter or exit so they could gain entry. The hotel should have someone checking room numbers/names on entry to guarantee this doesn't happen. The net result was a ridiculously crowded and unattractive lounge with lots of garbage laying around. Not impressive. 

We used the lounge only to get coffee and bottled water. The coffee was terrible, though.

Location

The hotel has a very central location in the middle of the city. It was a 5-10 min drive for us to reach the arts area to walk around. It was a 20 min drive from the airport without too much traffic.

Overall

We really loved the Nines. While our friends' Club level room was tiny and dark, our Nines Suite really was over the top. Service was very good, and food/beverage was outstanding. The hotel felt luxurious in a boutique, bohemian, artsy way, perfectly suited for its Portland location. We would return in a second!

For those who think having Ambassador service is a waste, our Nines stay and huge suite upgrade and service experience goes to show that isn't true. Being an Ambassador level guest clearly elevated our stay and experience--and that of our friends, too! 

I chose this hotel because the Embassy Suites, where I stayed on my two previous visits to Portland, was full.  I searched for "Five-Star" hotels in Portland, and this was all that came up.  

Check In

The lobby of the hotel is on the eighth floor, and this is somewhat awkward.  The street-level entrance only has a stand for the valet. 

Room

I was disappointed with the decor of the room, for some very practical reasons.  The couch was impossibly uncomfortable, with a section in the middle with no back.  What if you want to sit close to someone special?  There was also a chair, but it did not look very inviting.  Then there was a large section of the curtain that was permanently fixed blocking one of three windows.  I had purely aesthetic objections to the wallpaper and artwork.  

Also, there was no coffee maker in the room, and no obvious way to order a pot and have it delivered.  Coffee was available in the morning in the lobby.

Dining

I had dinner with my sister and her husband at Departure on the top floor.  From their web page, "Chef Gregory creates accessible Asian cuisine using traditional techniques. We are committed to offering diners the most authentic ingredients for unique, modern, pan-Asian cuisine."  The decor is very modern, but the seating and ambiance was comfortable.  We had the Tasting Menu, which was outstanding.

Service

I am not the most experienced world traveler by any means, but the desk clerk posed a question to me that I had not heard before: "What time will you be departing?"  I pressed the clerk for an explanation, and she said that after the predicted departure time, the housekeepers would knock on the door to start cleaning the room.  This eliminates a major source of inconvenience for the housekeepers (not knowing if guests have left before check-out time).  But I was a bit taken aback with the question.

Location

The location is central in downtown Portland, and conveniently close to the light rail for a connection to the airport or other points.  I was traveling by train, and it was a $7.50 taxi ride from the hotel to Union Station.

Overall

Mainly because I was disappointed in the room, I would not recommend this hotel.  I am sure somebody put a lot of thought into the decor, but it has some very practical problems.  For a downtown hotel, the Embassy Suites has much more comfortable furnishings in addition to offering a suite for a comparable price.

Also, the hotel is challenged by being in a mostly deserted building.  While the Pioneer Square area is vibrant, the depqrture of Macy*s from the building below The Nines has left a gaping hole in the community.