When The Society Hotel opens in Portland’s historic Old Chinatown this October, it will give the Ace Hotel a run for its money. No, you won’t find vintage record players or Malin + Goetz products in each room, but you will find an assortment of cool features at a completely fair price. Here’s what you need to know.
1) It has a rooftop. And it comes with incredible 360-degree views of downtown Portland, the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the Willamette River and Cascade Mountains (including a peek at Mt. Hood on clear days). To match the scenery, you’ll find anything from live music to wine tastings (weather permitting).
2) Each room comes with a personal text message concierge. Instead of having to Google directions or look up reviews online, or worse—make an actual phone call to the hotel, you can “text your own personal concierge 24 hours a day, and they will be there for you with directions, recommendations or that bartender’s name that gets you the free drink, or the code to that speakeasy’s hidden door,” according to a hotel spokesperson.
3) The Society is crazy affordable. It’s actually one of the newest forms of lodging: A hybrid hotel-hostel. There are 24 private rooms (from $79), 12 suites (from $115), and one gigantic bunkroom with 24 beds (from $35) for travelers on a tight budget or, well, just the Duggars.
4) The hotel is an historic landmark. The Mariners Building was built in 1881 by the Portland Seamen’s Friend Society, an organization dedicated to providing a better standard of living for the sailors who once made up a large part of Portland. Its cast-iron facade and recessed pilasters have remained largely the same. Only about 20 such facades remain in Portland today—the only greater concentrations of such architectural rarities in the United States is in New York City. When the current owners set about transforming the space into a hotel, they found floors that hadn’t been touched since the Second World War.
5) There’s a café/bar in the lobby. It will be stocked with treats from Posies Bakery (who shares an owner) and a mix of local coffees from Ristretto Roasters, Upper Left Coffee Roasters, and Sterling Coffee Roasters.
6) It’s LEED certified. Which is cool for the environment, but it also means you can’t smoke (anything) inside. Now you know.
