Portland: Evermore Guesthouse 

If you’re looking for the Ultimate Bed and Breakfast experience, with the gourmet chef and Laura Ashley linen.. this is not the place.  Think of this as a place where a friend of a friend lent you their house key, told you to just let yourself in, sleep there, clean up after yourself, and then let yourself out.

The Evermore Guesthouse is located at 3860 S. East Clinton St.in Portland, Oregon. We were given a key code to let ourselves in.  The foyer was stunning, with stain glass flanking the sides of the staircase. Our room was the King Bedroom on the 2nd floor.  The room was simple, clean, and had plenty of windows.  There was a stand alone air unit which osculated, keeping the room cool.

Mom had the room with a kitchenette on the ground level, as she couldn’t do stairs.  It was a full kitchen with a stove, microwave and a fridge. In addition, she had her own entrance, if she didn’t want to enter through the main door.

Here’s the Pro and Con of choosing this Guesthouse.

Pros
– Inexpensive, compared to the hotels in downtown Portland.  $135 to $150 a night.
– Quiet, and not too far from downtown (15-29 min by car)
– No tv (but that could be a deal breaker for some)
– Free wifi and a computer in the common area
– Free parking
– Close to great eateries off Division Street

Cons
– No welcome host, never bumped into any staff member once. Our greeting was a note on the bed, with “instructions” on what do to.  Never even saw someone to check out.
– No gourmet breakfast. So if you think this is Napa Valley, think again.  It’s DIY breakfast with boxes of cereals on the shelf, help yourself to bagels, scones, muffins in the fridge, and also in the fridge are cartons of yogurt, milk, juice, peanut butter, cream cheese and butter.  Not sure how fresh the bread and pastries were either.
– No room housekeeping.  They don’t make your bed, and if you need fresh towels, there’s a linen closet on the 2nd floor where you can help yourself.
– No tv (may be deal breaker or blessing)

The location is not that accessible to downtown unless you take a bus or car.  We had a car and it took 15 minutes to cross over to the downtown area.  However, there’s a lot of restaurants within a 15-20 minutes walking distance, including the famous Portland Food Carts off Division Street… saving you a trip going downtown. They have a big Costco size shampoo in the shower, and a small bar of soap.  It’s best if you BYO soap and shampoo.

Overall its a comfortable place. If the host had just made his presence known once, even to greet us at breakfast, or when we checked out, I would give this 4 solid stars.  Like I said, its like a friend of a friend lent me their housekeys and said “let yourself in” and when you’re done, just leave the keys in the room.