I usually stay at the Marriott on the riverfront when I come to Portland. I travel to the Pacific Northwest on business once every four to six weeks and while I was never dissappointed with the Marriott, I decided to try The Embassy Suites Downtown.

One word "Outstanding".

This is a 3-star, 3-diamond property in every sense of the rating, except it's business class (priced where your company accountant won't freak out ,<$150).

Restaurant is very good and if you are on expense account, you will not have a problem staying within budget. The room service menu is delightful and features all locally grown/raised/made ingredients. Good complimentary breakfast (hot) and happy hour add to this hotel's value.

The large (all-suites) rooms are very clean and well appointed with +10ft ceilings, marble baths and wet bars, WiFi that works perfectly, pleasant staff, good location and valet parking.

This hotel has a BIG underground pool as well as a nice fitness room.
If you are coming to Portland on business, you cannot beat this property. I give it an 'above average' rating only because it is not a 4-star, 4-diamond property >$200/night.

Now that we have a little girl, we try to stay at Embassy Suites for the breakfast, the extra room and the generally "family friendly" atmosphere. This is NOT your typical Embassy Suites. Which is fine. This place was luxurious. Try the old pool downstairs. It's great. Nothing NOT to love. The neighborhood is "safe" and you can walk till you drop.

As a consultant I wrack up lots of hotel nights each year. I have recorded a few horror stories on this site, but would like to be just as quick to praise good service and a lovely hotel.

The Embassy Suites remodeled Portland's grand dame of a hotel (OK, so the original name escapes me now - starts with "M") into an absolutely wonderful hotel. The lobby is enormous, well appointed and boasts a wonderful fireplace. The rooms are very elegant and comfortable. The staff was lovely as well.

The only reason I gave 4 stars rather than 5 was the dodgy WiFi access. It would not work for more than 30 consecutive seconds in my room but did work well in the lobby. So much for working in my PJs... (So, guys at the Embassy Suites - if you are listening FIX THIS, it matters a lot to business travelers.)

My husband and I spent the first two nights of our honeymoon here. We arrived in our Rolls Royce from our reception, and immediatly had help up from the bellman at the outside front desk. Our photographer met us there inside of the beautiful, grand, sparkling lobby, and took some more pictures for us inside. Since we were preoccupied with photos, we couldn't check in. However, the man at the front desk came over to us and asked us our name and said he would send the baggage up ahead of us and we could work out the details later. There is a beautiful grand piano in the lobby, which we took pictures by. A beautiful fireplace with a real chess set, books, and a leather couch in front of it, and best of all, the Portland Steak and Chophouse, which has THE BEST steaks I have ever had in my life. Although my only minor complaint is that they didn't do anything special to our room when they knew it was our honeymoon (oh well-- can't have everything perfect!) they were more than glad to help us with every other minor detail possible. we ordered romo service also, and they set our entire table up with candles and a rose, along with our meal (which was fabulous!) They were very attentive. The bathrooms are marble and gorgeous, and every guest gets terry-cloth robes to use. You feel like an elegant king and queen when you stay here, but yet it is SO affordable (we paid $125 for a superior King bedroom) and you get a full, made to order breakfast, free cocktails, and free happy hour hor d'ouerves. (sp?) This was a truly beautfil, excellent hotel in every way. Please stay here and treat yourself to a fantastic weekend. (Oh yea! It's just BLOCKS away from the waterfront AND Pioneer Place mall)