Portland, Oregon’s Hotel Lucia: Is Al Gore welcome back at this boutique hotel?

Bill and Hillary Clinton, Hotel Lucia. Sue Frause photo.

What a kerfuffle. If you haven’t read about the latest sex scandal involving a well-known personality, this one has former Vice-President Al Gore in the eye of the hurricane. Call it Massagegate.

I first saw it on a tweet from The Washington Post, one of the many media outlets that I follow on Twitter: Al Gore: big lummox or crazed sex poodle? I clicked it on and quickly discovered it was already slightly old news, having appeared the day before on OregonLive.com.

The scene of the alleged incident that involved Mr. Gore and a licensed massage therapist was Hotel Lucia, one of my favorite hotels in Portland. I stayed there two years ago, and took this photo of Bill and Hillary Clinton on the 7th floor. The portraits are part of 680 photographs by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Hume Kennerly that are on display throughout the hotel’s public spaces and 127 guest rooms. Kennerly was the personal photographer to Gerald R. Ford.

I wonder what hotels do to counter attack this type of unwanted press? Although it’s said there is no such thing as bad publicity (not true, just look at BP), I doubt if Hotel Lucia or any other property would want to be referred to as, “Oh, that’s the hotel where blah blah blah was accused of blah blah blah.”

The Kobe Bryant incident at The Lodge & Spa at Cordilerra in Vail, Colorado wasn’t that luxury hotel’s most shining moment, either. According to Wikipedia: “Eight months after the initial incident the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera remodeled and as part of that sold some furniture. There was speculation that some pieces included in this sale were from “Room 35″ where Kobe Bryant had allegedly stayed at the time. The lodge denied this and stated they had disposed of the furniture from that room separately.”

I’m sure there are guests who request Room 35. And there will no doubt be people who request the 9th floor suite at Hotel Lucia.

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• Sex Abuse Allegations Against Al Gore Lack Sufficient Evidence, Say Portland Police (abcnews.go.com)
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