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Hotel News / Hotel Renovations / Odd Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / Portland Hotels / Hotel GMs / → All Tags
The Boy In The Bubble: Which Portland GM Is Camping Out In Front Of His Hotel?
If you're staying at the RiverPlace Hotel in Portland this week, and are looking for General Manager Ryan Kunzer, you won't find him anywhere in the hotel. Which isn't to say he's not working.
He'll be working, alright, but instead of a traditional office, Kunzer has temporarily stationed himself inside a bubble tent in the middle of Pioneer Square.
Starting yesterday, Kunzer will spend three nights working and sleeping inside the 24-geodesic dome as a way to promote the hotel's renovated guest rooms, which are fresh from a $2.5 million makeover.
The hotel already went through a major change last year when Kimpton took it over, and now this is the logical follow-up Kimpton-ization, as we've seen before at Se San Diego and The Surfcomber.
As a way to introduce the new look to locals and potential guests, RiverPlace has re-created a guest room inside the tent for all to see (literally). Kind of a genius PR stunt, if you ask us. No pedestrian who stumbles upon a pop-up bubble hotel in the middle of a public square would ever be able to pass by and not want to peek inside.
Hopefully, the reviews will be positive...
Rates from $284/night.
[Photo: RiverPlace Hotel]
TV Set Hotels / Portlandia / Portland Hotels / Oregon Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel de Luxe Offers "Pilgrimage to Portlandia" Package
Here's the latest happening in the luxury hotel world as told by Just Luxe's own Lena Katz. Got a question about luxury hotels, the travel biz, and where to stay? Send it in and we'll have Lena answer it.
We’re huge fans of the IFC sketch comedy show "Portlandia", for so many reasons: It taught us interpretive canoe dancing is totally a real thing and reminds us that the dream of the 90s is alive!! (btw, that’s the theme song’s catchphrase.)
Downtown Portland's Hotel deLuxe, which was featured in the recent episode “Squiggleman,” just announced a "Pilgrimage to Portlandia" package that incorporates goodies seen in past episodes. The Art Deco hotel is a 130-room artsy urban haven from the Provenance Hotels group.
Here are some perks you'll receive with their themed package:
Hotel Openings / Hotel News / Provenance Hotels / Portland Hotels / Historic Hotels / → All Tags
Provenance Snatches Up A Third Hotel In Portland, The Governor
Yesterday, we told San Franciscans about 3 Portland hotels worth checking out on their next SFO-->PDX jaunt. But another hotel popped up in the scene earlier this month, and it's part of the small but fun Northwestern group known as Provenance Hotels.
Provenance's other hotels are pretty much all uniformly modern, somewhat arty, and all distinguished by subtle themes. There's Seattle's local artist-supporting The Max, Portland's Hollywood-adoring Hotel deLuxe, Tacoma's glassed-out Hotel Murano.
And now, Portland gets its third Provenance with the historic Governor Hotel, originally built in 1909 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Portland Hotels / Oregon Hotels / Lists / Hipster Hotels / → All Tags
Three Portland Hotels for Virgin America-Flying San Franciscans
Get ready for the summertime airline routes! This is the best time of the year—new destinations are on sale and airplanes are getting ready to head either south to the sun or north to the cooler temps. In Virgin America's case, it's north to the Pacific Northwest. Portland will begin receiving the SF hipsters from the first week of June, and we've got some suggestions on where to stay...
· The Ace Hotel. Duh. This is a no-brainer. The Ace is somewhere you can score a room for as low as $95/night, eat a $10 grilled cheese lunch, work in a communal mezzanine loft space and still walk with a swagger. Its location is ideal for walking outside and running smack-dab into the young, underground culture for which Portland is famous (and Powell's Books is like, 3 minutes away on foot). For everything you can't reach on foot, The Ace will happily rent you a hipster bike. To see just what the cheapest room at The Ace looks like, check out our gallery here. Rates from $95 per night.
Eugene Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Shopping / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags
Shopaholics, and Wine Lovers, Will Get Their Fill At the Inn At 5th
A new 70-room inn has gone up next to the Fifth Street Public Market in Eugene, OR, and its name? Inn at Fifth. Gotta love those Pacific Northwesterners and their upfront, uncomplicated way of doing things.
The hotel, which opened in February, has seamlessly integrated the locally-owned businesses from the neighboring market into a long list of guest perks; and that's not surprising, as the owner of the hotel is the same guy who owns the Fifth Street Public Market.
OregonLive took a look at the place recently, and in addition to the lobby and rooms themselves (simple, sparse, and modern with iPad docks, Kuerig coffeemakers and gas fireplaces), we're digging all the services offered to guests from the market next door. Luggage, kitchenware, home decor, and toys within spitting distance from your room? Check. Spa accessed from the lobby? Check. Wine and cheese sent up in a basket the courtyard? Yup, that too.
Kimpton Hotels / Portland Hotels / Hotel Rebrandings / → All Tags
Kimpton Takes Over The RiverPlace Hotel in Portlandia
It looks like Kimpton Hotels are on a roll in picking up new hotels. One of the newest hotels in their collection is the RiverPlace Hotel in Portland, Ore. on the banks of the Willamette river River.
The hotel, which looks more like an inn than a hotel, was previously a Larkspur Collection hotel before Kimpton took over. Now it boasts free WiFi, an evening wine-tasting, the Kimpton Pets program where your furry friends stay for free, a riverview courtyard and deck to hang out on and the Three Degrees Waterfront Bar and Grill which serves up fresh, local and seasonal ingredients.
The hotel is already a 2012 Traveler's Choice winner on TripAdvisor and the reviews are quite impressive. Kind of like the best ones we've seen on TripAdvisor in a while. The only bad thing might be valet parking which is $31 a night.
On the bright side, rooms start at just $199 a night.
What is This / Hotel Design / Hotel Furniture / Portland Hotels / Luxury Collection Hotels / → All Tags
What is This at The Nines Hotel in Portland?
We like to keep it fun but informative here at HotelChatter so our newest series, What is This? is devoted to odd-looking items in hotel rooms that upon first glance look as if they serve only a decorative purpose. But everything happens for a reason, right? And we're here to tell you what these things really do.
When we visited The Nines Hotel in Portland over the summer, it was nearly love at first sight in the guestrooms which feature jewel-toned furniture, sumptuous beds and original artwork on the walls.
But when we sauntered over to the desk, we were struck by the silver, beaded handles on the desk. What a darling touch! But it turns out the drawers do much more than look pretty.
Room Service / Hotel Dessert / Hotel Food / Portland Hotels / Provenance Hotels / Hotel Charities / → All Tags
Hotel deLuxe In Portland Is Having A Bake Sale
And, just because we can't include an item about fitness without balancing it out with some yummy hotel dessert porn, here's a new promotion being launched by Provenance Hotels, which owns Hotel Lucia and Hotel deLuxe in Portland, Hotel Murano in Tacoma, and Hotel Preston in Nashville.
For every slice of chocolate cake sold through room service, fifty percent of the profits will go straight to Share Our Strength, a group that fights childhood hunger in the US. A pretty worthy cause, say we.
Though the whole combat-hunger-by-stuffing-your-face-with-chocolate-cake concept is a little questionable, we get what they're doing—and with a cake as appetizing as the one above (which will be served by The deLuxe starting today), we'd have a hard time saying no to "charity."
Hotel Bathrooms / Kimpton Hotels / Hotel Candy / Hotel Amenities / Hotel Minibar / Portland Hotels / Hotel Cats / Funny Hotels / → All Tags
Not Quite A Bathtub Full Of Candy, But This Made Us Smile
We came across this adorable email exchange a recent guest had with Hotel Monaco Portland in the weeks leading up to their stay, and thought we'd pass it along. Though Kimpton had us scratching our heads during the whole Elmo/NASA thing this summer, it turns out they actually have a pretty good sense of humor.
In the exchange, Kimpton asks an incoming guest if he would require any special services or amenities arranged prior to their arrival. The guest then jokingly invents two "absurd and outrageous" requests (a bed full of puppies, a bathtub full of Reese's Pieces), and suggests the hotel pretends he is in town to celebrate a "quintuple homicide acquittal."
The whole exchange was light-hearted and fleeting enough for the guest to have forgotten all about it by the time he checked into the hotel. So when he walked into his room, it was to his surprise that he found free Reese's Pieces, a handwritten note (congratulating him on his homicide acquittal) with a picture of a kitten, and a $10 minibar voucher. Not quite a bathtub full of candy, but way to go Kimpton!
Killer View / Portland Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Rooftops / Hotel Bars / → All Tags
Looking Down on The Bricks in Portland from The Nines
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
The other month when we toured The Nines Hotel in Portland we took a ride up to their rooftop which houses the hotel's Departure restaurant and bar. We shot this pic of Pioneer Square and The Bricks (where people sit, eat, jam, veg, etc) from one of the outdoor decks. While views of the city from the guestrooms start at around $300 a night, anyone can head up to Departure for this killer view.
Below we have a bonus shot from the ground looking up at Departure!
Hotel Club Lounges / Photo Gallery / Portland Hotels / Luxury Collection Hotels / → All Tags
Inside the Club Lounge at The Nines in Portland
Over on Jaunted, you can get our inside looks at some of the world’s best airline lounges, so we thought we’d do something similar here and start talking about some of the hotel lounges we’ve frequented lately for our new series on Hotel Club Lounges. Today, we check out the lounge inside the fashionable Nines Hotel in Portland, Ore.
The Nines Hotel has some of the prettiest hotel rooms we've ever seen. (You can check them out here.) Which is why we expected a little more flair inside their Club Lounge on the 12th floor. But alas, we'll have to make do with some plaid pillows.
All guests who book club level accommodations will get a guest room on the 12th floor as well as a daily light breakfast, mid-day snacks, hors d'oeuvres, chocolates and "cordials" and an all-day open bar. You also have a dedicated concierge at your disposal.
Portland Hotels / Marathon Hotels / → All Tags
Portland's Hotel Fifty Will Be About Five Seconds Away from the Pirate Festival
Have you ever seen such a stunning hotel? Okay okay—we've seen better, but can you deny that the evening lighting on a modernist building such as Portland, Oregon's Hotel Fifty really brings out the magic of the architecture?
The updated property—which boasts amenities like Free WiFi and Simmons Beautyrest mattresses (oh, fancy), is not in the Pearl District as you'd first think, but instead right down along the Willamette River and Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Now here's why we're bringing it up now: if you're planning on watching or running the Portland Marathon on October 9 or heading to the Portland Pirate Festival which falls just after the marathon, you've got to scout hotels like now.
Sadly they're already all booked up the night of the 8th (but keep calling). Want to crash for the night of the 9th, though? Rates are very manageable starting from $139 per night.
[Photo: HotelChatter]
