Mark Spencer Hotel — Attraction in Portland

SERVICE & CHECKIN Due to a delayed flight, I arrived in the middle of the night + had made a booking error... Not the best checkin circumstances. Thankfully this wasn't your typical skeleton crew; the staff went above & beyond to accommodate me. A great first impression by employees with no shortage of smiles or professionalism. Truly a level of hospitality that I've yet to find anywhere else in Portland. They're also pet friendly ($28/night) & offer covered parking ($25/night). Deposit is $50/night with support for tap pay. Late checkout is free.

ROOM https://youtu.be/QxK42YNW4H4 Clean & comfortably spacious (for 2) with an elevated modern aesthetic. The room was well-appointed with an array of seating options, ample tabletop space & full size mirrors. Despite the age of this building the infrastructure was also impressive, delivering great lighting & stealthily quiet AC + functional windows. cons: limited storage; workspace chairs lack ergonomics

BED Drowning in pillows! The mattress was softer than I prefer but the support was decent. Linens were especially luxe & fresh, topped with a cozy duvet. A comfortable setup guaranteed to deliver quality sleep! The nightstands also provided good utility.

BATH A medium size bathroom that pulls no punches on tiling: a glossy marble flooring with a green mosaic shower. You don't see this everyday in the more accessible hotel spaces where grout & tiling receive 2nd-class treatment. The colors & finish felt very regal in this one. Beekman bath products were pre-stocked in the shower & the waters pressure was strong throughout. Towels were sufficiently hefty & their bathrobes have an amazing texture. Cons: smaller shower; limited counter space; bath products weren't fully stocked

TV & ENTERTAINMENT Big (50") wall mounted Samsung FHD TV. No mobility from this mount, so best of luck connecting an hdmi device... The channel situation is also chaotic, but there's a cheat sheet available in-room to make sense of it all.

WI-FI & CELL RECEPTION Cell towers are relatively close so expect tip-top cellular performance regardless of carrier. Complimentary WiFi is unencrypted... but the throughout was outstanding. --Performance-- Video streaming - good Online gaming - GREAT Video chatting - GREAT --Nerd Stats-- 36-46 Mbps download 47-48 Mbps upload 0% packet loss 11 ms latency 1 ms jitter

FOOD & DRINK Contactless DoorDash delivery available. Onsite food offerings include a snack shop behind reception & a (costly) light breakfast available until 11. In-room kitchenette is equipped with microwave, small mini fridge, toaster & coffee bar. Glassware & dishes are also stocked & clean, ready for use!

NOISE It can get loud here & it's not the most sound proof of hotels but guests were polite/conscious enough during the 5 days I spent here

LOCATION Good proximity to Starbucks, Whole Foods, public transit & all the things.

VERDICT It's classy but not stiff or dated & the employees are unbelievably nice (replaced-by-robots-nice). Combine that with the competitive pricing & staying here becomes a no-brainier. I highly recommend this location & look forward to returning for my next...

This is my second time staying at the Mark Spencer, and we came back because we had such a great experience the first time. This time, however, started off rough and just got worse. I'll start by saying though that the staff is always super nice. I called a few days in advance that I would need an outdoor parking pass since I have an oversized vehicle. I got to check in and they said oops I see that note in the system but we don't have a pass set aside for you. They did offer me a bottle of wine to compensate, I told him I don't drink, but he didn't offer anything else to compensate (not even free parking for the next day i was there since they messed up). He told me you'll have to park around the corner in the Indigo garage, it's $16 a night. I said okay cool, that's cheaper anyhow. What I didn't realize is that it's per entry, not a daily charge, which was unfortunate since I had to leave within half hour after parking to go to a concert. The first room - it was not the same setup the photos showed on booking.com and felt very closed off. The tub stopper didn't work, was the wrong size and was not even attached. I brought this down to the front desk and they said they would move us into an upgraded room the next morning. The second room - so they upgraded us into a room that had no tub! The reason we moved was so I could soak in the tub, but oh well. Not that big of a deal. I went to go wash my face in the sink and the sink was clogged. Then it started to have all these black chunks float around and it smelled so gross. I ended up having to take the stopper off and unclog the sink with my hands and a plastic knife I had. I decided then to take a shower and there was no soap in the liquid dispenser. Great. So I used the bar soap for the sink and moved along. Then I got out to shave, and didn't realize the sink leaks from the pipes below and it flooded the floor all around it and soaked my clothes that were on the ground, which unfortunately were the ones I was going to wear for the day. I'm the middle of that night our toilet got clogged and I went to the front desk to ask for a plunger and they said I'd have to wait until 6am for the maintenance staff to arrive, so now we have no working bathroom to get ready for our journey.

Initially I loved this hotel. It's a historic hotel with excellent access to many downtown Portland attractions. I overlooked the nasty stained carpeting because it's a pet friendly hotel and never smells badly, but this stay has to be one of the worst hotel stays I've ever had, and I've stayed in some pretty sketchy locations but the rooms have always been up to par. Not sure what's going on here right now, but it really saddens me that next time I come to Portland I'll have to find a different place to stay because I love the location and even a year later it's the same people that work here and they are all nice, but I don't want to go...

Perfect location for quick access to a lot of different things! Close to food trucks, Powell's book store, breweries, etc. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Parking was easiest for us to pay the $25 for a reserved space in the lot literally across the street. Not a big deal and maybe a few dollars more than a parking garage nearby for overnight. Otherwise, you're on your own for parking. You're in downtown Portland, I don't see leaving bad reviews because of parking. I bet if you go to the local coffee shop or brewery they didn't have a golden reserved spot for you, and you probably didn't leave a review saying the parking was bad. So quit leaving bad parking reviews for The Mark Spencer!

The room was perfect. Everything is updated and very trendy. Comfortable bed, nice bathroom, (not sure what gym the person below goes too, this was much nicer than our gym locker room). Our room had a kitchenette with lots of cooking utensils. Very clean room.

I've seen poor reviews about safety... not once did we feel unsafe. The room has a dead bolt on it. Just like our house. Someone posted it doesn't have a secondary lock on the door.....which that is correct, but does your house have that cause mine doesn't! Also, people can't just climb the ladders and enter your room. Those emergency ladders don't work like that.

Again, we've seen poor reviews about the breakfast. Let me just say, if you want a true American continental breakfast with a waffle maker, fake cheese covered eggs, and bland pastries, then don't stay here. Go find the local Best Western, Motel 6, Super 8, etc. and quit leaving bad reviews when you knew what was coming! The breakfast was perfect for the theme of the Hotel. Pastries were very fresh from a local shop. Coffee machine worked just fine. It's a nicer place people. The breakfast had plenty of smaller options to start the day.

The hotel also had champagne in our room ready for my wife and I since I mentioned to them it was our wedding anniversary. Very thoughtful and a perfect way to top off a really nice stay. Will look to stay here when we return to Portland...