Could the erotic best-seller "Fifty Shades of Grey" do for Portland and Seattle what the "Twilight" series of books and movies did for the sleepy town of Forks on Washington's Olympic Peninsula?
Tourism promoters hope so. Many of the steamiest scenes take place in Seattle and Portland, and there are plans to turn the novel into a movie.
"We're getting people making dinner reservations, people in the bar, people just coming in to look around because a friend told them, or they read the book," says Chris Erickson, general manager of Portland's Heathman Hotel.
Mention of the Heathman pops up 18 times in the book, as young Anastasia Steele and her billionaire boyfriend Christian Grey meet in elevator No. 3 and have dinner in a second-floor private dining room.
Erickson says he has no plans yet for public tours, but says he welcomes tourists who have been dropping in to look around, ride the elevator, snap photos and book rooms. More on the subject in this week's Travel Wise column in The Seattle Times travel section.
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