By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
August 2, 2007

The Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River achieved a new measure of national and international notoriety in July when Travel + Leisure Magazine placed the hotel 19th in its annual list of “Top 100 Hotels in Continental U.S. and Canada.”

Owners Boyd and Halla Graves of Hood River have been working for 25 years to restore the historic landmark and establish its reputation for excellence. The hotel opened in 1921.

Glen Lewis, general manager of the Columbia Gorge Hotel said, “While it has been a goal for us to be on this list, we were amazed and pleased that we ranked so highly the first time we achieved this distinction.

“This type of recognition validates our continuing commitment to this special property and the guests who share their valuable time with us. We are proud that Hood River again makes an appearance on the world stage.”

In the category of “Top 15 Hotels for $250 or Less,” the Columbia Gorge Hotel placed eighth in the world. CGH shares this honor with only one other American hotel, the Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge in Gold Beach. The other top 10 spots included three in Bangkok, two in France, and one each in Canada, Taipei and Mexico.

“We’ve been catapulted,” marketing director Lauren Colts said. “Hood River is going through the same thing: It’s a small town and all of a sudden a lot of attention there feels like more and more and more every day.”

“It’s an awesome thing. People are always looking for value,” Colts said. “Some people have thought we’ve had a reputation as being too expensive. We’re not even at $250 for most of our rooms.” She said the hotel will renew its $100 nightly locals special this winter.

The award was chosen by Travel + Leisure based upon a survey developed by the editors, in association with Harris Interactive, and was available to Travel + Leisure subscribers. The survey respondents were screened and responses from any identified travel-industry professionals were eliminated from the final tally.

The survey Web site was maintained, monitored and kept secure by Harris Interactive, which collected and tabulated the responses and kept them confidential. The results can be found at http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/
2007/results.cfm?cat=hotelsusca or through navigation from http://www.travelandleisure.com/.