My husband and I are best western travelers. For the most part we are never disappointed. We have been on the road for 5 days, every night at a Best Western with positive experiences, until we arrived here. Joe at the front desk was less than hospitable. Horrible attitude and personality for a front desk. Inside the room...torn drapes, torn wallpaper, several large stains throughout carpeting. I refer to this hotel as a flip flop hotel. I will never not have my flip flops on, including the shower! For the type of hotel we are in I can't believe we are paying more than $100 a night. I am really disappointed and would not recommend this hotel. One night is going to be tough to survive.

Stayed here for three nights on a Hotwire reservation in late January.
At checkin, my reservation could not be found so it was a good thing that I brought along a copy of the reservation.
Got a Hotwire room, with a beautiful view of the parking lot.
Hotel is on an island next to the Shriners International Headquarters. There are a few restaurants in the area but having a car sure helps getting to other places to eat.
My room was clean, comfortably furnished, included a small fridge and a balcony.
Had breakfast one morning at the hotel restaurant and it was not very good so do not recommend it. With a car go to the Waffle House on Westshore Dr.

excellent shuttle from Airport and to the shopping malls all complimentary. Very helpful staff.

Let me begin by telling you how impressive the hotel's communication is- I had several questions prior to my stay and emailed the hotel. Linda Dennis (the hotel's Director of Sales and Marketing) promptly and politely responded to my requests. I really appreciated her help.

The hotel's shuttle picked us up at the Tampa airport. We called the hotel as soon as we picked up our luggage and the shuttle was there to pick us up within about 20 minutes. The driver also told us that the shuttle could take us to either of two nearby malls that evening if we so desired.

When I arrived to the hotel I was so pleased. When I was checking in I looked out to the bay and saw Dolphins. I had not even made it to my room and was already enjoying the view.

The lobby was nice and well-kept, as was our room. There was a little store/gift shop in the hotel lobby which was a nice convenience. There was also a restaurant (Crabby Bill's) onsite so we had everything we needed and really didn't need the shuttle to get to the restaurants at the mall.

The room was clean and nice. There was a small refrigerator under the counter in the bathroom. Our room overlooked the bay and the view was fantastic. I enjoyed watching the dolphins, pelicans, and many birds in their fishing activities.

That evening we went to dinner at the hotel restaurant. We ate outside (in mid January) in our short sleeves. There was an outdoor bar that seemed to be pretty popular and folks were having a good time. The restaurant/bar stayed open until 2:00 am (and this was a Wednesday) so I figured the bar remained popular until late. Adjacent to the bar and outdoor eating area there were several beach volleyball courts. There were people out there having a great time playing while we were eating. These people could play well too- they didn't look to be tourists or business people staying at the hotel.

At Crabby Bills we had a mixed experience. My husband ordered fried seafood and it looked really good. It was fried properly and my husband was very satisfied with it. My son ordered the kid's pizza and it was okay. I ordered a grilled chicken dish and it was dry and very overcooked. I would definitely stick with the fried seafood dishes. The service was pretty slow but the server was very nice. I think he was just overworked.

After supper I took my 7 year old to swim in the outdoor pool. It was as warm as bath water and he enjoyed it. Meanwhile my husband went fishing on the hotel's pier. He had packed a small travel rod/reel and some frozen uncooked shrimp (that had thawed while we were flying down).

He had some good bites and caught a pretty large catfish and a puffer fish. Of course he immediately released them, but he enjoyed the fishing.

There were also jet ski rentals available at the pier during the day.

We took a shutte from the hotel to our cruse port for $10 per person (this was not the same as the hotel shuttle that picks you up at the airport). You can reserve the shuttle from the front desk and they will charge it to your hotel account. A shuttle came at 11:30 or 12:30 and we opted for 11:30. The shuttle was right on time and was quite convenient. The shuttle only stops at this hotel so you don't have to waste time making other stops. I would highly recommend it.

I would most definitely stay at this hotel again. There seemed to be quite a few business people at the hotel and a stay at this hotel is a good way to make business seem like a vacation. And for tourists, I felt like I was on vacation the moment I looked out to the bay from the check in desk.