On February 2 and 3, 2012, my wife and I were visiting Busch Gardens with our adult son and stayed at the Inn for two nights.The service was at first great, the breakfast was wonderful, the shuttle service was exceptional, the rooms clean and well maintained, the desk clerks informative and helpful and our stay was generally very positive. However, upon leaving, I found an additional charge on my bill that I did not understand and when questioning the desk clerk, found that she did not understand it either. She suggested that I stop at the desk afterwards and speak with the manager who was not on the property at that time. I stopped at the desk an additional two times and was informed both times that the manager was still not in. Because we had to leave, I asked the clerk to have the manager call me to explain the additional charge. About two hours later, I received a call from the clerk who said that she had been in touch with the manager who instructed her to call me and indicate that the room rates had INCREASED OVERNIGHT and we had been charged the new rate for the second day of our stay, which amounted to about $25 more.
If this is the policy, I should have been informed up front and not after the fact. I DID NOT agree to pay the additional rate, but it was charged to my account. I am also disturbed by the actions of the manager. He/She should have called me instead of requiring the girl at the desk to do it. We will be more selective in where we stay in our continued travels. Our advice to fellow travelers is to watch out for overnight RATE CHANGES! The hotel manager did not take care of this problem.

This hotel really does look after their guests. Great customer service, well kept and extremely clean rooms, ample free breakfasts, lots of on-site car parking, free wi-fi, and is excellent value for money. Even though the hotel offered free shuttle service to and from Busche Gardens we chose to walk the 25 minutes. Would definitely be our hotel of choice the next time we visit Tampa.
Stayed January 2012.

Things I liked about this hotel: Great location. The staff was very friendly. The hotel was new and very clean. I could easily walk to Olive Garden, Popeyes, or Red Lobster for dinner. The shuttle service was definitely above average for a Holiday Inn. Robert was extremely friendly and very obviously a people person. He clearly explained when the shuttle would pick up at Busch Gardens in the afternoon as well as provided the number to the hotel in case someone needed to call for an earlier pickup time. He also came in to work an hour earlier than his scheduled time on a Saturday morning to take me to the airport for my return flight. He definitely went above and beyond the call of duty. Service like his makes up for a lot.

Things I found to be issues: The bed was without a doubt the most uncomfortable mattress I have ever slept on in a hotel. It groaned and creaked every time I moved. I was very obviously sleeping in prior guests' body dents in the mattress which were clearly visible to the eye even before lying down. I could feel the mattress coils even though I am sure there was a pillow topper of some sort. Also, the pillows appeared to have some feathers in the which caused issues with my allergies. I woke up after a couple hours unable to breathe and with a swollen face. Luckily, I always travel with my medications. After the first night, I asked at the front desk if I could have a foam pillow. That pillow never arrived, so the second night, I rolled up my sweater and used it as a pillow. The alarm clock did not have a working volume control nor did the auxiliary jack work. The iron had a broken steam nozzle which prevented it from being able to be used as steam iron. The business center had only one computer and the printer wasn't working. To the credit of the staff, they were nice enough to print my boarding pass for me.

Despite the few issues that I had, I would still recommend this hotel believing that I simply had the bad fortune to receive a dud of a room.

We stayed at this hotel following a cruise and then spent two days at Busch Gardens with our children. The hotel itself was clean and nice. The complimentary breakfast had bacon, eggs, cinnamon rolls, pancakes as well as cereal, yogurt, fruit etc. It was a nice start to a day at the park. The reason I wanted to review our stay though, was how wonderful the shuttle service was. We have 8 people in our family, so transportation can be a big issue. Robert the driver will take you to or pick you up from the cruise pier, Busch Gardens, University Mall, and even the airport! This was huge for our family. I wanted to let other travelers know this, since I am always looking for a hotel that will shuttle to and from piers as well as the airport. There were also quite a few restaurants within walkin distance like Red Lobster, The Olive Garden, Burger King etc. For these reasons, I would definitely recommend this hotel!!