I chose the Ace, despite its dismal location, because I moved away from Portland, Oregon 11 years ago and felt nostalgic for some of what we've missed. This hotel was a big reminder of why we left.
We arrived early and the staff was great about checking our bags for us, but there was really no system for doing so. They were friendly and upbeat and we had high hopes.
We returned later in the evening for check-in and that's when the problems began. The lobby, as others have said, looked very cool, but very dark. Somewhat Garage Sale chic, and at the time we stayed, unfinished so certain areas were off limits.
The problems began when we got up to my room. The room was so dark, it felt dismal and cell-like. Someone described it as staying in a small jail cell. It was also FREEZING. The room heating/air system was blowing extremely cold air into the room, and it was frigid. I called down immediately, and a very nice engineer guy came up to the room, told us very nicely that there was nothing he could do because the type of system the hotel had chosen meant that it was either heat or air, but something about how the system could only be switched from one to the other seasonally. (After a while, he even admitted that the hotel had not worked out the kinks and he couldn't imagine staying there.)
His recommendation was that I open the window to equalize the air temperature since it was slightly warmer outside! I turned off the system completely and the temperature rose from around 58 but stayed in the low 60s the entire time I was there. And my colleagues room was the same. We froze!
Then, I looked in my fridge, and low and behold, they had left behind a previous guest's yummy sandwich for me. Yuck!
I shivered through the night and then in the morning, was really upset when they did my wake-up call more than 15 minutes late. A little too laid back for me! I was lucky to have set my own alarm as well, but if I had missed a meeting or something because of their error, would have been livid.
Next, the shower was less than luke warm. Perhaps a by-product of the funky heating system? Nice chilly shower after a freezing cold night.
And let's top it all off with the toilet clogging and starting to overflow as soon as I flushed it in the morning.
The staff was friendly, but given all of that, and the terrible location, I would never stay here again, and would encourage anyone to look elsewhere.
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