Unpublished Additional Costs & Difficult to do business

Hotel is nice with spacious rooms. Internet service is promised, but no prices can be found. At most Hiltons (DoubleTree is a subsidiary) Internet Service is free. Here they want exhorbitant fees and they have no business center as an alternative. The staff has a rude & uncooperative attitude. We are not used to this sort of treatment and found it most unpleasant. We usually spend 15 to 20 nights a month on the road. I am asking my employer to no longer book us at the DoubleTree Guest Jail in Tampa.

Nice Hotel

We stayed in Tampa for 2 nights at the Doubletree and enjoyed it. Our suite was spacious, with a small wetbar/sitting area on one side of the living room. Bedroom and bath was behind two double shuttered doors. The bed was very comfortable and there were plenty of pillows. Some of the furniture in the sitting area was old and nicked up and the refrigerator never got really cold. The hotel's restaurant closes at 10, so we went to the Radisson across Rocky Point Drive and ate. There is also a Bahama Breeze nearby, and several places to eat toward Clearwater.

Loved the Hotel, with Some Minor Exceptions

We stayed at this hotel for three nights in early July, 2005 on our Florida vacation. We paid $105 a night, including tax, which we thought was a bit pricey. Our room was above average in size and quality, and appeared to be newly remodeled. It was comfortable, clean and spacious, with a great shower and plenty of closet and drawer space. It included a kitchen and eating area with a table and chairs (which we never used). The view from our room window of Tampa Bay and the pool below was wonderful. I'm guessing that due to the angle of the hotel, most rooms had a view of the bay. We had two complaints about our room. The bifold doors between the bedroom and the living room were shuttered (allowing sound to pass between rooms) and did not close properly. Also, some of the hooks holding the upscale drapes in the bedroom were the wrong size allowing the drapes to sag at the top and allow light to come through. This was a shame for such an otherwise elegant room. We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant on the morning of July 4th, and that was a big mistake. The restaurant was understaffed and disorganized. This resulted in long waits for seating, beverages, etc. The breakfast buffet was mediocre and a bit overpriced. (We paid for our breakfast, unlike some guests in earlier reviews who got it free.) Overall, we enjoyed our stay at this hotel and would highly recommend it to others.

Nice Place to stay

This hotel was very clean and roomy with a medium sized fridge. The breakfast buffet was good. We had a first floor suite with a patio overlooking the pool and the bay. The hotel was only 5 minutes from the airport and centrally located between Clearwater and St. Petersburg. They had jet ski rental onsite and many nice restraunts and nitelife nearby.

Was happy with my suite, some things could be better

The room is spacious enough, bed was comfortable.

I had a first floor suite, so I could walk out and was about 20 steps from the bay as well as the pool. One morning I saw what looked like a dolphin fin poke out of the bay water, maybe it was floating trash...it was early.

Things that could be better: Lighting - it could use a few more lights it was kinda dark. Shower drain - the water pressure was great, but the drain couldn't keep up.

Great

Breakfast was included in the price and was outstanding. Nice outdoor pool area and they have jetski's to rent. Good location. Five minutes from the airport but it feels like five hours away. BIG room. Took the family on a business trip and this was perfect for all the bodies.

Nice property, great rate, above average service

Stayed on Thanksgiving day with the hotel at 20% occupancy on a special holiday rate. Gorgeous property with all room facing on an inner bay, the other side is all office buildings. Our room was on 7th floor bay view (as requested) and was at an almost perfect level to be where the resident Osprey hovered. The room was a nice two room setup - the main room is very large with dining room / family room setup and very large picture windows. The bedroom was a bit smaller but made up for it with a usable hallway between the bathroom and the bed. The doors between the two rooms could have been an issue for us (with an infant needing silence) since they are slotted shutters, but we were ok. The appliances (fridge and TV in the bathroom) are obviously older, but everything else was updated. We noticed that the ground floor rooms on the other side of the hotel were gutted and being re-walled, so I would assume they have a big upgrade. The hotel is far enough away (and not on a flight path) so that you don't hear or see any planes. The highway can be heard from the front of the hotel, but not the rooms or pool area. Cable includes Starz and HBO with 25/27 inch tv's in both the family room and bedroom.

This hotel is primarily for business users, not families like us, but they went out of their way to help us. The pool is heated and is half in the shade most of the day. The pool area has a nice covered area to stay in the shade and is nicely landscaped. The views from the pool are gorgeous. Note that there is not a beach - I got mixed info from the internet on whether there was or not. The restaurant is on the high price side but the servers (especially one from England) are fantastic and friendly. The gift shop is more gift oriented than food/drink, and the prices are good. The laundry room has older equipment again and is in open area on 7th floor. Very little equipment in the fitness center, but all top of the line and nice jacuzzi and sauna. I was serious about the Osprey, it hung out on the rooftop and hovered in the bay right next to the pool - very cool to watch it drop for fish.

Didn't do these things, so info only. A jet ski rental place is adjacent to the hotel. A couple of off premise restaurants (Coasters, Green Iguana) are within walking distance, as is a public beach.

Tired Old Property

The hotel is located on the water and, although the common areas are nice, the interior corridors and rooms are dirty, old and tired.

After getting my key, I went directly to my room. The first thing I noticed was that - at every stop - the eleavator loudly announced the floor number. If you stay here, make sure you get a room away from the elevator.

I got off on the sixth floor. The hallway was dark and musty smelling, the carpet worn and stained. When I got to my room, I noticed a few things immediately.

First, the rooms are cooled by wall unit air conditioners. They worked but they were noisy.

Second, the furnishings are old and worn. A real tip off that this property is a second gereration hotel was the black and white TV that's mounted, Howard Johnson's style, on the sink.

Finally, the entire suite was only moderately clean. I've stayed in some truly filthy hotels, and this was not one of them. However, for the money, I expected more.

The coupe de gras was that the bed was made up with the top sheet on top of a dirty blanket. I was tired from a long day and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. I pulled the dirty bed spread back only to find a dirty blanket placed directly on the bottom sheet.

I reluctantly remade the bed and went to sleep under the cheese cloth sheets with which this"deluxe all suite property" had provided me.

The bottom line is that I checked out after only one night and went to the Holiday Inn Express next door. It was comparable to this DoubleTree (much newer too) at 1/3 the price.

If you're looking for an upscale newer hotel look elsewhere. This property has most definately seen it's better days.

Stunning Property, Spotty Service

My husband and I stayed here for three days last month. The property is beautiful - great suites, stunning pool overlooking the bay, gorgeous lobby. We did see manatees and dolphins from the pool area - it was great. (I found that the pool got plenty of sun.) However, service was spotty. Room service totally screwed up our order, maid service did things like take away our bath mat and not replace it (so we had to use a towel), we asked for 3 pillows and only got 2, etc. It wasn't terrible but for the price, you'd expect a little better. Overall, the location and quality of the facilities made the service issues not quite such a big deal - I would stay here again.

Decent value

Reasonable Hotel with OK location, relatively nice spacious rooms and decent service. Pool is nice in the photos, but stays in the shade most of the day.

Overall a decent value