I was excited that I was finally able to try out a Red Lion hotel as the chain isn't popular out in the Midwest. I made the reservation about two months prior to our arrival. When we came into Yakima, it was pretty hot outside and the weather reports were saying that it was "unseasonably warm".

Checking into the hotel went just fine. I thought the front desk gentlemen that I spoke to was nice. He gave me a choice between the second or first floor. I opted for the first floor due to the amount of luggage we had to bring in and I was told there was no elevator. I was given a map to where our hotel was located and as we drove around the building, I saw the "Corporate" rooms which from reading in past reviews on here, that it is where you want to be placed. Well, our room wasn't in the promise land, we got put in the other part of the hotel. The nice thing is that we were able to park our car literally 2 feet from the door (outside enterance).

The room itself was quite spacious and I thought it was decorated nicely. I was given two queen beds instead of a king which I had booked, but I figured we'd make due. The bathroom was large with two sinks and granite counter tops. There was Bath and Body Works products supplied for us which I thought was a nice touch. Outside the room on the other wall was a little patio area that I thought was really cute. It looked like you were in your own tiny little neighborhood as you could walk to other guests patios and the walkway also lead to two different outside pools.

Okay, so now the bad. When I opened up the shower curtain there was black hairs stuck to the tile wall, and neither of us had used the shower yet. Pretty disgusting! The tv looked like it came straight out of 1985. It was a 19" tv with the fake wood grain on the exterior. The worst was our air conditioner. I read other people having this exact same problem and that their complaints fell on deaf ears, so we just dealt with it the best we could. We turned the air on as high and as cold as we possibly could and we maybe had the room at 75 degrees if we were lucky. It was a miserable having to sweat while sitting still in your own hotel room. We pulled off any bedspreads and blankets that we could, which we normally do anyways - but it was still pretty miserable.

The next morning we ate at the restaurant on site and I thought the food was good. It was nice that they had some healthy options. The prices weren't too unreasonable either.

Overall, I'd have to say that I was disappointed with the stay. I know that I should have complained but after reading other reviews and not wanting to haul everything into another room, we just dealt with the issues. When I checked out, the front desk lady did not ask me how our stay was which also surprised me as that is usually the standard question. So since the staff didn't care to know, I figured I'd just let everyone else who reads my review know instead. Perhaps if we were staying in the "Corporate" section of the hotel we wouldn't of had these issues? I doubt we'll come back to try and find out.

I've stayed at the Red Lion a couple times before for soccer tourneys, and the place was pretty great.
This trip was strictly to get out of the chilly June gloom in Seattle (DISCLAIMER: Yes we came for the pool. I heart swimming, I heart hot weather, and I do not get much of either together in Seattle), so I specifically booked a poolside room that has sliding doors out to the pool deck. Unfortunately, due some sort of lawsuit against the chain, all poolside rooms had the doors sealed. So, no pool access from your room, and just as important, no fresh air. I wish they would have explained this detail to me while I was booking, we might have been able to at least get a balcony room overlooking the pool area. Upon arrival, we decided to change rooms, and were placed in the 'corporate' wing.
The building and rooms had a creepy smell of really old carpets kind of like as if they were still damp and smell weird.... and we received no room service whatsoever--no clean towels or clean cups. One of the queen beds was really soft, like too soft as if the springs had given out, but only on one side.

For the price ($130/night), it was a disappointing experience from a place that had previously felt like a good value.

I almost always check reviews on Trip Advisor before booking a hotel. In this case, I almost decided not to stay at the Red Lion in Yakima, but I'm glad I did.

This hotel is a fine hotel and a good value for the price I paid on Hotwire.com.

The staff was very professional and helpful. The room was clean and exactly what I expected from a Red Lion. The location is convenient to downtown Yakima and close to the freeway for wine tasting trips.

Internet was free and reliable...not always the case.

My only complaint is that the sound proofing wasn't great. We heard footsteps in the room upstairs all night long. We also had a slightly weird interaction with a guy asking for money in the back parking lot. The hotel is on a very busy street and the neighborhood didn't seem the least bit dangerous, but I would probably recommend staying out of the secluded back parking lot just to be safe.

All in all, I think this is a fine hotel and a good value if you can find a good deal.

My daughters soccer team participated in a tournament in Yakima, WA May 16-18, 2008 and we were placed at the Red Lion Yakima Center Hotel. Initially, when we arrived the front desk staff was friendly and we were able to do a Pre-checkin because our room had not been cleaned yet. We went for lunch, and when we came back there had been a staff change, this is when everything went downhill. First we were told that the room that we had already checked into was not available and we would have to take a room at the other end of the hotel but it would only have one King bed in it, we had 4 people. After finally getting the desk staff to understand that room would not work for us, we were told we could be put into a room that wasn't clean yet, so we would have to continue to wait. Surprisingly enough it was the same room that we had already be pre-checked into........ Our team had a block of 9 rooms with 2 queen beds in each, and we had confirmation numbers for all 9 rooms. As other families began to arrive, they were also being placed in rooms with 1 King bed or were told they had no reservation at all. After almost an hour of standing at the front desk, being ignored by the clerks, we were finally able to get someone to straighten out the rooms, so that everyone at least had adequate sleeping arrangements, however the rooms were spread all throughout the hotel. Our reservations were made three months in advance, and our team rooms were supposed to be in the same section of the hotel, a specific request that was made at the time of booking. We finally were able to get into our room, and the air conditioning was not working, and the refrigerator that we paid a $15 fee to have was also not working. We had two phones in the room, one did not work at all. The temperatures in Yakima that weekend were close to if not over 100 degrees, so the air conditioning was a big deal. Called the front desk and asked if someone could check it out, so they sent someone while we were gone. We had a note on the bed when we came back and said that it was working fine.......it never got below 85 degress in the room the entire weekend. We had to sleep with the sliding door wide open, just to get a slight breeze. The refrigerator kept things cool but not cold. Housekeeping left us 3 towels, (we had 4 people) and then argued with us when they had to bring us more towels, and complained and told us that our kids didn't need to shower after using the pool......not the housekeepers call to make! When we were getting ready to leave I realized that I was missing a coin purse with a large sum of cash and two credit cards in it. Searched all through our bags, under the beds, did a drawer check and still couldn't find it. Notified hotel front desk with very little response. When we got home, I did a complete bag check, emptied everything still didn't find it. I called the hotel and was told by the front desk that there was no management on site and would have to leave a message. I was put into the housekeeping managers (Maria) voicemail, so I left her a message asking for a return phone call....that was Sunday the 18th of May....still haven't heard back from her. I called the hotel again after leaving the voicemail because I wanted to leave a message for the hotel manager, and Christina answered the phone...I asked her what her posistion was and she informed me that she was the Manager on Duty......I had been told 10 minutes earlier that there was no one from management on duty because it was Sunday. Christina put me into Ian's voicemail who is supposedly the General Manager, so I left him a voicemail as well......guess what, today is Friday May 23, 2008 and I haven't heard from Ian as well.
The only good thing about our stay was that the room was fairly clean and the swimming pools were open despite the signs all over saying the pools were "closed for the season".