Portland Super Value Inn

After driving 5 hours all we wanted was a bed to sleep in at midnight. We couldn’t motel shop so we went to the first one we saw. We should have kept driving even 5 minutes more.
The Super Value Inn in Portland was the most run down place I have ever seen.
No hot water in sink and it wouldn’t drain, no plug for tub, bathroom floor was ice cold, shoddy stucco patch work to cover a window, carpet coming apart, coffee table full of stains, furniture that looked like it was ready for dump, no extra blankets one thin top sheet and old bedspread, TV remote held together with scotch tape, the shower curtain doesn’t fit. I looked for bed bugs before getting into bed. All kinds of strange people who look like they live there.
Washer and dryer are outside under a cover. It’s the type of place you would expect to rent out hourly to hookers
Not worth even the $ 70 we were charged, the owners should be ashamed to offer these delapidated rooms to people.
No Super Value here.

Don’t get caught in Portland hunting for a vacant motel room anymore… Book before you get there, or you might wind up staying somewhere sorta shady (if not driving out to the burbs)!!
Twenty years ago when I went to college near Portland, the idea of Portland as a tourist destination seemed laughable to many people. It was like a pit-​stop for many travelers to the then-​magnetic Seattle, and maybe some people afforded a few moments to wayside to the International Rose Test Garden or maybe the Grotto. And nobody really cared to stop in Portland to eat the food, much of which seemed to be trapped in an Eisenhower-​era timewarp. My, how things have changed!
And then you have N. Interstate Avenue, the route of the old US Route 99W which was decommissioned decades ago when I-​5 was built. Many motels along old bypassed federal routes fell down-​market to become flophouses for junkies, hookers, and other victims of unfortunate choices or circumstance. Some of these motels have disappeared recently, and others such as the Portland Super Value Inn, have seen their fantastic steel and neon googie-​era signage replaced by boring back-​lit plastic panels. But with the Tri-​Met MAX Yellow Line and redevelopment of adjacent areas bringing food, fashion, art, and music within walking distance of this strip, a few of these motels (and especially the Palms) have been able to kick out their semi-​vagrant clientele and begin to fill up with travelers from all across the continent (as evidenced by the many Canadian plates I saw at the Palms last time). It’s really quite remarkable.
However, the trajectory of Portland Super Value Inn from its rock bottom hasn’t shot upward so quickly. On my recent visit a couple weeks ago, the tell-​tale signs of drugs, prostitution, and long-​term guests were still very evident. The Inn is now bookable on Priceline, so I suppose a few travelers get tricked into booking a room here due to the low rate (~$ 50 – 55), but mine was the only outta-​state license plate not counting a few Washington plates encircled by frames from Vancouver or Longview used car lots specializing in «EZ credit». And I hate to scrutinize people based on their material possessions, but when you are in a motel parking lot, I think it is fair to take a pass if you see nothing but beaters. The only car built after 2000 in the lot was a decade-​old Hyundai Sonata with dents in every panel and missing wheel covers. Well… I know this now because I stayed there for no other reason than it advertised a vacancy. My go-​to choice, the Palms, was full.
Really, the room was pretty nice. It was spotlessly clean. The bed was comfortable. Even the furniture was fairly attractive. The mini-​bathtub was kind of a trip, but it, too, was immaculate. The towels were bigger and fluffier than usual for a room at a mom’n’pop budget motel. The service was also very pleasant. The lobby features an awesome back-​lit panel with photos from its heyday as Mel’s Motor Inn, including the boomeranging neon signs in all their glory and the Mel’s Upper Deck restaurant/​lounge. The potential is there for this place to become a destination lodge a’la the Jupiter, but the Upper Deck sits shuttered on the 2^nd floor opposite the mid-​century office and breezeway, and the paint cracks and peels behind the first row of rooms.
I stayed in the back-​row which according to Google reviews is quieter, but I still heard loud sex every couple of hours from the next door room, lots of deranged pacing upstairs by a guy who kept shuffling in and out of his room all night, and on my last night, a couple police cruisers showed up to arrest one of my neighbors. When I poked my head out to have a look, the woman next door (of loud bi-​hourly sex infamy) asked me «Have you ever seen that guy before?» I replied no. «How long have you been here?» she countered. During check-​in, I recalled that one of the owners was having a serious conversation about some landlord/​tenant issues with a regular guest.
For a «lived-​in» motel, it’s not that bad. Google and TripAdvisor reviews exaggerate things badly. I’m sure you could do way worse on 82^nd Ave. But yeah… I’ve learned my lesson and will never hesitate to book a decent room as early as possible, or just pay more, or even just stay near the airport.
If I could give this place any advice, I’d say re-​open the Upper Deck and get a decently inspired chef to make it a destination for food enthusiasts. If you can get a license to serve beer and liquor, even better. And just paint the place. Oh, and if the old Mel’s signs are still around, reinstall them and light ‘em up. Don’t do monthly rates. Raise the price about ten bucks. Let word-​of-​mouth and Unilocal praise get around… before long, the money will roll right in, and you can retire and just drop in to sign the paychecks.