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Review: The Nines Hotel Portland – 1 Bedroom Suite
The Nines is a 5 star hotel in downtown Portland Oregon situated in the famous Meier and Frank building opposite Pioneer Courthouse Square. The Nines is named for its location – occupying the top nine floors of the famous Meier and Frank building. The iconic building housed what was once the Meier and Frank department store where the top floors used to have the fanciest clothing, thus providing another euphemism for the hotel: dressing to the ‘nines’. I love stuff like that. Aside from the internal location, the geographical location is perfect and great to walk out the door and see the city on foot.
Check In –
There is a bellhop stand on the street level of the hotel. The building is actually shared by Macy’s which occupies the lower floors, so your bags are collected and you are off to the 8th floor for check in.
The hotel was having some sort of technical issue and all of the phones, internet, computer systems were down. So, as a result there was no way to add an SPG number, another registered guest, call for room service, or even make a call at all. It was very late, roughly 1am, so for the most part it wasn’t a big deal. However, check in couldn’t even confirm SPG benefits ( which I’m gold from the Amex Platinum card ) or for that matter tell us if we had breakfast included in our rate. Not life or death, but when dealing with a hotel that caters to high end 5 star clientele it, in my opinion, should have compensated in some other way. “Of course breakfast is complimentary for your room, etc etc.” The more I think about it, the more concerns are raised: what happens in the case of an emergency – fire, etc? How would one call out for a medical emergency if they didn’t have a mobile phone? In this day and age where technology rules I couldn’t even get a dial tone on the room phone. HELLO! Beyond check-in it was never again addressed.
Other than that tho…check in was easy. The elevators are all keycard activated allowing guests access to the hotel and since there is a very popular bar/restaurant on the roof ( Departure ) it proves necessary.
The lobby bleeds into the restaurant/bar area called Urban Farmer. Just off the lobby is a cool library/pool room that would be really dope to kick it in while grabbing a drink at the bar.
The Room –
Huge room. HUUUUUUUGE
It is a One bedroom suite, buttttttt there was a pretty big range advertised by the hotel ( 440-823). This was roughly 750 sq ft – I’m a nerd and walked it off, cause it did seem incredibly spacious. The hotel is actually two squares of rooms with a hallway in between. The outer rooms face the street and have windows exposed to direct sunlight, the internal rooms ( where our suite was ) face the Urban Farmer restaurant in a big, open atrium providing indirect sunlight.
How am I supposed to do this…
When the hotel does this?!?!?! AHHHHHH. 
Needless to say – the room was fantastic.
Very nice gym
Business center is everything you need. Even a place to sit while someone does their business…
View from the lobby level ( 8 )
Stunning view from Departure!
The Conclusion
Standard rates over the weekend started just under $200 and there was a big convention in town that had occupied a lot of rooms across town. I would have expected them far higher. For that price I’d say the hotel was very competitively priced and worth every penny. I would expect this hotel to typically command rates north of 250-300 and cater primarily to business folk or wealthy tourists that wanted a luxury hotel with some funk. The Heathman, I would assume, caters to those customers that are looking for more of a traditional take on luxury ( it was also featured in 50 Shades of Grey ). The Nines provides outstanding location, an incredible lounge on the roof, 24 room service, a really cool vibe, free wifi, and nicely appointed rooms. The next time I’m here, I’d like to try out the Urban Farmer as I hear it’s very good.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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