Best Western Tampa — Hotel in Tampa

Had a reservation for today, came in not even an hour earlier than the check in time at 3 and saw how the front desk was treating other guests. Immediately cancelled and rebooked somewhere else. There’s a $25 early check in charge they’re enforcing for less than an hour before check in. Guests in front of me politely declined and the lady working front desk turned around to laugh about it to another coworker.

However, A plus for having same day cancellation until 4 so I can dodge that bullet but could be ok if you’re in a pinch I guess. Definitely agree with the other reviews that this is bare bones only here for a bed hotel. It’s barely cheaper than the other hotels but if you really need that extra $20 I guess you can go ahead and book. Or just save the $130 in the first place and sleep in your car because you know you’ll be safe at least. Not in their parking lot though, no cameras and very constrained. Lots of hiding areas for car thieves. Would have had to take everything out of my car so no one would break my windows.

HOTEL’S RESPONSE HERE SO NO BIAS: “Dear Mrs. Weng, Thank you for taking the time to do a survey even though you did not stay in our hotel. Check-in time is after 3:00pm, it is our policy, so an early check-in fee is a really nice option for hotels to offer. Many hotels would just make you pay for an extra night if you wanted a guaranteed early check-in. This early check-in policy information is disclosed in our website and other online travel websites. We are upfront in disclosing the early check-in fee information. We are proud to state the fact that we are a 2 star hotel with a consistent high-occupancy property because we have very satisfied guests and a vast majority are repeat business. We are sorry you feel otherwise. We wish you much happiness and peace this new year. -George Casanova (General Manager)”

EDIT: Simple grammar edit above in my original review with punctuation and article usage.

The only policy I see on the website is a $100 damage deposit.

The focus of my review was also the service. Their response clearly doesn’t address that, and rather attacks me instead. I originally had more stars since I did not stay in their hotel beds; Now I have to take more time out of my day first thing in the morning and read a condescending defense lecturing me on what other hotels do.

Thank you very much but I’ve stayed in my fair share of them for decades. I went to a nearby hotel that I booked 30 mins before check in. They had no issues finding my reservation and getting me into my room within a min. And there’s no line out the door because everyone’s not waiting around for an after 3:00 check in! My hotels in other countries didn’t even enforce an early check in and they had real amenities that I’d be able to use. Service and presentation is a major part of a product and this hotel fails on both counts.

I wouldn’t have cared if they wrote me a generic response like the other reviewers but since I received a personal reply, the above is one as well. Thank you for the time and maybe put more time on training staff.

George, I wish you the best as well this year. This was not personal and only meant as feedback for the hotel policies and their service. There is no need to be defensive. While it is true I can’t speak on the product, my time just getting in the door was...

I was told by a front desk employee they removed all microwaves because guests were misusing them and they got roaches. She said I could use the microwave in the breakfast room which had an unlocked door but when I used it late night a different front desk person came in and said nothing but stared at me. It was eerie. I shared I was told it was OK to use and he told me he was told guests can’t and I had to use one in a closet down the hall. I did but it that was un-lit and had a slop sink and stuff on the floor; it looked like a refurbished restroom. I asked to speak to the manager because I wanted permission over the next days I was staying to use the one in the break room, not in that closet. I was told the manager would call me the next day at 10am. The manager never called and I asked for him midday and then asked later in the day about 3:30. I wanted permission to use the microwave in the breakfast room, get one, or some other solution -- and to tell him there is info on their site picturing a microwave so they might want to know that for future guests. The front desk person called the manager, George, and then gave me his phone number and when I called George he blasted me. He said he was “personally insulted’ by me calling him on his cell phone and yelled asking me how I got his number. (I didn’t want to get the young man at the desk in trouble). He knew about my request for him to call at 10am but said, instead of helping me, that I was required to check out the next day and he has “authority”. He spoke patronizingly with phrases like, “listen this is what is going to happen”, “do you understand?” “how do you like that?” He said has the right, is the decider and kind of ranted for awhile. I tried to diffuse his anger by not saying anything and then explained my simple reason for asking to talk to him and apologized for any misunderstanding. He switched gears and then seemed nice, told me he was coming back to the hotel and will be speaking to me in 5 minutes. He said his job is to make me happy and I don’t have to check out. It was odd. I was down the street, came back and waited 20 minutes in the lobby but he never came to me. He had a microwave put in my room and the front desk clerk told me that after I waited for 20 minutes. When I looked at reviews for this hotel it was interesting to note that the owner writes back to reviewers and is professional and nice. This manager, George, also responds to reviewers and is sometimes professional but not other times. Twice, Georges says he is banning the reviewers from ever coming back (sounded familiar). He also signed his name with “GM and Gate Keeper” under one of his responses. (Really, he sees himself as the gate keeper”)I had some good experiences while there and a couple other not so good ones, but this was over the top. My toilet was backed up and they gave me the plunger myself and then a toilet brush and cleaner. Sadly, I planned to stay there again in 10 days when I come back to Tampa (I wanted to stack up some Best Western points) but, of course, I won't. I guess you could say I am banning myself instead of having the Gatekeeper do it. If you need a microwave, this not the place. If you don’t and don’t ask for any special things it is in a great location and there are some...

My wife and I were planning to stay over night at this Best Western on Dale Mabry. We were coming to Tampa and to Clear Water to celebrate our Anniversary. When we arrived at the Hotel we checked in and were looking for places to go for dinner. The Weather was cold so we turned on the Heater. While sitting n the room for a while and getting ready to go to dinner my wife said that the unit was blowing out cold air. So we checked the thermostadt and the unit displayed that the heat was on. I called down to the front desk to talk to the attendant about the heat. He said that there was no heat in the Hotel. I said that is not acceptable. He never offered to find us a room with heat. I calles the Best Western Relations phone number and talked to them. They were surprized that the Hotel did not have heat in their rooms. She made a call to the hotel to talk to them and put in a case ticket for us. My wife does not do well in a non heated room for fear of getting sick. The person who I spoke with at the Customer Relations office did not get any offers to find us another room that had heat either.

We dicided since the Hotel desk worker said there were no rooms with heat that we would cancel our reservation. We called another Hotel within our price range and promptly made a new reservation. Luckily when we told them what happened and asked if they had heat, they took 25% off of their nightly rate.

On Tuesday I received an email from George Casanova the GM. He stated that "Our team worked diligently to address the issue promptly by offering un an alternative room with proper heating facilities. However, we understand that you chose not to relocate at that time." That is a false state statement. We were not offered a room with heat. Your guy at the desk said that there were no rooms with heat.

In another review that I have just found on line someone was complaining about not having heat in the room and George said to this person... "Regarding the lack of a heater in the room, we want to clarify that our hotel is designed to accommodate the warm climate of Florida, and heating systems are not standard amenities due to the typically mild temperatures."

I called George Casanova and spoke with him on the phone today. He blatantly said to me. "I am refusing to refund the money to you. We are finished, You are wasting my time and your time" He then hung up on me.

We pray for the manager of this Hotel chain. And unfortunately, George is giving the Best Western name a black eye.

God Bless you all.

Once we got into our new hotel everything was great. We had a great dinner at a restaurant and on Monday a wonderful Anniversary celebration in spite of the Tampa Best Western.

We still will stay at other Best Westerns, but never the one on Dale Mabry.

I do not recommend this Best Western.

And for those reading below, what they said again, we offered to relocate. That is a blatant lie. We were never offered another room. So please don’t say your team work together to try to find us another room. If it would’ve been offered and it had heat we...