If you're planning a trip along the coast of Oregon, a few places that worked out well for us with points were:
Hyatt Place in Portland - great location super close to the airport, no microwaves threw us though, it was fine for a quick stay but nothing special. Modern.
Hampton Inn, Astoria - great location right along the trolley route and with sea lions down on the rocks in the harbor, very nice and modern. I don't know that a river view would be incredibly beneficial here. Just go outside!
If you can find it via a portal, Surfsand Resort in Cannon beach has an awesome location right on the beach and within a short walk to Haystack Rock. Great pictures. They have s'mores on the beach each night. Super family-friendly. No breakfast but they have cookies and treats at night, movies at the desk and free popcorn.
Best Western Plus Lincoln City was my son's favorite. We had a patio door to the outside and it was right on the beach (you did have to go to the side to get down just to keep the sand dunes preserved, but the view was right there and you could sit out on the chairs and watch the sunset). They only have an outdoor pool but it's heated. He thought it was the greatest! It was the oldest room but it had two full bathrooms, and the bedroom separate from a pull-down bed in the living room. There was also a full kitchen. For a normal amount of points it was a fantastic redemption and if we go back, we'd stay there a few nights. Lincoln City is part of the "7 miles of smiles" where they hide floats, and even though we didn't find any, it was fun to look for them.
Best Western Plus Agate Beach in Newport is gorgeous, very modern. It isn't right on the beach but the view from the rooms is good. Being a member we were upgraded to a room with a great view, and there's a small balcony you can stand on. Very modern. They had a free wine hour. When we left the parking lot the back way we discovered just how close we actually were to the beach. This would be a place you'd be comfortable to stay more than one night. The Oregon Coast aquarium in Newport is a must with kids - check out the tide pool area!
Best Western Pier Point Inn in Florence is one where we were sure to get a riverside room looking at the bridge. It wasn't quite like being on the beach as you're back a bit and trees are sort of in the way but it did allow us a good sunset view and to see a pelican or stork or something fishing in the river. The floor in our room was sort of caved in so it might not always be the best-kept hotel. It's also a really strange pool in the basement and a bit creepy. But it worked.
Hampton Inn Portland Clackamas is where we stayed on our way back. Ick. Find something better. Poor service. The manager never said hi when I went in, just kept waiting on a guy trying to print out 96 pages from the office printer. It took a good 10 minutes before he addressed me. Sugar cookies in tinfoil were the treat, which again just seemed a little odd. The manager kept messaging my phone to know how we were doing which was annoying and felt like an invasion of privacy. So whereas the hotel and rooms were fine, it was the only one that really left a negative impression.
Places we liked that stick out as special: Astoria (just the whole town is neat, the trolly is fun, easy to walk along, my son loved Mo's restaurant), Cape Meares (easy to do a few things like the lighthouse and octopus tree in short spurts with kids), the Tillamook Cheese Factory tour (silly but good for ice cream and again, actually pretty interactive for kids), a glass-making shop/store in Lincoln City, and Cape Kiwanda. That one doesn't get a lot of press as far as I can tell, but it had the best tide pools of our trip (starfish! yey!) and some pretty unique scenery with a big sand dune as you come in and some other-worldly looking rocks. We also did a sand-dune buggy tour in Florence which my son enjoyed quite a lot.
