advice on hotels with suites

We are planning a trip to Portland in late July / early August and would be grateful for any suggestions on hotels with multi-room suites. (We have have found that this works well when traveling with our young daughter, since it allows us to stay up after she%26#39;s gone to bed. My mother-in-law will also be joining us, and it would be easier to all be together.)

If there%26#39;s an obvious choice in the suburbs, I might consider it, but essentially we are ';city mice'; and had assumed that we%26#39;d stay downtown and just walk or take public transit everywhere. Among the hotels in the area...

Hotel Monaco looks like a lot of fun, has a great location, and gets good reviews here on Trip Advisor, but they don%26#39;t have 2-bedroom suites, only 1-BR, so someone would end up on a fold-out sofabed.

The Embassy Suites has 2-BR suites, which would be ideal, but as I recall the area around Burnside Street is a little dodgy. Is it nonetheless safe at night?

Residence Inn at River Place also has 2-BR suites and is right across the street from a streetcar stop. Just judging by a map and aerial photo, however, it looks a little isolated from the rest of downtown, with little in the immediate area other than an elevated expressway. Likewise for the RiverPlace, which is twice the price (though looks excellent).

Any thoughts on these places or other suggestions would be very welcome.

advice on hotels with suites

While I love the Monaco, I have heard nothing but good about the Embassy Suites.. put it into the Search box here and you can read up on past discussions about the Embassy Suites from other posters.

I think that location would be better than Riverplace .. but that is just my opinion :)

Have you considered renting an apartment?

Oakwood apartments handles temp apt rentals in town and I know some of them are located in high rent beautiful buildings in nice parts of town..

advice on hotels with suites

Thanks for the information and suggestions. I checked Oakwood%26#39;s website, but unfortunately they are not showing any availability for our dates.

It looks like some reviewers here on TA feel that the area around the Embassy Suites is somewhat unsafe or at least unsavoury at night, but that seems to be a minority view. (If any of the Portland locals want to weigh in on that, I%26#39;d be happy to hear viewpoints.) It sounds fine to me, and with our little one in tow, we%26#39;re unlikely to be out past sundown anyway.

Just looking at maps and guidebooks, I cannot discern whether RiverPlace in general is a fun area with some nice riverfront parks and restaurants, or a somewhat desolate corner of town with very little ';life on the street.'; Again any comments welcome.

The waterfront area is not desolate at all, Tom McCall Waterfront Park is there which is full of people, there is also a nice paved walking trail that runs along the river, we like to bike ride this. You can walk down to the Harborside or Marina Fish House for a meal and it is just a few blocks away from the buzzing downtown area of Portland. We have enjoyed several nice stays at the Riverplace Hotel in this area. Enjoy Portland! :)

It%26#39;s understandable that some would feel the area around Embassy Suites is a little dicey, especially if you%26#39;re walking north towards Burnside. Typically lots of homeless around there, so you might feel uncomfortable, but probably not be in any danger.

The Residence Inn at Riverplace is definitely a bit isolated from downtown. And if the high-rise condo buildings nearby are half-empty, surrounding streets might seem a little desolate, too. It livens up some as you walk north along the waterfront, but it%26#39;s not like you%26#39;re in the downtown core, the heart of which is around Pioneer Courthouse Square, 15-16 blocks from Riverplace Hotel. Dining choices in the Riverplace area are also fairly limited.

I think the Embassy Suites downtown is great. The area is fully safe in daytime up to midnight-time hours. After that, I have no clue. I%26#39;m usually snoozing. Have fun!

we stayed in a 1 bedroom suite at the monaco.

we have kids but they were not with us at the hotel.

there was only one bed- but there were french doors separating the living room with the sofa and a separate tv from the bedroom area. so yopu certainly would get some privacy when you need it,.

we felt that it would have been fine if we had kids with us.