The Hilton Downtown Portland in need of some love. While conveniently located to public transit, its rooms and food struggle to make up for its strengths.

Booking

As part of my volunteering experience related to the healthcare industry, I needed to come to Portland, Oregon. Though we normally don’t stay in the same location multiple times in a row, as luck would have it, I ended up staying in this same hotel twice in two consecutive months. The first time here I came with my three year old daughter Char and my dad. The second time I came here alone. Both times, the hotel room was covered by the volunteer organization, and the review contained in this article reflects my own opinions.

In June, the hotel was booked at a fairly low rate ($109/night). In July, the nightly rate went up ($239/night). If you can find a rate that’s closer to the $109, it’s worth a stay here. At $239, I feel like there are other hotels in Portland that are better for the money. When using points, Hilton hotels tend to engage in dynamic award pricing up to a cap for each hotel. Playing around with dates, the cap here seems to be 50,000 Hilton points/night. It’s generally difficult to get good value from your points with Hilton unless the cash rate is much higher than normal.

The Hilton app had a message stating I was upgraded a day before my stay, but really the upgrade was just a view of the city. Hilton doesn’t promise upgrades to suites but it also hands out elite status like candy if you have the right credit card. So it’s hard to complain.

Earning Hilton Points

While there are multiple ways to earn Hilton points, I’m only going to focus on two main methods to acquire the points.

Signing up for credit cards can be a cost-effective way to earn points. American Express offers several cards at various price points, but it’s best to go with a card that gives great benefits if you plan on staying at Hilton hotels with any regularity. The Hilton Aspire card (generic link) is single-handedly one of the best cards out there, offering a free night on renewal, a $250 resort credit that can be used on room rate or room charges, Diamond status, and a $250 airline fee credit. Currently, there is also a sign-up bonus of 150,000 Hilton Honors points, making it a quick way to earn points.

The other option is to simply buy Hilton points. Hilton has frequent “sales” that allow the purchase of points for half a cent each. Since Hilton uses a dynamic structure for award prices, it won’t be possible to find deals for most hotels. But there is an implicit points cap for each hotel. That means you could find some deals by buying points to stay at some of the most expensive hotels (think the Maldives). For this hotel, a cost of 50,000 points at half a cent each translates to $250/night room rate, which can be modest savings over the cash price at best.

Arrival and First Impressions

Prior to my first stay in June, the hotel texted me to say hi and ask if I had any questions or requests before my stay. I asked to change room types from one bed to two beds, and was told it was not a problem, but I texted with no less than three different reps, received confirmation from two of them that room type was updated… and arrived at the front desk with the agent showing I’m still in a room with one bed and with no knowledge of the request. Perhaps the service is well-intentioned but I found execution to be poor.

The hotel is just two blocks away from the nearest light rail stop, making it an easy option getting to and from the airport. Both times I came here, it was a short wait to talk to the agent and then we were on our way.

The Room

For this review, I’ll stick to describing my first stay here. In all honesty, the rooms were practically identical and the experience was the same.

We arrived at floor 19, where we were greeted by a rather drab hallway with some of the least decorated doors I’ve seen in a hotel. Our room for this stay was 1913.

Bedroom

The room felt a bit sterile. The walls are decorated with pictures of the moon, some abstract art, and a man with headphones. I don’t think there was a theme here. The beds were fine. They weren’t firm but also weren’t worn out. Char enjoyed the number of pillows provided so she could build a fort but the pillows weren’t as plump as I would prefer.

There is a small desk, which is long but not very deep. Also hidden behind the desk are the controls for the AC. This is one of those hotels that have individual AC units for each room. The problem, though, is there is no real temperature control—just on/off, hot/cold, and fan speed. It’s hard to juggle a consistent temperature in the room.

And if you weren’t observant, you would never know the unit has a hot/cold switch because it’s positioned in such a way that you have to stick your finger in the gap and hope you flip the switch the way you want. The room does get hot during the day if the curtains are open, so make sure you close the curtains before you leave or it may feel like a sauna when you return in the afternoon.

While the room was billed as a city view, the view itself was just at other tall buildings. It wasn’t a bad view, but it would have been nicer to see some more of the horizon.

Bathroom

The bathroom was just ok, with the only nice feature being the lighting built into the mirror. The towels were thin and the shower pressure wasn’t great.

Toiletries are by Crabtree & Evelyn.

One thing to note about the bathroom before moving on—the door had no lock, which I don’t recall seeing in a hotel before. There was no lock in the door jam either. So I hope you trust the people staying in your room to not accidentally walk in on you when you’re not expecting it.

Breakfast at HopCity Tavern

I have Hilton Diamond status thanks to the Hilton Aspire credit card. Hilton’s program doesn’t offer free breakfast but instead offers a daily food and beverage credit within the US depending on the caliber of hotel you’re at, which city you’re in, and whether you’re alone or have extra guests in the room. Even if you are traveling alone, you should add in a second guest when it doesn’t cost extra just to double your daily credit. The daily credit here is $15/day/guest, up to two guests.

Rather than have someone assign you a table, you go and find an empty seat yourself and sit down. That doesn’t work out well because you’ll be sitting there for quite a while as the wait staff all seemed rather busy running around, assisting other tables. We would occasionally be told they’ll be right with us, but it took close to 10 minutes before someone stopped by to take our order.

My dad chose the buffet, which was very basic in terms of what’s offered–similar to a good Holiday Inn Express. I went with the Greek yogurt, which came as more like a parfait with regular yogurt despite its name. The sauce that came with it was very sweet and unnecessary.

Char ordered fruit and milk, but the waitress ended up just telling her to make one trip to the buffet for free since my dad was getting the buffet. I thought that was a nice offer, though even Char was disappointed at the lack of variety of fruits on offer.

Odds and Ends

The elevators here are terrible at reading key cards. Sometimes we would stand here for minutes trying to get it to work. Other guests would enter and they would have no success either. Leaving the card next to the reader for long periods of time didn’t work. We would all need to leave the elevator and try again in another elevator.

I know they put the sensors there to stop those not staying at the hotel from going up to guest floors, but this is the first time I’ve seen elevators repeatedly working to also prevent guests from going up.

As with most Hiltons, the daily food credit doesn’t get applied automatically. The system is supposed to catch eligible charges, but it’s up to you, the guest, to make sure everything is taken off. You need to ask at check out if the daily credit has been applied, then ask for a printed copy of the receipt, then stand there and validate the charges came off. Yes, it has happened to me twice at this hotel where they said the credit applied but the front desk just missed a day because it’s a manual process for them.

The Hilton Downtown Portland is also just across from its sister hotel The Duniway. Both properties fall under the Hilton umbrella and you could also use your daily credits at that hotel. Does this mean amenities are shared between the hotel? No. The Duniway has a pool, but a guest at the Hilton doesn’t have access to it, unfortunately (I had to ask on behalf of Char).

A Note About the City

I think it’s worth a comment that Portland stands as the city most negatively impacted since COVID in my travels. Many mid-range stores have closed down and storefronts have gone abandoned on many streets. The nearby Pioneer Place mall now only has high-end stores, a couple of food options, and a couple of hodgepodge stores in operation. The streets are filled with people experiencing homelessness. I was last here in 2018 and the difference between then and now feels like night and day. The city just hasn’t recovered and it’s a real shame. There still is stuff you can do with the family here, but note some options have permanently closed and be prepared to answer questions from the kids.

Recommendation: No

Getting back to the hotel, I wouldn’t recommend staying here. The hotel has service issues that persisted across both stays, the elevator made things difficult at times, and the food is below average. The room and most of the hotel feels like it’s in need of a refresh. There are better hotel options nearby. Perhaps if you find a room rate bordering $100/night, it might be fine to make it through the issues here, but even then I’m tempted to take my business elsewhere.

However, I will say it was a successful trip with Char. I wasn’t sure how she would handle her first trip without mom and I’m happy to say it was a big success. I’d love to take her on a trip again if only she would let me. Ever since this trip, she has been craving mom more than dad, so perhaps the trip wasn’t quite as successful in her eyes. But still, I had a great time with a great companion.

For another hotel option in the city, check out The Nines Hotel.

Have you taken a trip with your kids without the other parent? Was it a success?