Let us clear up the record first, because the marketing around this hotel has form for getting it wrong: The Duniway is a full-service Hilton in downtown Portland at 545 SW Taylor Street, not a converted theatre in the Pearl District, and its restaurant is Jackrabbit, not the Urban Farmer next door at The Nines. Named for Abigail Scott Duniway, the Oregon suffragist and newspaper publisher, it sits a block from Pioneer Courthouse Square in the heart of the retail and business core, with the MAX light rail and Pioneer Place mall on the doorstep.
What you get is a well-run corporate-smart Hilton of around 327 rooms, comfortable and quiet, with the usual full-service kit: a 24-hour fitness centre, meeting space and valet parking. There is no rooftop pool, whatever else you may have read. The real anchor is Jackrabbit, chef Chris Cosentino’s American brasserie and raw bar on the ground floor, which is a genuine destination in its own right and reason enough to book a table even if you are staying elsewhere.
As a base, it is hard to fault for location. Powell’s City of Books, the Portland Art Museum, the Saturday food-cart pods and the light rail to the airport are all within an easy walk. It is a business-district hotel rather than a boutique, but an honest and capable one, and the dining lifts it above the pack.
