The rooms were surprisingly nice. Front desk staff was efficient and fast.

Wait staff at dinner time needs improvement. Hotel's exterior needs improvement.

We were able to get a good nights sleep as well as breakfast.

We checked in late after the Sacramento Mile and left early in the morning and I forgot to mention on the way out that the bathroom sink kept backing up. It wasn't while we were using it, while we were getting ready all of sudden the sink would start backing up. We were in room 515.

I liked that the staff was very accommodating and always friendly not just to me but everyone I saw them in contact with. When I needed to extend my stay 30 or more days after I made my reservation the staff said her best public rate was $20 more, but I could try calling Booked.net where I had booked originally; when the Booked.net agent put me on hold and called the hotel, the hotel extended my stay at the same low rate. The Booked.net agent said I should call and thank the person and Red Lion as that was unusual, so I did as soon as I was off the phone with Booked.net. Things happen, and when I got to the Red Lion at 1am my electronic door lock would not open perhaps due to a dead battery and the front desk person went back personally to manually unlock my room because I did not want to relocate rooms because I liked the parking arrangement, and it was fixed the next day. Because of this inconvenience to which they had a solution therefor problem alleviated, they still gave me breakfast vouchers for both days to make up for any inconvenience. (Most front desk people would have told me there was nothing they could do till maintenance arrived the next day and forced me to move rooms.)

Once you leave the lobby the hotel has the feel of a converted motel or very old hotel without the ambiance. Therefor it could still use some upgrading to improve the overall picture but I understand that is difficult in this economy.