Before arriving in Florida, I reserved a nonsmoking room for one week at the Clearwater Candlewood Suites. I chose Candlewood Suites because I have stayed at several other Candlewood Suites and they were always nice rooms and a pleasant experience.

When I arrived, I noticed the area was kind of ... seedy. I felt uncomfortable when I was given a room on the ground floor, but was told that the rooms on higher floors that were available were smoking rooms that have a strong smell, so I opted for the first floor room. I was told while checking in that housekeeping only comes once per week, so essentially, I would not be receiving any housekeeping services during my stay of one week. The front desk clerk told me that if I needed to change my sheets or towels, I could bring them to the front desk and exchange them.

I went into my room and it smelled like bug spray. The room was not filthy or anything, but just looked old and run down. The previous guest had left a container of chocolate ice cream (mostly empty) in the freezer, as well as a almost empty carton of Lactaid. That was pretty disgusting, to think that they didn't notice items left in the fridge, it didn't give me a good feeling about the thoroughness of the room cleaning process.

As a single woman staying alone, I did not feel safe in the room, I did not feel safe in the hotel. But since I made a reservation, I was obligated to pay for the first night's rent whether I stayed or not, so I decided to keep an open mind and stay the night and then decide in the morning.

In the morning I checked out. I ended up staying in the MUCH nicer Quality Inn on Hwy 19, which offered DAILY housekeeping, continental breakfast, nicer pool, in a MUCH nicer, more modern room - for only $10 more per night! Totally worth it.

I would not recommend this Candlewood Suites. I do not think that this hotel should be part of the Candlewood Suites brand. It is in dire need of updating, and better, more thorough cleaning and room inspection.

Hotel is nicely kept&rooms are good size, comfortable &clean with full kitchen which makes stay much nicer&tv is also good with the dvd if you want to rent a movie at the front desk its free.The beds are nice&bathrooms spacious compared to other hotels&as far as hotel design &upkeep its nicer than other extended stay type chains&I like Candle wood suites better.Also they offer free laundry to all guests which is a great amenity&the laundry room is very clean&nice to.The features at this hotel make it nice to stay at but our suggestion is anyone who plans to stay longer term for business or relocation purposes ect like we did ,just make sure you dont have any complaints or problems &if you do keep them to yourselfs and deal with it because the manager at this hotel is not nice & very rude&if you have any kind of problem or special request she is not accommodatng or helpful at all but quite the opposite.We were treated extremely rudely by this manager more than once for things that were reasonable requests or complaints&instead of dealing with the situation one of which was very serious and could have been a health hazzard, this manager became nasty rude, & told us if we could not deal with it then we should find another hotel&refused to do anything. This happened more than once during our stay but as said the one time was extreme and almost caused a severe health hazzard and injury to one of the people in our party.We have stayed at holiday inn chains for years when traveling way back before they became intercontinental and our familys thru the years have honored and praised holiday inn hotel and their chains and have been in their membership program since back when it started because from my grandparents to my aunts and uncles and parents and even friends of the family we have always felt holiday inn hotel chains were the best and for the most part we still do. But we could not believe that any hotel run by holiday inn intercontinental would allow a manager to behave and treat guests like the manager at this candle wood suties treated us&it was uncceptable, inappropriate and degrading and do to this managers lack of concern and care for a guests well being this managers actions and lack of actions caused a health risk to one in our party of which almost resulted in serious consequences to another guest and this manager had no care in the world about the guest and instead of helping to control and deal with the situation the manager made matters worse for us and the guest in need and her deameanor was very inappropriate including yelling at us who were paying guests there and also making rude unacceptable comments about us and degrading the fact that the guest in our party had a medical conditon which required a simple special needs accommodation which the manager at this hotel failed and refused to accommodate and instead was extremely rude and nasty to the guest showing no care at all for another guests wellbeing or did this manager do anything but yell and make nasty remarks to the guest with the problem. This is not the way a manager should act to any guest no matter what the problem and in this situation the problem was nothing major and one this manager could have easily resolved and accomodating had she been kind and caring enouh to do so but instead she chose to be rude and condem her guest for having a special need and problem to be resolved. Never in all the years our familes have stayed at any intercontinental holiday inn chain have we encountered such rudeness and lack of care by a manager or staff at any of the hotels from holiday inn full service down to express hotels and candle wood or stay bridge extended stays and always management and staff at all the hotels we have been guests at when traveling have been exceptional and so friendly and kind. That is why it shocks us that holiday inn intercontinental would allow a manager like the one at this candel wood suites in clearwater to treat her guests like she did us over a problem and requet and its unacceptable and shocking! For this reason we do not reccommend this hotel if you want a friendly accomodating manager and unfortuantely though some of the desk staff are very friendly they are affected by the managers actions and attitude as well.

This is a basic extended stay place but a little nicer than most. There is no free breakfast, but other than that, it has all the stuff you would find at a more expensive hotel. Extended stay places basically mean they only change the beds and linens once a week or after somebody checks out.

It is kid-friendly - often lots of families staying there. The Candlewood has interior hallways, which is nice for security, noise, and comfort in my opinion. There are two types of rooms - two room suites, which are very nice, and the basic one bedroom rooms - adequate but not much more. There is an on-site weight/workout gym, an outdoor pool, a gas grille and picnic table near the pool, and a large parking lot. The place accepts pets, which is a mixed bag, as some people seem to just leave their pets in the rooms, frightened and barking. Free internet that actually works pretty well is a plus. And there is a small office center with a computer and printer if you want to print out your boarding pass and don't carry a printer with you.

If you can afford it and plan to stay more than one night, get the two room suite with the sofa/bed - it is much larger, and although the pricing seems to vary a lot with the demand at this place, it is usually only about $10 more and well worth it if there is more than one person, as the two room suite has 2 tv's and a couch/bed, as well as a very large built-in table that can be used for meals or as a work desk. Just a lot more room in general.

All rooms have a stove, microwave, and large fridge with an icemaker. Rooms also have dishes and silverware and a few cooking pots and pans and a coffemaker. No toasters.

Another perk is that they have FREE washers and dryers for your clothes - something that I use almost every time I stay there, and I travel a lot. Plus they have an 'honor system' in their large guest pantry, which is fairly well stocked - take what you need and drop the money in the slot. Very convenient - I hope people don't abuse it and that we don't lose the feature. There are frozen dinners, lots of soft drink choices, candy, basic stuff for travelers. I like to get a room near there so I can go get snack food whenever I feel like it.

They have a small library of books you can borrow and read, and they have free dvd's in the lobby - choose what you want to watch from their movie selection, which is mediocre, but it is nice that they have one. Free USA Today newspapers in the lobby too.

The location is OK - a long way from the beach and local tourist stuff, but it is on a main street at a major intersection, right behind a 5th/3rd bank. It is not a wonderful neighborhood - it is a bit industrial nearby and I would not suggest taking a long stroll after dark - but it is OK in the daytime. The place is clean but not spotless - once in a while I find some paper wrapper or something that the clean-up crew missed (I stay at this place fairly often). It is overall very well maintained, and the staff is friendly and moderately helpful if you need something. Another poster said they do NOT have extra cots - I never needed one - but I strongly susupect that poster is correct. So plan accordingly if you have extra people. Or go to the local Walmart and get a blow-up bed for the kids - it is still cheaper than staying across the street at the other extended stay places.

There is one cheaper place about 1/2 mile west that is also extended stay, but that place is not nearly as nice as Candlewood.

Had to stay a few days in the area and needed a good hotel with facilities. Candlewood Suites Clearwater is a bit older but the hotel was wonderfully clean, the people super nice, and good location for the area. I travel all over the world and this place was topnotch.