Eastside Lodge — Hotel in Portland

This hotel largely contributed to one of the biggest travel headaches of my life. I had to be in Portland for about three weeks and the first two I spent at this hotel. I knew they had been renovated. I had always known Eastside Lodge to be the hotel you went to if you wanted to buy meth or get an STD (for free). Well, they painted. I’ll say that much.

After dropping a couple of grand, there came a Saturday where they were sold out. I had planned on switching hotels and coming back after the weekend. The location of “the lodge” was close to where I’d be working and cheaper than other places in the area. Proximity was important because this part of town nowadays is … sketchy, at best. And despite having smiled and nodded my way through 2 weeks of domestic fights in the middle of the night from rooms on all sides of me, suspicious characters lurking around the parking lot at all hours and a cleaning staff that SCREAM at each other and grumble hatefully at everyone else. and it was on the day that I checked out where everything went off the rails.

When I travel, I take with me a shower had an attachment that allows me to clean my body thoroughly. (Ladies and gay men will know what I mean.) upon checking out I realize that I could not find my wrench and I struggled to get the attachment off. I told the cleaning lady that I was having a problem and she said not to worry about it. That the maintenance guy had a wrench and she would have it taken off and I could pick it up later. Surprise that she was at all understanding I think her and went to the office. I stepped in and saw the front desk, staff, and the general manager, Jo, who I had never met once before. It is here that I will say something positive that should not be overlooked. For the most part, the front desk staff are excellent. This is in a large part due to Jill, who provided me with not Jess fantastic customer service, but to be honest, she made me feel welcomed and safe. (Isn’t it funny when the lowest person on the totem pole in the order of operations is the one who seems to be doing the best job and working the hardest?) so Jill and the GM are in the office when I go to check out in a blind rage of trying to be transparent and communicate like I foolishly do so many times, I told them that the maid said she could remove my shower attachment and I can pick it up later. The, shower was not damaged and no hotel property had been removed in this very simple attempt at good hygiene. The words Patton barely left my mouth, whenever the GM started to yell at me in such a disrespectful and condescending manner that I had to bite my lip not to respond. “THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU TOUCH HOTEL PROPERTY OR YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER PLACE TO STAY!” he repeated that line 3 or 4 times. I said ok and just left. I figured I would just take the highroad, not add fuel to the fire and just not use my shower attachment when I came back on Sunday to finish out my time in Portland. The housekeeper met me as I walked out and returned my shower attachment and smiled when I said thank you. (This housekeeper whomever she is would be the “Jill” of the cleaning staff. Not for returning the attachment but the fact that she smiled at me when I had just been verbally assaulted by an angry authoritarian type figure. A smile goes a long way, Joe the GM!)

On Sunday when I arrived to check in, having already made a reservation through a third-party booking site that does not offer cancellations or changes to your purchases, I was told that I had been put on a do not rent list. Although the GM had suggested I would have future stays with the hotel, he had cancelled my reservation and the front desk staff would be unable to check me into their system. The third party booking site did not get this communication so I had dropped money on the Lodge AGAIN but would have nothing to show for it. I had to find another hotel in the area last minute, spend money that I did not have and I still do not have a refund from the booking site at this point. The who’s at fault litigation is...

An aging facility found across the river from downtown Portland. I booked the stay for three friends from out of town, and on entering the room we immediately noticed adult-sized handprints on the headboard of one of the beds in a, suggestive arrangement. The headboard was mildly dusty and the prints were due to human oil/sweat. We all know what happens in hotel rooms but the visual reminder was not ideal. We had to leave immediately to make the next stop on our trip but I called the front desk at 3:45pm to ask if the headboard could be cleaned. They told me the people in charge of cleaning had left at 3pm and they wouldn’t be able to clean until 10am the next day. I have a friend in town so the path of least resistance for us was borrowing cleaning equipment and doing it ourselves. We checked for bed bugs, and cleaned and disinfected all high contact touch surfaces. I found food between the mattress and wall but otherwise most things came away clean. My friends insisted they were fine staying at Eastside Lodge, but obviously I wish cleaning the whole room hadn’t been necessary at the start of their stay. I understand oversights can happen, but more assistance from the front desk would have improved our overall experience.

Other issues included the elevator was broken, the room smelled musty, the internet had bizarre age restrictions (didn’t allow movies with swearing), and the shower was clogged with old hair. The surrounding area was urban and commercial with a lot to offer in terms of...

I've never written on a review online in my life because I didn't feel it offered fair results and tended to skew negative, but I can't help myself in this situation. I was headed to Portland for a wedding this coming holiday weekend and needed a last minute hotel for Saturday night. I called the Eastside Lodge at approximately 3:30 p.m. on the prior Wednesday and was greeted by a nice gentleman who mentioned they had a room available. I told him I would call back within the hour to confirm the reservation. I called back within the hour only to be greeted by an incredibly demeaning, crude, ignorant and insulting operator. I explained how I had called earlier and was looking to confirm this room. He replied, "I don't have any room for you. If you want to stay two nights, I have a room." I then replied, "so you have a room, but you don't want to sell it to me because you have a two night minimum suddenly?" At this point, he got aggressive and started personally attacking my statement and then hung up on me. I called back and all I said was "Sir, are you the owner?," to which he did not reply. I then said, "You need to learn how to treat prospective customers with respect" and he then replied very sarcastically, "I recognize your voice. Thanks for the lecture" and then proceeded to hang up on me. Again, I've never written a review online in my life, but whomever I spoke to on the phone is an embarrassment to this hotel, city and as a...