Is the Standard hotel in Downtown L.A. good for gatherings?

In Portland which hotel/motel is better the Motel 6 on Powel or the Joyce Hotel?

• My and my friend planning on flying into Portland from the LA,CA area for a weekend in January. Since we are on a budget we found 2 hotles that we can afford. Here is the online review for Joyce hotel http://www.hostelz.com/hostel/16930-Joyce-Hotel Here is the motel 6 we are looking into. http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.aspx?num=70&VID=&NOA=&aYr=&aMo=&aDa=&dYr=&dMo=&dDa=&CP=&TA=&BTR=/AccorMaps/M6ProximityResults.aspx?searchtype=C One is the Motel 6 on Powel Blvd near 33rd. Another is the Joyce/ Kent Hotel a block from Powells bookstore. We are not going to have a car in Portland and plan on using MAX and buses. Even though the Motel 6 is near a bus line that takes you to downtown Portland in 15 minutes its just not the same staying outside of downtown. Motel 6 charges $55 a night for a non-smoking double bed room. The Joyce hotel charges $60 for a deluxe room with 2 beds, TV, microwave, refridgerator and a private bathroom. We are both non-smokers. The Joyce hotel is located a block from Powells downtown bookstore and is in the Pearl District. After reading online reviews for the Joyce hotel I have concerns. Many reviewers cliam that the Joyce hotel is a seedy downtown old hotle with homeless people, drunks, prostitutes and drug addicts. This concerns both of us. We are both white males in our late 20s. In June when I came to Portland we stayed at the Marriott downtown at Broadway and Washington Streets. The Marriott charges over $200 a night for a room. This is out of our price range. When I was in Portland I really like the Pearl district. If we stayed at the Joyce hotel we can walk to Stumptown coffee and Powels and get coffee in the morning. If we stay at the Motel 6 there is nothing withing walking distance except at Mccdonalds. The reason we are going to Portland is to look at apartments.

• Answer:

  Your situation would be perfect to book through hotwire.com. If you have never used them, they work like this: They make deals with hotels that have unsold rooms, which they sell "blind" at huge discounts. They don't tell you the name of the hotel until you make the reservation. But they do tell you the price (no bidding or stuff like Priceline does). They tell you the area--downtown Portland, or near the airport, or whatever--and they give you the star rating. One star hotels are pretty basic, like a Motel 6 or Days Inn up to 5 stars for some world-class resort. The ratings seem pretty fair. More important, the deals can be astonishing. As I type this, I am sitting in a hotel room I booked with them in NYC. I am just off Times Square, in a 3-star hotel in the most expensive city in the country, and we paid $109 for two people, with breakfast included. Try getting a deal like that on your own. In your case, I just checked for rooms for next Saturday (January 17). Hotwire has several choices of rooms in downtown Portland for $60-$70 plus taxes and fees,including one they rate at 3.5 stars. That sounds a heckuva lot better than what you have been finding. Keep in mind that they often have only a few rooms at any particular hotel for a certain night, so prices can change on a moment's notice. (Of course, once you book, you pay the price that's listed.) At the very least, you should check them out. http://www.hotwire.com Good luck!!!