Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa — Attraction in Clearwater

Let me preface this review by saying we are frequent travelers (also Hilton Honors members) and love the Clearwater and St. Pete areas. This was our first stay at the Hilton Clearwater. This was an adult girls' trip (all of us 40+). Upon booking, the TripAdvisor rating was 3.5, which I would agree is an accurate rating for this hotel. ||Pros: The inside is very nice and clean. This can be appreciated in a beachfront hotel. Check-in and out processes were seamless and friendly. We had a harbor view room which was nicely sized and view was as advertised. Cocktails at pool bar and Tommy's Tiki were good. The pool ambiance is nice, surrounded by palm trees. ||Cons: Building specific: travelers should note that there are a LOT of rooms that are "ocean view" that are against and above an entire rooftop of HVAC units. While we were not in one of these rooms, I would have not been thrilled with that view at all. We walked to a hallway window to see, and they're also somewhat loud. They are pretty hideous to look at for paying extra for a premium view.||The pool is nice, but it is really not very big for the hotel size. The patio area is made of large tiles - many of which were popping up when walked on and caused one member in our party to trip. We sat around the edge of the pool in various areas, and more than once, the tiles popped up when we sat on them. This is something that should be addressed, especially considering the amount of broken tiles. ||The kiddie pool is a nice size for kids. One day a staff member came around while some children were tossing a small ball and made any kids that had an item in either pool to remove it. They were the only kids in the kiddie pool, and it seemed excessive - especially since she wasn't very friendly (we witnessed the whole thing). She then walked around checking every patron's areas for bags and beverages - which was absolutely ridiculous. A man next to us went up to the bar and bought a beer right there at the pool bar and poured it into his own personal tumbler to keep it cold. We watched as she tried to make him pour it out!!!!! She assumed the worst of everyone as she went around and tried to force people to rid anything she didn't think was allowed - and most of the time, she was just wrong. It was shocking treatment for a "resort." ||I would rate our pool service as average. For example, one afternoon we were there for several hours and our server only approached us twice. We had to hunt him down. Our first night, we had drinks on the beach at Tommy's Tiki. We were there for about 2 hours and our server only approached us once....and to be honest, he was a bit rude. The drinks and food are a premium price (a cocktail is $15) - the service does not match up. ||One reason we chose the Hilton is that we love to ride bikes in Clearwater. For travelers that may not know, there are bike lanes and trails with many beautiful views. The Hilton charges a resort fee of $35/day, which is supposed to include bike rental. When we went to ask for bikes, we were told that there is a 1-hour limit PER DAY, and that any use over that hour incurs a charge!? This does not sit well after paying a resort charge "including" bike rental. There were 5 bikes total for the entire hotel. The staff member would not let us choose - there were clearly 2 bikes leagues nicer than the rest, but she said they were "not available to rent." Ok...of the 3 bikes pulled for us, one had a nearly flat tire and one had so much rust you could barely turn the handlebars. The staff member retrieved another member and a can of WD-40, touched up the tire, and sent us on our way. When we returned, he and a new staff member were still working on the other bikes because it was clear one had a completely flat tire. We parked the bikes and they offered to take the locks for us. I decided to go back to the window to makes sure the original staff member knew we returned on time so as to not incur a charge. I then explained that the workers offered to take the locks, so the locks were with the bikes. She said "you can't do that!" Taken aback, I said "let me explain...the staff with the bikes told us we could leave the locks with them, so that is what we did." She quite rudely again said "you HAVE to bring it to me." At this point I was over all of it. I said "no. The man that WAS WITH YOU is STILL working on the bikes. He asked for our locks and we left them with him!!!" She just said "oh. ok that's fine." What?? ||In the end, the service for the price we paid was just a miss. Considering the price of beverages, food, and resort fee - and honestly the normal Hilton expectations - we were just not overly satisfied with our trip. While the hotel itself was nice and pictures are as advertised (minus the HVAC units with ocean view rooms), the service was just lacking for our time there. The 3.5 stars here on TA are an accurate rating...

I’d give a lower rating if it weren’t for the location of the hotel. The Hilton undeniably has the best location on Clearwater Beach (because it’s directly on the beach), so if you’re booking for JUST that and don’t mind “sucking it up” for your vacation, stay here. Otherwise, stay away. Jennifer was extremely rude during our check-in. It’s not that she didn’t answer our questions; rather, her tone was extremely disgusting. Do not work a hospitality job if you don’t want to (and if you’re going to be racist). Jennifer happened to be kind to anyone who looked like her, and was black. She’d be laughing and having long conversations with these guests, which is no problem at all of course. My issue lies in her being rude to anyone who wasn’t black. Her treatment to guests who were white was a world of difference. I say this not to be racist in any sort of way, but I’m not an idiot and I’m observant. She should be kind and smiling with ALL guests, not making some people (who happen not to look like her) feel guilty for making her do… her job…? During our check-in, she couldn’t get our card to go through correctly, and we ended up being charged resort fees and taxes three extra times on our credit card bill. We worked this out with the credit card company, but this was purely the fault of Jennifer. She didn’t seem to know how to work the card reader. She also gave us issues with our room key wristbands. We were a party of four, and only 2 of our wristbands worked until another kind gentleman fixed them for us. The rooms are really old and not impressive for the price you pay. They are extremely filthy. When we arrived, the water wouldn’t drain in the shower or the sink, probably due to grime and filth from prior guests. There were crumbs on our floor, and the bedsheets were disgusting. We brought this to the attention of Jennifer, and she said she would send someone right up. We ended up going to dinner, assuming the issue would be fixed by the time we got back. We got back around 10 PM, and lo and behold, the room was in the same condition. Jennifer then said she couldn’t guarantee that anyone was on site to help us out (although she had previously promised someone would come up immediately). We were already unsatisfied. Luckily, a maintenance person showed up about 30 minutes later and fixed this for us. The rest of the trip was okay as far as maintenance goes. Room service and cleaning though… it’s by far the most disgusting hotel I’ve ever been to. The cleaning ladies act busy when you see them, but in reality are busy doing nothing but chatting with each other all day. Somehow, they never get to our room until 5 or 6 PM. The bed sheets would never be changed, only a little tightened. Cleaning was subpar, and this was again, disappointing for the price we paid. Whatever. We put up with it. At the end of our visit, we went to check out. We were told that we didn’t have a card on file for our room, which was hilarious because Jennifer ran it like three times at check-in. We had to pay our resort fees and taxes once again, this now being the fourth time. We were assured that the charges would only show up on our card once, so we paid. Nope. $1600 of charges and a headache between us and the credit card company later, we finally have the issue resolved. This Hilton location does not live up to its reputation, and my family and I were extremely disappointed with the laziness and incompetence of the staff here. Almost all employees are super mean, and will be sure to be the buzzkill to your vacation. If you’re looking to book a trip to Clearwater, spend your money at the Hyatt or the Wyndham. Both have great locations as well, and you’re actually treated like a human at a luxury resort. I say that as a long time Clearwater Beach go-er that has stayed at those hotels too. They are phenomenal. I wanted to try out the Hilton because it was slightly (maybe $200) cheaper than those resorts. Do yourself and your family a favor and invest in a good hotel by not booking here. We will...

We've stayed at the resort multiple times and we usually have a good time. While it’s not a cheap hotel, it’s competitive/cheaper than pretty much all of the other hotels along the beach and the location can’t be beat. The service is really good/the workers are friendly/helpful. With that being said... There are some things that we wish were a little different. I included this as feedback after our stay, but thought I'd post it here too to hopefully get more eyes on it.

I know this is a big ask, but we wish that the resort had a hot tub - during these cooler months of the year (like during our trip) it would have been especially nice to be able to go back and forth between it and the pool. Speaking of which, during the winter we wish the pool was just a bit warmer and that it was heated consistently - I know it costs money to heat it, and more money to heat it more, but it would have made the pool more usable for us and everyone else. Some people just dealt with it but it would have been nice to not have to embrace our inner polar bear. We were at the hotel during a 4 day period that included Christmas Day. While there were some decorations inside of the hotel (mostly in the lobby, a little down by the bellhop), we wish there had been some decorations out by the pool (wouldn't have to be all of the palm trees, but some at least would have been nice) and maybe some decorations on each floor... Because it helps make it still feel like Christmas even though you're at a hotel! Otherwise, Christmas Day just becomes another day at the beach which, while being at the beach is great, we wanted our daughter to also feel like Christmas was actually happening. Tommy's Tiki closes really early? There might be staffing/other factors at play that I'm not aware of, but it would be nice if it stayed open later (10/11) so there was something later-evening to do. Other hotels (like the Hilton Garden Inn in St. Pete Beach have their beach-bar open much later and it's really nice. I'm not sure if it can be done or if it's against city rules since it's on the beach, but it would be nice if the chairs/tables for Tommy's Tiki were actually on all-weather planking so your chairs didn't sink so far down in the sand. Our daughter likes to do the crafts, but they constantly seem like they're running out of materials for them. For something that happens on a daily/weekly basis it seems like there should just be piles of materials for it sitting in a supply closet that gets refreshed on a regular basis. Most aspects of what we get for the resort fee don't do anything for us, and I can't imagine that they get utilized by most guests - it would be nice to see some different things get included in that mix. I'm talking about things like the bike rentals, morning yoga, 1 hour non-motorized water sports, the photo shoot with 1 print and the 10% off spa merchandise. Something to consider when it’s time to renovate/refresh various rooms... We wish that the hotel rooms had 0% carpet - the carpet that is there, especially in the closets, when combined with the general humidity of being by the beach and the water dripping off of guests makes the rooms smell a little bit musty. We deal with it, but if they were just tiled/some other sort of waterproof flooring then the rooms would be easier to get clean and smell better. We use the fitness room every day when we stay, and I think it would be useful for them to swap out some of the equipment that doesn't get used very much (such as the leg and arm machines on the ocean side of the room) with something that would get used more. It's really limiting that there's only one set of dumbbells and one bench, as it seems to be really common that there are guys that want to lift with them and you really can't have multiple people lifting at once with the current set of equipment - another bench or two and another set of dumbbells would make it much better. It would also be nice if the fitness room had been kept cooler - it got warm in...