Greetings from Portland, Oregon. Below is an update on the area’s newest travel–related developments. We hope you will find this information useful. If you prefer not to receive future media updates on Portland, you may unsubscribe here.

• Travel Deals: Portland Perks — Dynamite Deals and Delicious Discounts
• Travel Deals: 10 Free Days Kick Off Garden’s 10th Anniversary
• Bike Travel: Travel Oregon Launches RideOregonRide.com

Note: Media Update will be on vacation in December. Look for our next issue in January 2010.

Value–added travel perks are always fun … and, as of Jan. 1, 2010, Portland will have a brand–new batch to offer visitors. (Portland’s current hotel offer, which is in place through the end of 2009, includes a different collection of deals and discounts.) Visitors who book a Portland Perks hotel room on travelportland.com — for travel occurring after Dec. 31 — enjoy not only complimentary overnight parking (a value of $25–$30 per night at most downtown hotels) and complimentary continental breakfast for two each morning; they also receive a booklet packed with deals and discounts available exclusively to Portland Perks guests. Among the offerings:

• $20 dinner certificates for The Heathman Restaurant and McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside at the Marina restaurant
• two–for–one admissions to the Oregon History Museum, Pittock Mansion, Portland Art Museum and Lan Su Chinese Garden (formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden)
• two–for–one tickets to Artists Repertory Theatre, Oregon Symphony, Portland Center Stage and NW Film Center
• two–for–one entrees at Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub and Saucebox restaurant
• free shot of drinking chocolate from Cacao
• and lots of other offers from such Portland institutions as Voodoo Doughnut and Powell’s City of Books

The 2010 Portland Perks promotion, which includes 35 hotel properties and encompasses the deals outlined above, covers travel occurring after Dec. 31, 2009. The deals listed in the coupon booklet are valid through the end of 2010. Perks hotel rates are based on availability and subject to certain blackout dates at some hotels. In early 2010, Travel Portland will announce additional, exclusive offers for its followers on Facebook (facebook.com/travelportland) and Twitter (twitter.com/travelportland). For more information on Portland Perks, visit www.travelportland.com.

Media Contact
Deborah Wakefield, Travel Portland
503.275.9795, deborah@travelportland.com

The Portland Classical Chinese Garden will kick off its 10th anniversary year — which coincidentally falls in 2010 — with 10 days of free admission. Jan. 2–11, the garden will waive admission fees (a savings of $8.50 for adults) for all visitors, inviting them to enjoy the authentic Suzhou–style landscape free of charge. Covering an entire city block in Portland’s Old Town/Chinatown district, the garden was built by 60 artisans from Portland’s sister city of Suzhou, China, who used authentic hand tools to create the elaborate rock pathways and assemble the intricate buildings that surround 8,000–square–foot Lake Zither. Portland’s garden is considered to be the most authentic Chinese garden outside China.

In addition to the 10 free admission days, the garden’s 10th anniversary year includes several special events and annual festivals. Among these are Chinese New Year – Year of the Tiger, Feb. 14–28; Festival of Fragrance and Spring Plant Sale, March 19–26; Tiger Time, March 20–28, a week of spring–break activities for families and children (free admission for anyone born in a Year of the Tiger); Colorful Kites of China, April 1–30, with kite–making workshops for kids; Tuesdays by Twilight evening concert series, July 6–Aug. 10; and much more.

Please note: In January 2010, the garden will transition to using its Chinese name, Lan Su Chinese Garden, reducing usage of the more anglicized “Portland Classical Chinese Garden.” The change is a move toward emphasizing the garden’s authentic Chinese origins and continuing commitment to provide visitors with a window into Chinese culture, history and thought. For more information on Lan Su Chinese Garden, visit www.portlandchinesegarden.org.

Media Contact
Jane DeMarco, Portland Classical Chinese Garden/Lan Su Chinese Garden
503.228.8131, ext. 1006, jdemarco@portlandchinesegarden.org

If your vacation packing list reads something like “toothbrush, passport, bike …,” you’ll love RideOregonRide.com, an interactive website that offers a one–stop tourism–planning resource for bicycle enthusiasts. The site, launched by Travel Oregon in mid–October, features information on Oregon trails, road routes, bike–related events, and services for cyclists, including bike shops, tour companies, hotels, restaurants and attractions. It also links to maps, bike blogs and cycle–centric guidebooks.

One of the site’s best features is the “Suggest a Ride” option, which lets avid cyclists add to the routes and trails featured on RideOregonRide. After all, who better to recommend a quiet scenic loop or a heart–pumping downhill track than your fellow pedal pushers?

RideOregonRide’s contributing partners include Cycle Oregon, christened the “Best Bike Ride in America” by participants; the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit organization that promotes bike use and works to improve cycling conditions; the City of Portland, named a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community in 2008; the International Mountain Bicycling Association; Oregon Bicycle Racing Association; Travel Portland; Oregon Parks and Recreation; and the Oregon Department of Transportation. For more information on the new website, visit www.RideOregonRide.com.

Media Contact
Michelle Godfrey, Travel Oregon
503.378.8861, michelle@traveloregon.com