Portland, Oregon: Inn @ Northrup

The colorful Inn at Northrup Station is located in the northwest part of Portland, Oregon. Conveniently, the Portland Tri-Met or the “Max” lightrail station is located directly in front of the hotel if you are without your own vehicle. Each day the hotel will provide each guest with one free ticket to ride the lightrail. Otherwise, there are two handicapped parking spots available complimentary just feet away from the entrance. The entrance does not have an automatic door nor does the front desk have a lowered section for wheelchair using guests. Opposite to the front desk is the dining room where a continental breakfast is served for guests staying at the inn and each table is an enormous jar of candy as the centerpiece but it is just for looks unless you like stale candy. This room is also where “Wine-down Wednesday” takes place that consists of two free glasses of wine per room and simple appetizers. The elevator is a sharp right from the main entrance but the only reason to upstairs is to hang out on the balcony or use the computer room.

The hallways are carpeted but the three ADA rooms are not far from the front desk on the first floor. These rooms are #103, #105 and #107 and all have lowered peep holes, roll-in showers, a living space and full kitchen. There are no ADA rooms with a bathtub. The kitchen has not been adapted for wheelchair users. I stayed in #107 and was overall quite spacious, after moving furniture around a little, but beam in the middle of the hallway was a nuisance at times. Right behind the door was the open closet that did not have a lowered bar to be more easily accessed by wheelchair.

The bed and dresser was the immediately to the right once through the door. Open space on one side of the bed made it easy to get into bed but the other side of the bed was very tight. I quickly concluded that the bed was too high for me to transfer onto and told management that a change was needed, so while out the staff removed the bedframe to accommodate. Problem solved. However, the loudness from the AC and hotel guest staying in the room above could not be so if a light sleeper it may be hard to get a restful night’s sleep throughout the stay. Right by the AC unit in the living space is a lamp which has a foot push button to turn off, which was odd.

The first thing I noticed in the bathroom was mold towards the baseboards, probably due the lack of adequate ventilation, and that the towel rack was high above the toilet which I could not reach. There was also little to no countertop space but there were grab bars around the toilet, a roll-up sink and full length mirrors, including a vanity mirror within reach. Furthermore, although the shower was in fact a roll-in shower there were some obstacles. Maid service would move the shower bench out of the shower for cleaning and would not return it to its place, which was a little annoying, along with putting the showerhead back up and out of reach (this room has two showerheads). The portable shower bench was too long for the shower if placing it facing the nozzle. It then becomes off-balanced as there is a slight slope on the perimeter. If placing the shower bench parallel the handle blocks transferring access.

The Inn at Northcup doesn’t have that extra touch of making things comfortable for the wheelchair traveler but some may feel such details are irrelevant depending on your disability and if a more able companion is traveling with you.