Hotel Grand Stark

Very good

Superb

Exceptional

Liked: Loved the feel of the hotel. Not sterile like a typical hotel chain.

Exceptional

Liked: It was very well designed and renovated.

Great hotel, depressing city

Liked: Rustic hotel that has been well maintained and updated. Wood floors throughout with rugs/runners. Easy to find and ample street parking (don't pay -- 1+ block away is free overnight street parking). Super friendly and helpful staff,
Disliked: I guess this applies to all of Portland, but the homeless problem was very sad. At first we thought we had picked a bad neighborhood, but after walking around Portland (esp over the bridges to downtown), we realized it was pervasive. It seemed like the two biggest populations in that area and downtown were tourists like us and the homeless. It never felt unsafe, but it was super sad to see such suffering all around. Portland is by far the biggest city in Oregon, but downtown was just dead.

Very good

Liked: Spacious room; comfortable bed.
Disliked: No safe. Heat pump leaked.

Perfect spot for events near...

Liked: I stayed here for 2 nights for a wedding that was in the Buckman area. My room was 402. It was an excellent room! Very spacious with separate areas for toilet + shower, and then sink/vanity/space to get ready by lots of windows for natural light! The mini fridge was high-end, as were a lot of the touches in the room. Loved the think blanket on the bed. Although this is a historic (aka older) building, I did not hear anyone in the rooms next to me the entire stay! The lobby is especially fancy and welcoming, with 2 restaurant options for dinner. There's a dive bar slash diner next door called My Father's Place where I went for breakfast and it was SO good! The portions were generous for food and drinks. This hotel is really nice and I enjoyed my stay - I would go back.
Disliked: When I checked in, the front desk staff didn't give me the wifi information, so I had to make a call to get it. There also wasn't an iron or ironing board in my room (and I needed this to iron my dress for the wedding). After I requested, the staff found me a mini ironing board and iron, which I picked up from the front desk. On the day of the wedding, granted I didn't leave for the day until noon, but when I returned at 9:30 p.m. my room had not been made up. It was not a huge deal since I was leaving the next morning, but there was no signage indicating rooms would not be made up daily, and I did not have the "do not disturb" sign on my door for 9+ hours that day. While the hotel itself is very nice, the surrounding area is not. There were many transient people loitering around the premises, many who have me strange looks and/or followed me as I walked down the street. I've heard this is to be expected in Portland, but I was a bit surprised by this. I made sure to take cabs back straight to the front door after dark.

Unfortunately would not recommend.

Liked: The lobby is very nice! They have two onsite restaurants which are nice for convivence. There are additional restaurants in the neighborhood as well as local shops to visit.
Disliked: The area has a lot of homeless people. Some may not feel comfortable walking the neighborhood. The hotel windows are not double pane - the night noise is excessive. There is a bar a couple of doors away and the noise between 12pm and 2am was excessively loud. Loud music, cars and people - almost impossible to sleep during these hours. Our room was not properly cleaned. The room had a big clump of hair in the shower drain; the floors had not been swept and had dirt. The coffee pods were not replaced. The front desk was helpful and sent cleaning staff back into the room to properly clean.

Exceptional