For your amusement:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

This article from the travel section of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune will be meaningful for anyone who knows downtown Portland. I knew what was coming the minute I saw the words "Joyce Hotel." :-)

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1513/5060478.html

[0rganism]

1. Ah yes, the "low budget hotel" shopper experiences Portland...

That's always good for a memory or three.

But "I had no idea it was possible for a GAP store window to look dismal until I visited Portland." ??

:wtf: I thought all GAP stores looked dismal. Should I be traveling more?

[depakid]

2. That's too funny

You'd think that someone with a fair amount of travel experience wouldn't book cheap accommodations without doing a little homework! LOL.

What did she expect for $20? The Century Plaza Hotel in LA?

I'd say this was more a case of naivete than "bad karma."

I googled the place up and found these choice recommendations:

"Leave this one as a last resort. It's not really a hostel. You'll find numerous "hotels" like this downtown--rent by the day, week, month. Most of the folks you'll meet here practically live in those rooms. And, if they are not an ex-con or in rehab, they are using and abusing the choicest street drugs. Not a positive environment, and definitely not the vibe an exhausted traveller will want to face."

----------------

"I stayed at this hotel for six days when I first moved to Portland. Boy, oh boy, did this place suck. The bed was like a board with a blanket on it. The pillow was so shabby I actually ended up using bath towels and dirty laundry as a pillow (and it worked better). At night, drunk frat boys fought in the street in front of the Rialto."

[Tom Kitten]

3. jeebus

By the opening tone I could see that writer sounds like she had some sort of fierce vendetta against Portland...Either that or something seriously tweaked her while she was here...but by choosing to spend more than a few hours at the Joyce tells me she either has a serious lack of judgement or wanted to write a review of how squalid things are here...You can find the same type of "hostel" in any large city in America!

[stevedeshazer]

4. Awesome story

I take it she didn't place well in the Portland Marathon.... :hi:

[Twillig]

5. That was funny.

I wonder how often she wanders off Nicollet mall and finds herself in parts beyond Hennepin?

What's the problem with drizzle? It's pounding outside right now. She got lucky there.

What's a lil' rain? Nowadays when I visit MN to see Dad, the first words out of my mouth when I hit the outdoors are: "JESUS CHRIST!"

Of course this is around Xmas and New Year..

[ploppy]

6. What a dope.

Why would she expect a decent room for $20 in any city?
Edit - a cheap dope.