We booked this place looking for a cheap hotel the night before a cruise out of Tampa. We thought it would just be a bargin at $40 a night. They say it is close to the airport and turned out to be a $40 taxi just to get there. The clerk was nice and friendly, rooms are big and average size for a place of this age. The room was about as clean as can be expected for a rundown place of it's age, the bathtub tiles were rotted and were poorly repaired. That's about all of the "nice" I could say about this place. We did not rent a car as we were leaving for our cruise the next morning. We asked the clerk if it was safe to walk to a restaurant for dinner..she said yes. We were a bit suspicious about the safety of the area when we noticed police cars sitting stationary in front of restaurants. Finally after a walk that seemed to take forever, we arrived at the Olive Garden. The watiress was stunned when we told her that we had walked there, and told us to stay on the main road and don't even consider for a second taking a side street.
This hotel is located one street over from the poorest part of Tampa, she said crime was high, hence the police presence.
Once we got back to the room, it was really loud. Around 3am we were woken by a crowd of people yelling something about a "hold up"!!! Between that and the air conditioner that could compete against the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we did not get much sleep that night.......
You get what you pay for I guess.....spend the extra money on somewhere safer & nicer, we will next time! I would not recommend this place to ANYONE.

Well when you drive in it looks kinda bad. The hotel name has been taken off above the roof. Purposely or?? Anyway it was just one night and I didnt pay much. When I entered the room it was better. Beds were nice. Internet worked fine. Those 2 are important to me. Air also worked fine. Problems the toilet was always readjusting making some noice, the table was in a place with no plug (for computer ) and no light source. I tried to move it but it weighed a ton. No plug by bed either easily reachable but if you pull the bed out you can get a plug behind bed. I didnt want to walk on carpet with no shoes. There was a big sign in front offering $29 rooms...and this was high season! The breakfast was very basic. Vending machines and ice were avail.
I wouldnt call it one of the better Econolodges, but if you only pay $29 you have to be the one to decide if its worth it. I tried another cheap hotel and it wasnt any better.This one is right off 275 with easy entry and exit. So shop around...prices vary with season.
Weather was horrible all my time there, rain, clouds, storms...and with the economy bad I saw weekly signs at decent looking places for like $159 a week. So there are options to be had unless something major is going on.

If all you want is a cheap room, a clean decent bed, and a clean shower and towels this place would be ok. Its not a place you want to lounge around in though.

My Teenagers and I had a pleasant stay in a large spacious room that was very clean and had the pleasant odor of cleaniness with a hint of perfume/cologne. We were able to stay cool with the aid of the well functioning air conditioner. We enjoyed the large clean swimming pool and the free continental breakfast.

The staff was extremely friendly, professional and very accommodating to our needs and requests for extra linens or towels and giving directions to various places. We were very close to shopping centers, stores, restaurants, Busch Gardens and other places of entertainment.

I would recommend this hotel to others that are needing the bare necessities of a no frills hotel at affordable rates that be acquired at online hotel websites.

Let me disclose here that I am usually a big fan of the Choice Hotels group, as they usually offer very good value for money, but if this was the first Choice Hotel I had ever stayed at, I doubt I would ever have used the group again. This particular Econo Lodge tarnishes their reputation. I will however continue to use other Choice Hotel establishments.

The biggest negatives are the general condition of the building. It oozes neglect and decay. The other negative is the location; really tatty and undesirable. There is an old disused train restaurant comprised of railroad cars covered with a grubby shed type structure directly opposite the parking area. It may have been great in the past, but now it's all in a terribly neglected state. There has just been no attempt at all to make anything about this hotel presentable.

Regarding the rooms: I'm not prone to exaggeration so I'm not going to say that there was an inch of dirt on the floors or anything like that, let's just say that it left little to be desired and was dark and dingy - even with all the lights on! Shower and bed were OK but the overall feel of the place overshadowed any acceptable points it may have had.

It was quite a drive to find a halfway decent restaurant. I usually walk to a restaurant from my hotel and tried from this location, but gave up after 15 minutes as it was obvious that the neighborhood and busy road were not exactly conducive to a pleasant evening walk.

Having stayed in hundreds of hotels around the world, this has to rate as one of the least memorable.