I travel to Sacramento occasionally for business and have been somewhat resigned to the fact that I’d have to stay in a generic hotel regardless of the star rating—until now. The Citizen hotel brings a level of hotel sophistication that Sacramento has been sorely lacking. The hotel was opened in November of 2008 but looks like it is has arrived via time machine fresh from the turn of the century, which is great. I’m sure it was an old hotel that was completely refurbished but kept the same vintage style—to great effect.
The location cannot be beat, it is in the heart of downtown and just minutes walk or short drive to pretty much everything.
The staff was a mixed bag from professional to just clearly learning the ropes. I’m guessing they’ll have it figured out by the next time I’m there.
If you want boutique sophistication in Sacramento, this is the ONLY place to stay.

HOTEL REVIEW # 168 Citizen Hotel

MY TRAVEL STYLE: If possible, I try to stay away from business hotels and strongly prefer resorts that resemble the Four Seasons, Aman, and Oberoi but try to find similar properties at lower cost. I seek out the “wow” experiences and I encourage you to view hotels I have stayed at and their respective reviews (by clicking on my name).

LOCATION: Walking distance to many restaurants in the downtown area. About a 30 minute drive from the airport.

TYPE OF ROOM: Suite.

BED/SHEETS/PILLOW: Very comfortable but not as a good as a Starwood hotel. Bed is a bit softer than average and sheets are too scratchy.

LIGHTING: Very good in room and bathroom.

BATHROOM/SHOWER: Spacious and attractive. Shower had ok water pressure but didn’t stay hot long enough.

TOILETRIES: Excellent.

CLEANLINESS: Hotel is 5 months new and everything is very clean.

A/C: Worked well keeping room cool.


STYLE OF ROOM: Stylish and comfortable.

COMMON AREA: Very nice and unique. Some places to hang out and a small bar upstairs.

QUIET/MORNING LIGHT: Room was always quiet and all morning light could be blocked with the curtains.

TV/INTERNET: HD flat screen TV with about 20 channels. Internet is wired and very fast. No charge if join their frequent stay program.

SERVICE: Staff was exceptionally nice and called to make sure my room was satisfactory. Never asked if they could help with my bags on the way to the car.

SUMMARY: Definitely the best place to stay in town and the only hip, stylish place in Sacramento. I will stay here again on my next trip to Sacramento and highly recommend this hotel.

I was very surprised. Our capital is a little grimy but the hotel was very nice the rooms were a nice size and very comfortable. The hotel and staff were very attentive. It is super close to the legislative centers. I would say this should be on your short list of hotels if you travel to Sacramento for business or recreation.

One minus is the fitness center was closed and I asked to be told of any construction before my stay and they did not inform me. I was not happy about that.

The Citizen Hotel has an event space on its 7th floor. Yesterday morning at 645am someone began soundchecking for an event that, as it turned out, began at 830am (on a Friday morning). Every few minutes they would blast U2 and "check 1, 2" into the very loud microphone. The room they gave me was on the 10th floor directly above the event area. Two other people in my party (on the 7th fl) itself were also woken up. We'd had a tough week and were very much looking forward to a good night of sleep. At 830am the sound of some large event (applause, crowd laughter, speeches) began. So several issues: why did they not warn me that such an event was scheduled at 830am? More importantly, why would they schedule such an event at 830am when the event area was surrounded by dozens of rooms? I complained and they were relatively friendly, but when they discovered that my room was purchased through Expedia, they suggested there was nothing they could do but they would offer me a $50 credit at their hotel restaurant. This seemed small comfort given that they'd already agreed to comp all three rooms that had problems. I ultimately convinced them to give me equivalent value for the rooms they'd agreed to comp.

So in the end I reached a satisfactory solution, but it was quite surprising that it took so much work on my part (and they did not have a more proactive attitude) and indeed they did not seem particularly apologetic about what I saw as egregiously bad hotel management. Given that they have just opened, you'd expect mix-ups and kinks, but an attitude that does not reflect a particularly enthusiastic attitude toward fixing problems is one that cannot easily be changed. It likely reflects the attitude of senior management and manifests itself in the way staff are hired and trained.

This all said, the rooms were very nice. But I had to work too hard to get satisfaction in the face of a hotel mistake and did not get the good night's sleep that I really needed. A recommendation for the hotel: just because customers purchased nights of stay through Expedia does not mean the hotel should wash itself of responsibility for issues and try to direct customers to deal with Expedia's bureacracy. Please do yourself a favor and work out a policy for handling these sorts of things administratively as I'm sure you will get many customers through web reservations.