I ended up at the Comfort Inn after driving across the state. I arrived at 5:30 am and paid cash. My room was $71, the deposit for cash was $75. This was fine. The room was acceptable (as clean as I would expect for a cheap hotel) and their breakfast display was not bad.

Now for the bad part. When I checked in at 5:30 am, the front desk woman informed me check in wasn't until 11 am. I mentioned I was going to be staying that day, and she basically told me not to worry about it. She also assured me since I had a deposit that could cover my room cost until I came and paid, since I would be asleep at 11 (or at check out at 2 pm).


At 2:05 I am woken up by an employee standing INSIDE my hotel room yelling at me to go to the front to pay. She did not knock, did not call, just opened my door and walked into my room. I was sleeping nude and the woman would not leave my room or shut the door, even when people walking by were peeking in. She eventually left, and I fell back asleep immediately. The phone started ringing off the hook, and it was the same woman screaming at me that she was going to have the police physically remove me from my room. I went to the front and paid another $71, so at this point I have been at the hotel for under 8 hours and paid $217.

I left the hotel at 10 pm Friday evening and came back around 4 am Saturday morning. I had a do not disturb sign on my room, so no one should have been going into my room. I also don't see why anyone would be cleaning during those time periods anyway. I get back to my room and my suitcase insides have been moved around and $100 is missing.

At this point I checked out of the hotel. I was charged $6.50 for a long distance phone call I didn't make, but did receive the $68.50 back for my deposit.

So in the end, I stayed in a pretty mediocre room with a few bugs for total loss $246.50. I stayed in the room for about 22-23 hours, and honestly wouldn't have minded the double charge if I wasn't woken up by a screaming woman and had $100 stolen from me.

We stayed in this hotel the night before our flight home due to its close to the airport. Upon checking in we knew we were going to have problems. We asked for a non-smoking room, which when we got to room and opened the door you could smell the cigarette smoke. When my husband went down to request another room he met Heather at the desk. Heather had to be the most indifferent person he has ever met. She did not make a comment either negative or positive. She just handed the room key without making a sound. When we got the new room, there were only two towels for four people and a roach for each. They were crawling up the wall, near the coffee maker, needless to say we did not make coffee. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone but I don't think that management would care as they don't care about their establishment.

Convenient location one mile from Raymond James stadium. Steak house type restaurant next door but you will need a car to get around. This a motel type property with multiple buildings and exterior entrances into rooms. At first I took a smoking room because it was closer to the lobby/pool building. The smoke smell was unbearable and I'm not a smoker. They pleasantly changed my room to non smoking and it was 100% better. Ask for a room facing the front otherwise you'll be in the rear of the building. The room was very clean and comfortable...and most of all no bugs! A little walk to the main building but not bad. Mini frig and micro are great. The pool area is very nice and clean. The complementary breakfast was excellent and goes til 10 am. Hot and cold selections. Heather at the front desk was very pleasant and helpful. I had a late flight out and they allowed me to check out at 1 pm with no additional charge. Overall a good experience. I would stay again when in Tampa!

We were trying to get home to SLC, out of MIA, when we first had to land in Tampa, only to learn we were not going anywhere due to the tornadoes that tore through Dallas that afternoon. So we had to be rebooked by American on flights through Chicago on United the next morning. No compensation from American because it was weather related, and we were tired, so we accepted the "distressed passenger" paper recommending this hotel for $59. Since we didn't expect this extra expense, and the meals we needed for another night and morning, we took the shuttle from TPA to the hotel and didn't shop around at the airport. When we checked in with Cynthia at the desk, she gave us a king, non-smoking room, which pleased us, but it was way at the back of the property and there was no luggage cart and no one to help us get to the room (I am temporarily disabled due to a pinched nerve in my back and can't walk very far without pain, my husband has to pick up the slack and schlepp all our luggage from our week long visit with family in Naples). The location of the room was also in a noisy area where some of the baseball players were staying during spring camp (right across from the stadium). We got to the room and found it badly in need of refurbishing. My feet turned black with one bafefoot trip to the bathroom from bed - something I call "Blackfoot Motel Syndrome" - carpets get vacumned but never shampooed. The TV was antiquated and reception was terrible - with many channels "temporarily out of service". The AC was noisy and rattled in every setting, while fluctuating in temperature all night long. The bathtub was uninviting with a gray bottom and discolored tile around the top edge. Towels were scarce and only 1 face cloth. Minimal coffee service in the room, no tea. Frig also was noisy and rattled on and off. I called the front desk and asked Cynthia if I could have a cup of milk from the breakfast pantry, to take some meds at bedtime. She would not oblige. I mentioned our shuttle back to the airport would be before the continental breakfast in the AM (5:30AM and breakfast not until 6AM), but she had no sympathy for our situation. There were no vending machines for something to drink, so I managed to get by with a hot chocolate packet from the lobby, even though there was no service set up that evening. I was able to use the coffee pot in the room to heat the water. Overall, not a pleasant experience and many reasons to wish we had been able to get out of Tampa on time that night. I would recommend you pay more for the Holiday Inn Express next door ($20 more) or go even higher if you can.