Red Lion Hotel Boise Downtowner

The hotel was dirty, the carpet was very old ripped and full of dirt and stain. I would never stay there again.

The place is in desperate need of renovation. It is literally held together with duct tape in some places. The room smelled like smoke even though smoking is not allowed. The hallway smell weird of some unidentified scent. There is water damage all over the bathroom. The drywall has holes in it and wallpaper is flaking off. The furnish is falling apart. The refrigerator did not work. And it was way overpriced for what you were getting. (over $180 a night).

Rooms were terribly dirty. The floors looked like they’ve never been cleaned. Our feet were black from walking on them.

The price was good but hotel floors and doors and everything around was dirty. Won’t stay there again.

4 night stay and my room wasn't cleaned even one time.

Disappointing

When we checked in for the two rooms we booked, one if the room types wasn't available, it was

Good

Not much, outdated. Comfortable room and beds. Was never told at check in that room was only serviced if requested. Had to get own towels. When I did request service, it was never provided. Staff said new manager was not very up to par.

The entry, hallways, and staircases were disgusting. They weren't vacuumed or cleaned up my entire three nights I stayed. I learned later that this hotel is used for low income housing and I was charged twice the rate that they charge low income people. I do understand that they are supplemented by taxpayers dollars but I will not stay there again. I have lived in southern Idaho and Boise for many years in the past. Even though I am from North Idaho now, this hotel used to be a quality establishment. It is all dilapidated and cared for not and the prices were too high.

This place is pretty ghetto. Room wasn’t super clean. The balcony had cigarette ashes everywhere. Won’t be staying here again

Bad

This is a dirty dirty hotel. The carpet is taped down. It’s not as advertised.

The pictures online were very misleading. The hotel is very dated which is fine but not maintained well. The pool and hot tub were iffy at best, so we didn't dare it. The room floors were so sticky. The room had 1 hand towel, 3 bath towels and no washcloths for 2 people. Appreciated the breakfast daily - not fancy but it worked. The lounge was open Friday and Saturday so that was a fun surprise.

I’ll say my room seemed mostly clean. You can tell that under the sinks and beds needed a good cleaning, but compared to the hallways, the room was nice. It did not seem as if we could control the thermostat. The hallways didn’t seem well-kept and had some smell to it. The breakfast was fine. The pool was generally fine. The staff was friendly. For what I paid, good value and very close to downtown.

Checked in late on July 31, 2026. Front desk was courteous but issued us a key to a room that was already occupied — a man was inside in his underwear watching TV. We immediately apologized to the man in the room, returned to the front desk and reported the situation. They reassigned us to another room. That room had no working air conditioning, was humid and uncomfortable, had a broken bathroom faucet, and we found debris under the pillows consistent with possible insect activity. We immediately packed up, checked out and received a full refund. By then it was late. No other hotel rooms were available from Nampa to Mountain Home. We had no choice but to drive the remaining five hours to Salt Lake City with little to no sleep after buying more caffeine. It was unsafe and forced on us by this hotel’s failures - Issuing a key to an occupied room is a serious privacy and security failure. The replacement room was also unacceptable. The combination of these problems made this one of the worst hotel experiences we’ve had. We cannot recommend this property. A written complaint to the ownership group only resulted in a "we're sorry about that" email response. Wow, they need to do better!

Filthy room, carpets, chairs---the whole hotel is dirty!!! No lock on our slider to the outdoor balcony. What appeared to be black mold throughout the bathroom, no AC in the room, just a central fan, no WIFI, Carpets are taped throughout the whole hotel and absolutely filthy. Paid in advance for our room, no room available upon arrival. took 45 minutes plus to get it resolved. This hotel needs to be inspected by the health department.

The place was dirty and run down... it was pretty cheap and we still felt ripped off! My wife left early because of poor conditions. Needs an update and some TLC.

Built in 1959 this facility was supposed to have been renovated in the early 2020's, but Covid came along and corporate resources were diverted elsewhere. Main wing and hall carpets were torn and taped together. Door jams on external and internal [guest] rooms were battered with paint peeling off. Landscape was as unkempt as the external structure appeared to be; overall read: Sad and Forlorn, The first room we tried the toilet despite the interim managers efforts to unplug it, would not flush. The towel racks were on the verge of falling off the walls. Despite being vacuumed the hallways smelled and one wondered when the last time they had been shampooed. I heard other guests complain about the lack of AC in their room and how stuffy it was; a real bummer since Boise was 95 F. at the time. Initially, we were told there were no other rooms available, but somehow, one appeared in the tower. We moved our belongings there and and found the toilet took 30 seconds to completely flush but somehow managed it. Miraculously, AC worked and though the pipes reverberated like a Bassoon when turned on too fast, hot water did indeed come out.... I've lived in and visited around 16 countries in Latin America and Asia; an that's what this place reminded me of - a third world hotel. If it were a battle ship it would be scuttled.

My room wasn’t ready when we arrived at 4pm. Trainee started to check us in. 20 minutes later we were still standing at reception. I asked what the hold up was and was told there wasn’t a room with a balcony which is what I reserved. Trainee wasn’t sure what to do. I asked for a manager. Waited for her to come out of the back room even tho I could see her standing there. She asked what the issue was and I told her what I was told. She said “well we were fully booked last night and the rooms don’t magically get cleaned. Room was being cleaned now and we will have to wait” She was rude, unprofessional and didn’t even offer an apology. We waited a total of 90 minutes before the rooms became available. I was then asked to make a payment even thoough I already paid for the room. Room had a smell, toilet didn’t flush properly, there was no phone in the room so couldn’t reach reception unless we went down. Would not recommend this place.