A hotel renovation project in Portland aims to create Oregon's first four-star luxury lodging, the latest in a trend that's bringing more upscale properties to the region.
Kimpton Hotels is remaking Portland's Fifth Avenue Suites according to specifications required for the Mobil Four-Star rating. Predictably, local tourism officials see the project as a step toward that elusive goal of being "world class."
"To have a four-star Mobil property in Portland will put us on the map as a luxury destination," the director of the Oregon visitors association told the Oregonian. "When people think of Portland, and Oregon, they think of us as casual and laid back. But it's not all hiking and biking and brewpubs."
Several similar luxury projects are proposed or underway in Seattle and Vancouver. The new Portland hotel, to be called the Monaco, is supposed to open in 2007 and hopes to get the four-star rating -- currently awarded to 119 properties in the U.S. and Canada. Holders of that rating already include Seattle's Fairmont Olympic and the Bellevue Club. The seven British Columbia properties include the Four Seasons, Metropolitan and Sutton Place hotels in Vancouver, the Aerie Resort in Malahat, Hastings House on Salt Spring Island, Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino and Four Seasons Resort at Whistler.