AMEX FHR Review: The Duniway Portland, a Hilton Hotel

Background:

For my visit to Portland, Oregon to attend a friend’s wedding, I needed a hotel in the Portland area. I stumbled across the Duniway Portland, a Hilton Hotel as part of AMEX’s Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR). Rates were just a bit above $200 per night including taxes, which is one of the lowest-priced FHR properties that I’ve seen so I booked a 2 night stay here. On the AMEX Platinum card, you also get $200 towards a Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) property (1 night minimum) or The Hotel Collection properties (2 night minimum) each year.

The Duniway Portland, a Hilton Hotel is named after Abigail Scott Duniway, who helped to pave the way for women to have the right to vote in the state of Oregon. The hotel is considered a boutique-style property and contains 327 rooms.

TAKEOFF POINTS:

Date of Stay: April 2023
Room Type: Two Queens City View
Pros: 5-star level beds at a 4-star property, great breakfast options, friendly staff.
Cons: The bathroom could be a bit more luxurious.

Benefits with AMEX Fine Hotels & Resorts:

At the Duniway Portland, when booking with AMEX FHR you’ll receive:

• Noon check-in, when available
• Room upgrade upon arrival, when available
• Daily breakfast for up to 2 guests ($30 per person, cannot be used for alcohol or combined with the $100 Hotel Credit)
• 4 PM late checkout, when available
• $100 Food and Beverage Credit (can be used at Mayrose in the Duniway, or Hop City across the street at the Hilton)
• Premium Wi-Fi

A major plus with booking through AMEX FHR at the Duniway Portland is that you don’t have to pay the destination fee ($26 per day). Also, I did earn Hilton points with my stay which was great!

Do you get the Hilton Gold/Diamond Daily Food and Beverage Credit Too?

I called before my stay to see if you would still get your Hilton Diamond daily food and beverage credit as well. I confirmed that you can’t double dip, so you won’t get your standard daily food and beverage credit of $15 per night per person (up to $30 for 2 guests per night).

Pre-Arrival:

I was upgraded to a City View room a few days prior in the Hilton app. Since my flight was delayed and I missed my connection on the way into Portland, my friend was going to arrive at the hotel before me. I messaged the hotel to see if she could check in first, and they were happy to allow it. They just requested I stop by the desk to show my AMEX Platinum Card when I arrived, which was not a problem at all.

Lobby:

Once you enter the Duniway Portland, you’ll see a small lobby seating area and reception off to the right. There’s a small business center with a couple of computers to the right of the front desk. I liked the vibe of the lobby as it felt very cozy.

Next to the lobby seating area, you’ll see a bar and the Mayrose restaurant, which is the main restaurant for the property.

The Room:

The hotel takes up the higher floors of the building it is in, so while the lobby is on street level, the hotel is on floors 11-20. Our room was located on the 18th floor.

As soon as you entered the room, you had a closet to the left with a safe, two bathrobes, and iron/board. I really liked the wallpaper selection for the closet. The whole vibe of the room is definitely better than your run-of-the-mill Hilton.

To the right was the bathroom. It was a bit on the tighter side but it got the job done. The towels were of good quality, and the shower/tub combo had both a shower head and a wand. Toiletries were provided by Badgley Mischka, and I liked the scent. Overall, the bathroom was fine but was not the major selling point of the room.

The Bedroom + Best Beds:

There was a coffee machine, plus a mini fridge outside the bathroom. Entering the bedroom, there were two queen-sized beds and a large 65-inch television. The bedding was advertised on the website as Waldorf Astoria beds and I believe them. The Duniway Portland had the best 4-star hotel bed I’ve been to recently! Major plus there, and I got great sleep from them. Definitely the selling point for the hotel.

There was a small sofa towards the window, as well as a dresser/seating bench along the window. At the bedside table, the vintage and upscale Tivoli Audio radio and speaker was a nice touch.

View-wise, we could see the city and we got blessed with sunny weather. It was nice and nostalgic to spot the Nines, a Luxury Collection hotel, that I stayed at back in 2017.

Overall, the room was perfectly comfortable for our stay, with the Waldorf Astoria beds being the major highlight.

Dining:

The on-site restaurant is the Mayrose and during my visit, it was open for breakfast daily and dinner Tuesday-Saturday. For something quick, the coffee bar is open in the morning daily and the bar and lounge section is open nightly daily.

Breakfast:

We ate at the Mayrose for breakfast on our first morning, and I tried the AM Banh Mi. It was delicious, and the prices were very fair. My friend liked her pancakes as well.

We had lunch and breakfast on our last morning at the Hop City Tavern across the street in the Hilton Portland. The Hop City Tavern is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and also has a little market and grab-and-go section.

For breakfast at the Hop City Tavern, we opted for the full buffet, and it also came with an a la carte item of eggs your way or omelet plus coffee and a juice. It was $25, which worked out perfectly with a 20% tip (and no sales tax in Oregon) to utilize the $30 per day breakfast credit.

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The buffet was pretty decent, with very delicious thick-cut bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit, cold cuts, and pastries. I also liked the a la carte omelet that it came with.

Overall, it was nice to be able to try both the Duniway and the Hop City Tavern for breakfast to get some variety. But if I had to choose just one, I would go back to the Mayrose for that AM Banh Mi as it was delicious and unique.

Lunch + Snacks:

For lunch at Hop City, we tried buffalo wings, crab cakes, and Hop City Burger. All the items were quite tasty!

We had a bit of remaining credit from our $100, so we got some snacks from the Hop City Market.

Amenities:

The 11th floor of the hotel contains most of the amenities. The fitness center was quite small but looked very zen and an adequate place for a workout. It did have Pelotons, and when I took a peek at it there was no one working out.

I didn’t get any pictures of the small indoor lap pool as there were people using it, but it was nice to have it in case.

The coolest amenity was Abigail’s Hideaway, which is a large rooftop seating area. It had a giant chess game set up and seating areas. It was very nice, but I do think they could have added some more aspects to spruce it up a bit as it seems a bit barren in certain areas.

Service:

Housekeeping service is provided by request or automatically every 4th-night stay of a reservation. I just messaged on the Hilton App the morning of, and they provided an afternoon service which worked for me.

The front desk associates were friendly, but where the hotel really shines is the restaurant staff. Our waiters and waitresses at both Mayrose and Hop City were delightful.

Location:

The Duniway Portland is in a solid location in the Portland city center. Pioneer Square is a block away, the famous Powell’s City of Books is a nice 15-minute stroll which we went on, and the Portland Japanese Gardens are about 2 miles away and a quick Uber ride.

The Verdict:

Overall, I had a great stay at the Duniway Portland. Highlights included the luxurious 5-star beds and excellent breakfast options. I would not hesitate to stay here again if my travels bring me back to the Portland area, especially with AMEX FHR benefits.

Have you stayed at the Duniway Portland before? How was your experience? Comment below!

Cheers,

Ty

Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking hotel stays or planning trips. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!