The Mark Spencer Hotel

Wonderful hotel! Great location, 5 minutes walk to either the Pearl District or Pioneer Park. Lovely rooms, friendly staff and very good room rates. Without a doubt, I’ll return!!!

We had just moved to the Pacific NW for my wife’s work when we needed to travel to Portland for business and I got to ride along. We were pleasantly suprise with the accommodation setup for us by her employer.
When we arrived we were greeted by a member of the staff told about some local area shops, and given a pet package for our small dog. When we unpacked we realized we had forgotten our dogs bowl, no trouble the hotel desk was able to provide a nice dog dish we could use during our stay. Some places are pet allowed, the Mark Spencer Hotel is pets are family!

We stayed over Thanksgiving meet our son here and we were comfortable in a 2bed Jr Queen corner suite. Nice wine area at night and they had no problems with us borrowing glasses for our own wine. Breakfast area small but make up with large area to seat in. Parking we had was secured underground and we didn’t use the car for 4 days which make this trip a real vacation! Clean rooms and we only asked for room cleaning once and they did a great job. Staff was young and inexperience also they didn’t seem to know area very good. But the majors are here and you can stagger into a nice coffee bar, bar or great food in also most any direction. So their knowledge not needed that much. Their billing is weird and they bill your card as soon as you check in then through your stay bill for stuff coming up? Little odd and I hope it doesn’t get complicated at check out. As with most old hotels there aren’t any fans in the bathroom… neither is there spray. BRING YOUR OWN SPRAY! I don’t know why these old places can’t install vent fans in bathrooms even for the bathroom fog which will ruin interior.
At any rate we didn’t have to pay as much as others if we did I actually wouldn’t stay here. It is a complete pain in the ass to smoke a cigar with your wine here and you end up looking like a wino on the street when it is all said and done. And like I said they staff is young so most likely under paid so I really won’t pay 200+ dollars a night without an experience staff who get paid a livable wage. There is just no reason to pay over 180 a night here until they pay their staff better. If you call and there are young voices on phone multi tasking each time and they don’t know many answers to basic questions it is a sign of high turnover and underpaid staff. But for what the staff here does know they are fine, for 180/​nt room!

I’m sick. I can’t believe an expensive hotel room made me sick. This family-​owned hotel is under construction and while we were in an updated room for our November stay, the ceiling mounted heater blew nothing but cold air. It took a couple of hours after we returned from dinner to realize the room was not getting warmer. When we called the front desk, they apologized and flipped some kind of switch down there and then suddenly we had heat. But it was too late; I woke up with a cold.
Other oddities:
—While the cookies & tea and the wine tasting are nice touches, both are held in rooms with no windows. It’s claustrophobic and strange.
—They ask you to reuse your towels to be green, but there are no towel racks (except small hand towel racks) or even hooks to hang them to dry.
—The high ceilings are nice, but the design of bathroom shelving left the extra roll of toilet paper on a shelf that could not be reached. If it hasn’t happened already, some idiot will eventually stand on the toilet seat and potentially fall trying to get it.
This is not a boutique hotel. The renovations in progress might make it appear to be heading in that direction, but with design flaws that are obvious to people seeking that experience, it’s not. With kitchenettes, it’s designed for families bringing their kids to college. And that’s fine. We were hoping for something more eclectic, but that could be overlooked. However, getting sick because the heat wasn’t turned on for our room is something that should never happen.

Beautiful hotel very modern and clean inside a historic building. Very friendly staff and a great «vibe». Excellent location close to Powell’s, the Pearl district and Chinatown. Free continental breakfast. Missed the wine tasting but it sounds great.

Love the staff and the upgraded QUIET suite. We ended up at The Mark Spencer because the hotel I originally had booked scared me when we went to check in. The other hotel (The Park Lane) was only half a mile away, but the neighborhood was spooky and the room as a pig with lipstick. The Mark Spencer, from the outside looks modest, but once inside, I felt safe and the staff was so helpful, friendly and hospitable. Just like they’re supposed to be! The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because of the tiny open-​air parking lot which worked out, but didn’t give me peace of mind. I was also glad it wasn’t raining when we were loading and unloading our gear. I would DEFINITELY stay here again and would recommend it to anyone that just needs a clean, quiet place to stay. Side note, they allow dogs, which to me, is a sign of a great hotel!

Facts: We stayed in a remodeled room (queen executive — 2 queen beds, small kitchenette, separate lounge area). We booked 1 week ahead of time and paid $ 289 for weekday, $ 389 for Saturday night.
PROS:
* Fantastic location: walkable to anything you need — Powell’s, Whole Foods, Target, great food, great bars, variety of shopping, Portland Streetcar, Red line to PDX.
* Nice staff, without overdoing it.
* Free continental breakfast: hard boiled eggs, bagels, muffins, croissants, English muffin, cereal, milk, OJ, espresso coffee.
* Free wine tasting every night from 5−6pm: that’s pretty cool. :)
* Room was a good size: plenty of space to move around, amazing beds.
CONS:
* It’s just SO pricey. :/​
* They appear in some cases to pick fancy over function: There isn’t a dresser in the room (weird). The curtains roll down from the top and therefore they are not completely blackout (light definitely shines in from the sides). The bathroom is small, but the shower is huge — much bigger than needed — and it’s open on the end with just glass that reaches floor to ceiling… But this means that someone can’t use the toilet while another person is in the shower.
I would stay here again if I could find some kind of deal!

Very old. Very nice staff! But the rooms need TLC seems high for $ 309 a night and old rooms! The queen suites do not have TV in the bedroom? Have to watch TV in the living area? But has a great location.

Ew. The hotel is gorgeous from the outside, but we had a non-​remodeled room and some other less-​than-​stellar experiences…
Pros: location, location, location. You’re in the middle of it all, down the street from Voodoo Doughnuts and across the street from Powell’s Books, Stumptown, and two blocks from the Crystal Ballroom (we were in town to see a show). Tons of restaurants in the area, and no lack of nightlife.
Service is friendly and polite. They upgraded us when we checked in but honestly it was a joke.
Cons: rooms are soooooo old and dark. Bathtub was chipped, vanity was from the 70s, and the carpet was thin and worn. There was no trim at the bottom of the walls and the lighting was dim. I was afraid to look in the closet or the corners.
There was only a/​c in the main room, not in the bedroom, and we were there on a record breaking hot weekend in August. There was no way to really blow the air into the bedroom, so we just slept with the door wide open and the covers off.
We were on the first floor facing the entryway, so the guests walk right by our windows, and we had to keep the curtains closed. When we asked for a regular small room (as opposed to this «upgraded suite» they had given us) on any other floor, we were told there was nothing, but you could find rooms available online, so this was false. I think they shafted us with a shitty room because we booked it on points with our credit card.
Parking for the hotel is an open air, non secured lot across the street. When we got back from our concert, 2 cars had been broken into in the lot. We informed the hotel and they said they had cameras on the lot, but there’s no fence and no security so I’m not sure what good that does. We felt really bad for the car owners.
The Ace Hotel is right across the street and is nicely upgraded and has a Stumptown coffee connected to it. We might try staying there next time.

The mark spencer hotel is 2 and 3 blocks away from everything downtown Portland.
2 blocks from food truck heaven, 3 blocks from the main drag shopping, 3 blocks from pioneer square. There are tons of restaurants, bars, shopping, museums, I’m telling YA its walking distance to a lot of what downtown has to offer. 1 block from the trollies that will take you to farther away places to see. Good price too. A solid medium Hotel.
Make sure you research rooms some are really good some are without windows.

Staff seemed nice but check in was a little slow.
I was not happy that the parking lot was across the road in an open street lot. Security was only present after 10pm.
As we were traveling with kids from LA with a lot of valuables along with our suitcases, I had to drop the wife and kids off and take all of the valuables out of the car and put them on 2 carts for a hotel worker to take to the rooms.
Major inconvenience.
Also, rooms were outdated. All old wooden style with furnishings and appliances from the 70’s. Had one bed for all 4 of us (I slept on couch).
Nice staff, pretty quite on the side of the building we were at, and decent breakfast were positives but was not happy with how dated the room was for the price we paid and the parking issues.

Just beautiful. Great location near everything, stunning rooms. Great staff… Clean and comfy… Plus a little old building charm, without losing an ounce of class. Highly recommended this place!

Read the review from Claire S. I wholly agree.
Close proximity to some rad bars and a Whole Foods are pretty neat-​o, but when you’re shellin’ out clams for an upscale room, I expect an upscale room.
I crashed out with a bottle of rose my first night, but quite a few of the channels– the ONLY good ones– either had no sound, or no pic, or both. My colleague, stayin’ down the hall, couldn’t believe I didn’t have HBO. I’m willing to consider that this got charged to him (his mistake, not hotel’s), but I got stuck with Tosh.O.
Someone below mentioned the ‘marshmallow’ bed, but I didn’t mind this. What I did mind was not being able to have the bedroom door open without blocking the bathroom. Essentially, to releive myself I had to lock myself in my bedroom.
It wasn’t the end of the world, but my bee-​eff-​eff is travelling to Portland in October and asked if she shoudl get at this joint, and I suggested she look elsewhere first.
To be clear, this isn’t a bad experience at all. But just not worth the money, man.
Front desk folks were rad, though– super rad, in fact. Fantastic recs for local eats.

This place is OK. For the price you would think it would be better than it is.
Pros: As far as the room goes, it’s pretty. The mirrors and décor are nice, the bathroom is modern and looks nice. The bed isn’t the best or the worst. It’s a clean hotel.
Cons: The pillows are terrible. Period. The bathroom does not have a fan. If two of you shower back to back and throw in someone actually having to use the restroom, the moisture in the air in the bathroom makes everything wet, humid and gross. On top of breathing the smell of restroom action with no fan to help things along — smell and humidity.
Breakfast is included and I am a breakfast person. It’s not a «hot» breakfast. You have your choice of toast, bagels, little muffins, mini croissants, banana, orange, apple, oatmeal and what looked like Cheerios. Oj, milk and coffee are beverage options. It serves it’s purpose, but it’s nothing to be excited about.
Again, this place is ok. Front desk people are pleasant. If your in the area and need a place to stay, you’d be safe staying here. It is clean.

So while this place was semi outdated. I adored it. We came to Portland in March so it was wet and sometimes chilly … But that didn’t stop us from going out and about.
The time we did spend in our room was enjoyable. Cozy bed … Not enough space between bed, and walls but it didn’t bother me in the slightest… The room had a very «at home vibe » .
The hotel had a garage with easy in and out access … Great location ! Great staff! And they even had a wine night thing which was a good time :)

The Mark Spencer has some pros and some cons as a hotel in downtown Portland. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if I had a horrendous stay, but it warrants the list below.
THE GOOD.
+ Location — in the heart of downtown, with tons of interesting places that are walk-​able
+ Staff — the front desk staff is made up of some very nice people, happy to recommend you nearby eateries, sights, and more
+ Front lobby — offers fun amenities like a daily breakfast, tea and cookies, etc.
THE BAD.
+ Beds — they’re complete marshmallows, I couldn’t sleep a wink and ended up moving to to the floor
+ Rooms — very small, very average, with extremely thin walls. I was woken up many times by the people next-​door just turning on the shower.
+ Cost — even with the deal I got, it felt very over-​priced for what was offered
While I really did love being so close walking-​wise, and the downstairs portion of the hotel is nice, I definitely saw a disconnect between cost and value room-​wise.

The Good… staff was helpful. Location is great in downtown Portland, right in the center of everything. Parking on site is super convenient. Breakfast is standard hotel morning fare. (If you have special dietary needs, prepare to be disappointed, but luckily Wholefoods is a block away)
The Bad… if you like sleeping in a marshmallow bed that threatens to swallow you whole, break your back and make you feel like you’re swimming in slippery noodles, then this place is for you! It was so AWFUL, I went and slept on the sofa pullout. Top it off with a LUKEwarm shower, delightful!
THE UGLY… Now of course it IS my fault for forgetting my $ 200 dollar Ugg boots in the closet (think what you will, but it was friggin cold, and they’re comfortable) but one can only hope that honesty will prevail especially when you call that same afternoon after checking out, and especially when it’s «the Mark Spencer Hotel». But alas, of course they were NEVER found. (my ass they weren’t)
$ 200 dollars for the room + $ 200 for the boots = $ 400 to be transported to the 70’s. Talk about two stops from Swindletown.

Newly remodeled! Stayed at a junior suite with a kitchenette. The room comfortably slept 4 people, 2 queens and a pull-​out bed. Air condition was also well-​functioning, and saved us from the summer heat.
There were also nice amenities, breakfast selection of yogurts, croissants, hard boiled eggs, coffee, tea and more; afternoon tea and cookies; early evening wine, cheese and cracker spread.
I would definitely recommend Mark Spencer Hotel. It’s within walking distance to restaurants, boutiques and pubs.

@MarkSpencerHotl We love the renovated rooms, but the bed in the standard king with kitchen is not a true king size bed, it’s a queen (we measured it). Also, while many of the upgrades are nice, they aren’t very practical. The bathroom is smaller, there’s no room for towel storage, the blow dryer is simply the old wall mounted one that’s detached from the wall (see pic) and there’s no oven. Still no fan in the bathroom: thumbs down. Huge plus, LCD TV!

I stayed here for 1 night last month. Nike had put me up for 2 days in luxury, then I, trying to save a few dollars, flipped for this night. While it is walking distance to EVERYTHING, it had a lot to be desired.
1. No cookies upon arrival. I read that, and nope.
2. No doorman. Drive up in a loading zone, and you are on your own.
3. No style. If I wanted to stay at grandma’s house, I’d of done that. Old rooms.
Old style. While it was cool it had a little kitchen, the décor was 1965.
Turns out, it’s converted little apartments. Well, it feels like it.
Would I stay here again for $ 200? No.