The Clyde Hotel Portland by Kasa — Hotel in Portland

The Clyde Hotel was something i was concerned about booking for my most recent trip to Portland, and I was absolutely surprised at how positive my experience staying here was.

First off, I booked our reservation on Airbnb, which was offering a less expensive total cost (the nightly rate was quoted as more than Kasa’s website, but was less expensive at checkout). I recommend checking both Kasa’s website and Airbnb when looking to book to get the best price.

Kasa customer service was excellent. I had questions about luggage storage on site (because some of their properties don’t offer that with the virtual front desk, this one does!) and they responded quickly and were very helpful. When we arrived to use said luggage storage, the staff at the front desk were the same. Everything was seamless.

The building is old, but well maintained. They’ve updated what they needed to, but nothing more. Every touch felt intentional with how they designed the spaces, and it just felt so cool to stay here. The elevator was a highlight in this department, but because it’s an odd shape it’s a bit cramped.

We booked a room with 3 single beds that utilized the floor’s shared bathroom. Checking in was a breeze; they text you your room code a half hour before check in, with a link to instructions to enter the room. These locks automatically lock after 2 minutes if you don’t lock them yourself. The room was cozy, but adequate for sleeping. If you like to spend your vacation in your hotel room (to which I say, you’re doing it wrong🤣) then this is not the hotel for you. Kasa does provide some creature comforts, though, like a TV with a Roku box, and a radio in the room (which they had set to a jazz radio for when we walked in, which was a nice touch). The beds were incredibly comfortable, the linens were clean, and they had a wall mounted reading light with an outlet for each of the beds. There was not a dresser or closet, but in lieu of that they had several hooks to hang things along the entrance to our room and shelves and tables built into the walls. They don’t offer breakfast, but they did provide tokens that could be used at the cafe downstairs for a discount on items purchased there.

The shared bathroom accommodation at this property may not be acceptable for some, but I found it to be clean (i watched housekeeping come by to scrub it down at least daily), and not difficult to use. Not all the rooms on the floor share these bathrooms (our floor had 2), and they each have a code lock in addition to a manual deadbolt on the door. the code lock, i assume, is to keep rooms that have their own bathroom from using the ones intended for rooms without them, and the deadbolt prevents others from entering an occupied bathroom (there’s also a vacant indicator on the exterior of the door). If the bathroom is a problem for you, they offer plenty of rooms with their own, just pay close attention when booking to get what you want. I, personally, didn’t mind the shared situation.

The location of this hotel is practically unbeatable if you want to explore Portland without a car. The neighborhood is incredibly walkable, had plenty of transit options, and is a once seat ride on MAX to either airport. The property doesn’t have parking but there are plenty of options nearby that you would have to book separately or pay for upon arrival. We didn’t bring nor rent a car so this was not an issue for us.

When it’s time to leave, you can just pack up and go. No keys means no worrying about dropping anything off at the front desk, or worrying about locking a key in the room while trying to remove all your belongings. All I had to do was reply “yes” to a text message when we had vacated our room. So easy.

For the price point, you’d be hard pressed to find a hotel accommodation as nice and impressive of an experience as this one. I was incredibly pleased with Kasa’s management of this historic building and the customer experience. I recommend the next time you’re in Portland, you give this place a shot. I...

The Ace Hotel went above and beyond- I had to let people know- A great place but not for everyone, I'll explain below, but for most, it's wonderful.

I stayed for a night with my fiance, for her birthday. I'm pretty poor- I'm a small scale furniture maker and my fiance works at a nursery. I made a few good sales and had some money due to Christmas- I really wanted to make this weekend work out. We live in Portland but like many people who live in East Portland we hardly hang around on the west side, so I figured this would be interesting- a night at a cool hotel then I would bring her shopping for some much needed new clothes. It worked out- well, mainly because of the Ace and their lovely staff. I became better acquainted with my city's other side.

A few guests are calling this a "glorified hostel" or finishing with "I should have stayed at the Hilton". If you prefer no surprises, nothing interesting, just comfortable monotony, then I agree, go to the Hilton. The Hilton is really nice and I too prefer the Hilton, but not when places like the Ace are nearby. If you're in Portland for business and you wish you weren't in Portland for business because you are so so tired of all of the "hipsters" (a word that square folks use as often as the "hipsters" fling around "yuppie" with no actual understanding of individual people... Don't let everyone's weird vitriol concerning "hipsters" shy you away. Portland's amorphous group of "hipsters" are people from every walk of life, and they're the people that give Portland a unique feel, they don't make everything happen, far from it- there are people of all types in Portland. However, much in the same way that the hippies made an already wonderful San Francisco even more lovely, and a little less like every other city, Portland's hipsters are doing the same. Portland has a feel, some consider it pretentious or contrived, but this is only until you scratch that surface and get to know the people a little better.) maybe this isn't for you.

Some rooms share bathrooms- these rooms are very reasonably priced. If you're the type of person that says "Glorified hostel.... I'd rather stay at the Hilton" you should probably spring for a room with a bathroom, they have many of these (bathroom status is clearly marked on the website for reference while booking). It isn't like you are showering with strangers or there are two of you going number two together... the bathrooms are fine, you still have privacy and they're really clean.

The rooms can be a touch loud, mostly outside city noise, this is normal in interesting older hotels (they weren't as soundproofed) also you're DIRECTLY in the middle of the West Side of Portland- A perfect location. From one window you can see Powell's Books,a window on the other side of the hotel you can see a baffling number of food carts- literally over a city block full of food carts from . Oh, and while thinking of food, I did get a really pricey burger from Clyde Common, which is in the same building, and no hyperbole, this may have been THE BEST burger I've had, and I eat many burgers. The man who brought my food was very helpful, EVERYONE in this hotel seemed to care if I was enjoying my stay, I felt like some kind of VIP (I am definitely not). The staff at the front desk was very accommodating.

The Ace is the old Clyde Hotel building, still retaining some of the old hotel's charm. Some like the IDEA of being in an old hotel but really want a brand new room shoehorned into an old building. This isn't the Ace with its antique mosaic tile (so cool looking), original woodwork and brass. You cant truly have both old and new, but the Ace hits the mix about as perfectly as you could. If you want some reclaimed wood screwed here and there, go elsewhere, this is the real deal- this is the kind of place that is being torn apart and reclaimed for those other places, the kind of place we need to keep.

The Ace is really cool. It is hip, and that is...

I waffled between 3 and 4 stars, but landed on 3 because it's an "ok" place but not necessarily recommended.|I arrived late and there was only a security guard at the front desk, no hotel employees. That was fine as I had a code to get into the lobby and unlock my room. But if a traveler arrived after hours and needed help, nobody in person.||There was a bad odor in the lobby which continued through the hallways and into my room. So no way I could give 5 stars to any hotel with an ongoing unpleasant odor.||My room was large with a sectional sofa, a big cushion on the floor (for what?), a long narrow desk, king bed, and a narrow closet. The private bathroom was obviously added as it was enclosed by unpainted wood and only had a toilet and shower. The sink was at the other end of the room so lots of back and forth. Towels were ok, water pressure and temperature was fine, soap and shampoo all good. However, the toilet was installed right up against a wall and the toilet paper holder was comically mounted high up where you reach your arm over your head to get TP. Definitely design geniuses! A normal person would have mounted the holder to the left of the toilet at the usual height.||The windows were large and controlled by shades that rolled up instead of down. The problem here was that the string (like a closeline) was frayed and wouldn't stay in the rolling track. It was impossible to raise them up or down without standing on furniture and manually keeping it on track. Anyone with limited mobility or unwilling to stand on the sofa or a chair to reach the ceiling is out of luck.||The bed was a platform, low to the ground, with a very firm mattress and soft pillows. The sheet and duvet cover was ok. It takes some skill to locate the light switches and figure out what they control.||A unique feature was a record player with a handful of old albums (nothing familiar). It's played through a radio/aux speaker on the night stand. I didn't watch the TV so not sure what channels or whether you could angle it to see from the bed.||I didn't ask about housekeeping although I saw a guy cleaning rooms along the hallway. Not mine, though. No cleaning, no fresh towels. That's fine, actually, although these days most hotels at least ask or tell you the policy.||The location was good and I found the city to be walkable. I even walked to the convention center which is across a bridge and about 1.5 miles away. Most sidewalks had unhoused people but not to the point where I felt unsafe. I took a bunch of Lyft rides (cheaper than Uber here) and there's public transportation as well.||The Clyde was less expensive than most other hotels in downtown for a good reason - no housekeeping, no front desk service after hours, unpleasant odor, old worn furniture, and not a restful or particularly convenient room...