The art of service. A vaguely-articulated ideal parlayed in one form or another to lofty-sounding slogans for hotel after hotel over the decades. What happens when a hotel really backs those words up?
I visited Portland’s Heathman Hotel to find out what it takes to turn service to art. Certainly there are enough examples of establishments that coast in and out of business on that sort of talk. But the Heathman has held its ground at the heart of the Rose City for no less than 87 years, so when they declare themselves a place “Where Service is Still an Art,” it’s worth delving into the philosophy that has turned them into the Northwest institution they are today.
Stepping out of the car on Broadway at the epicenter of downtown and entrusting keys to the beefeater-costumed valet, the first element any visitor to the Heathman catches is a nod to yesteryear. It’s inevitable in a hotel with staying power – after all, observation of the customs of classic service is what makes a night in a hotel feel like a vacation, be the visitor from Pamplona or the city of Portland itself.
Everything from the vintage uniforms worn by the doormen to the hotel’s venerable eucalyptus-paneled Tea Court (part of what made the hotel a National Historic Landmark, serving afternoon tea daily) reveals a property built to stand above the ebbs and flows of shifting hotel trends. That’s not to bar up-to-date luxury. Guests choose their room preferences from an Art of Sleep menu including European feather-top, European pillow-top and TempurPedic mattress options. All rooms feature MP3 players, ornate gilded mirrors and headboards, personal French presses, freshly ground tins of Portland Roasting Coffee and Steven Smith tea satchets. Weekdays bring complimentary wine in the library, and weekends live evening jazz in the Tea Court. It’s no wonder past U.S. presidents and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners have made a point to stay the night.
Traditional standards of service do nothing to bar a willingness to innovate, either – in recent years the 150-room property worked to build a guest-centric iPhone app, allowing for room service orders, personalized housekeeping instructions and wake-up call requests to be made via touchscreen. Visitors may also download an audio art tour and peruse the hotel collection at their leisure.
The Heathman’s internationally recognized restaurant and bar programs keep pace with the ever-advancing property. In March the hotel’s Marble Bar partnered with renowned Seattle-based bar chef Kathy Casey to revamp its cocktail program, focusing on Northwest flavors to match Executive Chef Michael Stanton’s similarly Northwest-inspired take on classic French cuisine. The Heathman Restaurant also boasts one of the Northwest’s most extensive wine collections, with over 6,600 bottles and emphases on Oregon and France.
But beyond such abundant comforts, what makes a hotel truly memorable? Herein lies what I found to be the essence of the art of service: the details that make up the final experience are meaningful in their own right, not just as cogs in the production of luxury. Especially notable at the Heathman is a passion for the arts. Rather than pack a library with sheer numbers of volumes to tout support of literature, the Heathman curates a careful collection of over 3,000 first-edition works, each and every one autographed by the author during their stay. Accommodation options include the Oregon Symphony Suite, Portland Center Stage Suite, Literary Arts Suite, Fine Arts Suite and Warhol Suite. Various travel package options highlight and benefit the milieu of arts establishments (the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, the Portland Art Museum) that stand literally steps from the hotel door.
In fact, if you stick around long enough, the art of service begins to fit in smoothly alongside music, sculpture, painting and theater, taking on its true meaning as one more fine art – and one truly flourishing at the heart of downtown Portland.
The Heathman Hotel || 1001 Southwest Broadway, Portland || portland.heathmanhotel.com
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