Never Again
- February 25, 2009
- Rated 2 of 5 by
a traveler from Travelocity.com
Discounted rooms mean that you get an inferior room. Woke to what we thought was an earthquake, until it happened again about an hour later. Found out the hotel had located us next to a freight elevator which literally made the whole room shake. When we brought it up upon checkout, we were told that it must have been a dryer that was unbalanced. To add insult to injury, checked our credit card balance and found an additional charge after we arrived home. A call to the hotel disclosed that we were charged for using the mini-bar which we did not. That issue remains unresolved. A beautiful lobby, but wouldn't recommend staying here.
Benson -- what a dump!! Dont stay here!!
- February 17, 2009
- Rated 1 of 5 by
a traveler from Travelocity.com
Poor customer service i have ever experienced. The satff was extremely rude. During our 1 day stay here, we got 2 star experience, on 4 star price. The only thing that was nice about the hotel, was its lobby. Everything else just ends here. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone.
Never Again
- August 11, 2008
- Rated 2 of 5 by
a traveler from Travelocity.com
The Benson is one of the oldest hotels in Portland, and very close to the Pearl District where we had an event to attend. When I made the reservation I told the attendant that we were bringing our dog (allowed), and we had a long conversation about hers, mine, etc. I was quoted a rate, $184, for the four of us plus our dog (or so I thought), asked about parking and was told that parking was normally $28, but not if you were staying in the hotel.
Sooooo - we arrive a few minutes early (check in is at 4:00, which I think is a little late), our room isn't ready, we check our bags and head out for a stroll, return a full hour later and our room is still not ready, it's 4:45, oh - and "nowhere does it say that you were bringing a dog", and dogs are only allowed on one floor, so your wait will be even longer". I lost it - the kids were exhausted and hungry. My husband said "let's just bag it and drive home to Seattle". A manager was called, they got us a room and knocked the dog fee down , which is still quite high, AND informed us that parking was not complimentary. They already had our car. We were stuck, and they did not have their act together at all. The beds were like bricks (Tempurpedic) and we both woke up with bad backs. We spent more than planned, and found the surrounding neighborhood to have deteriorated tremendously from our last visit. Our advice is stay away from the Benson if you plan to do the city by foot, just too dicey, expensive and unreliable.