We stayed at the Holiday Inn because my husband was at a conference there.
It was a nice hotel, you expect a reasonable quality from Holiday Inn, but it did lack anything special. I think they should rename it "Business Inn", as there was not much to make it a holiday.... which is odd as they must cater for a lot of wives who are there because their husband is on business!! There really wasn't anywhere nice to sit and while away a moment with a cup of tea and a book... just the reception area or the pool.
The rooms were spacious, brilliantly clean, and the bed was very comfortable. There was some road noise from the highway..
The restaurant looked a bit formal, though there was a nice outdoor seating area. I did not try the restauant... it did not look really very inviting.
I had looked forward to relaxing by the pool, but it is hidden away on the 2nd floor, and is small, rectangular, and freezing cold. There are some loungers and chairs, but usually I was the only person up there. It felt an unloved area. Sunshine would be the only reason to go up there!!
The great thing about this hotel is that it is just a moment's walk away from Old Sacramento and the river in one direction, and Westfield mall, with Macy's and a handy Starbucks, in the other direction.
Old Sacramento is charming, dating back to the gold rush, and has wide boardwalks. There is a great restaurant with either a classy indoor area or a lovely outdoor area overlooking the river, with umbrellas to keep the evening sun off. Just lovely.
If we went again I probably wouldn't bother to rent a car... after driving from the airport, you hardly need to take the car out of the garage. You can walk to the Capitol building, the shops, Old Sac and the river. And you can take the train to San Francisco. But if we went again, I think I'd rather choose a hotel I liked and drive to the conference!!
The hotel has so much going for it, but just did not feel like a holiday.

Needed a hotel to use as an overnight stop on the way to Lake Tahoe. Landed in San Francisco at 2pm, collected rental car and off we went.

Hotel is only 90 miles from SFO but due to roadworks in downtown San Francisco, journey took us 3 hours.

Anyway, hotel is easy to find, you can see it as you come off slip road from Interstate. Has valet and self parking - both at reasonable rates. Self parking garage is very close to hotel.

Check in was a breeze - usual HI politeness and professionalism. Rooms nice size and overlooked Downtown Plaza mall - Macys etc. Walked to mall for dinner in Hard Rock Cafe - literally 5 minutes walk. In the morning, quick check out, straight in the car and straight onto Interstate towards Tahoe.

Room cost 179 USD through hotel website - for covenience, service and location, think it would be hard to beat. Did see the pool but didnt get chance to use it.

We got our room on priceline for $67 a night. The lobby is nice as well as the rooms. The king room is a bit small but nicely decorated. The hallway was extremely dirty and looked like it hadn't been vacuumed in weeks. The elevator consistently smelled like either cigarettes or spilled beer. The rooms were clean enough and the beds were above average for comfort.

On june4 2008 we saw a nice patio at Holliday Inn Capital Plaza'
restaurant: Cyprus Grille, Sacramento. We decided, 4 of us, to have our dinner over there. They won the first prize of the WORST
dinner we had during our 5 weeks stay in the US. (Maybe ever.) The Lamb Shank and Fillet Mignon were terrible.
Although we said it was not "our favorite at all" there was no reaction from the server, altough it's not her fault that the cook is
so bad. Fire him! We felt that the $ 131,73 was trown away. May-be it is our fault was that we were to polite not to pay the bill!
Arend and Mieke van Nieuwland, The Netherlands
avannieuwland@home.nl