My trips to Tampa have become an annual event for a work related convention. While many of my coworkers choose to stay at the Embassy Suites I find it best to stay across the street at the Marriott Waterside Hotel. This 27 story hotel is first class all the way. From the views of the water and adjoining boat slips to the hotel’s first class restaurants and bars everything about this hotel is based on quality and service. The rooms are spacious, and bright. Many have balconies allowing you to sit outside and catch the south Florida ambiance. I went to Tampa for work but the hotel made me feel as if I was on vacation. I highly recommend this place and will be back. The one draw back, the hotel’s version of Star Bucks has the most unpredictable hours.

Everybody was great. I really enjoyed the hotel. You can tell you all love your jobs. Janet in the gift shop, Peter is the cafe, Gloria at the desk and Robin at the concierge desk were so helpfully. I work for Marriott and this was the first hotel to treat me like a guest and not an employee. It was nice to be on the receiving end outstanding service. Thank you all for making my vacation relaxing and worry free. I look forward to coming back to this hotel on my next trip to Tampa.

We stayed at the Marriott Waterside April 13, 2012. Our stay was one night prior to a cruise from the port of tampa. Very convenient location as the port was literally 5 minute away. We arrived early and had requested and received early check in. We used the valet parking service which was fast and efficient. It is a bit pricey at $20 a night. You do have a self park option offsite which is $9.50 per night. The hotel is right across the street from the trolley that will take you to shops, restaurants and also to Ybor City. Our check in was very fast and before we knew it we were in our room. We had a wonderful bellman who was very knowlegable regarding things to do in the area. Our room was exceptionally clean and the bed was very comfortable. We had a standard king room with a water view. The views were very nice and the hotel backed to a waterway and had a marina attached to it. We changed our clothes and headed right down to the pool. We enjoyed the afternoon readying and had lunch served at our lounge chairs. You can order lunch from a phone on the pool deck and they will deliver or you an go to Champs and pick it up. We choose delivery and it was fast. The food was very good and we also had a delicious pina colada from the bar which was not lacking the great spicy rum! We choose not to go out and ate at the sports bar for dinner instead since that lunch filled us up. The food was your average sports bar fare. Aftwards we took a walk around the hotel on the waterside and enjoyed looking at the yachts. There is also a very nice upscale restaurant in the hotel and if we were hungry, we would have tried it out. Our stay was a friday night and there were several groups, cheerleaders, staying at the hotel and there were some business groups as well but it didn't create any problems with crowds. In the morning we had breakfast at the buffet and it was wonderful. Lots of fresh fruits and berries, omlets made to order, waffles, cereals etc. The breakfast came with our hotel package. We left the hotel and our car was waiting for us with the valet service. They valet gave us quick directions and we left the hotel and went to the cruise port. We enjoyed our stay an would recommend to anyone. This hotel is not inexpensive but we had a AAA discount and breakfast was included so we took advantage of that.

The hotel had a nice view of the city (IF YOU LIKE TAMPA). There is not much in the way of places to eat, other than the hotel. It was as good as a Hampton, but 3 times the price. Internet $14.95 - 24 hours, parking $20.00, water $7.50 a bottle, need I say more... The internet was horrible, the room was average, the bed... well I've definitely been more comfortable. The best thing about this hotel is the staff. If it weren't for being treated "special", I would have moved hotels. Also the 2 phones were so dated and broken that you couldn't hear anyone if the air was on.