Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center — Hotel in Tampa

Location: 10/10

Hotel Accommodations: 10/10

Valet: 2/10

AMAZING location (10/10) if you need to be in the convention center.

I stayed here in late July of 2024 (7/27/24 - 8/1/24) while sitting for the Florida bar exam. I cannot recommend this specific location enough if you need to take the bar exam.

Customer service from the hotel itself was pretty impeccable. The middle aged woman who checked me in was fine. But, the older guy who helped me check out -- I think his name was Rob -- was amazing. 10/10 customer service from the hotel itself in all honesty. The hotel text-line was great.

In terms of room accommodations, my room was quite nice for it to only be a "three star" hotel -- granted I had a king suite with an amazing view of downtown Tampa.

The continental breakfast was actually pretty good as well -- I don't usually eat breakfast, much less enjoy hotel breakfasts.

The Starbucks in the lobby was super convenient too, and the $25 credit was super helpful.

My ONLY issue with this place was the valet cost when compared to the service.

In short, just make sure to add ~$50 per night to whatever your nightly rate is because that's what the valet (with tip) costs.

But the price of the valet itself is not the issue.

The valet process is somewhat disjointed, to put it plainly. First off, the initial process of parking or arriving is a bit hectic/stressful. Before even checking in, you have to pull through what is basically a 2 car-length wide lane in front of the hotel and you essentially have to unpack all of your stuff right in front of the hotel. This un-packing really wouldn't be an issue if there was some help from someone with a luggage rack or a bellhop, but the hotel and/or valet seemed to not really give a crap in the unpacking process and all bags were to be carried or placed on the ground. The arrival and checking-in process left a lot to be desired to put it plainly.

When learning of the price for valet for my five day stay, I went ahead and tipped $50 cash to the valet worker and was asked something along the lines of "got a 100?" by another valet worker, and there was no laughing or smiling from said worker -- so it did not appear to be a joke. I found this sort of comment to be a bit ridiculous to put it plainly, as I was pre-tipping more than 20%, and it seems as if the valet company should pay their employees more.

Secondly, to get anything from your car seemed like a real chore for the valet company and workers. On my first trip to my car after it was parked -- as I had to leave some things in the car before checking in -- rather than being escorted to my car with any sort of respect, I was forced to "hurry" to my car and get stuff out of my car while a valet attendant stood in an elevator and held the door open 40 yards from my car. We were in a dark parking garage and the valet used my car remote to open my door so I had to continually ask for the valet to continually unlock my car as the remote was on the fringe of its range.

This to me is flatly unacceptable and demeaning as a "customer" to be quite frank.

On my second attempt, I had to listen to a valet worker complain about their job -- whilst I do share in the hate for jobs from time to time, and often partake in said venting myself -- this venting experience wasn't exactly something I wanted to experience as a customer, although the conversation was meaningful and I felt a greater human connection and what not.

Paying for the valet was also somewhat weird. Rather than paying at the valet desk, or paying the hotel front desk, I was sent a link from a Nashville area code (a bit odd considering the hotel is in Tampa) that requested my card information. I had no problem with this, but the site didn't seem secure or convenient and it wasn't really explained to me at all.

I would recommend using a valet key or making sure to bring a spare key with you if you plan to get anything out of your car.

Had I known how unsavory the valet process would be prior to engaging in such, I probably would have just...

For reference - I hate writing reviews. I HAD to write one for this hotel. The worst hotel experience we've had in recent memory. Granted we were here on a holiday weekend this year, but this has been an ongoing issue as we've stayed here prior.

We called ahead to make sure a pack and play would be attached to our reservation and in our room for our toddler to nap upon arrival. Arrived around 3:30PM Friday afternoon and were granted access to our room - no pack and play present. We called the front desk and they said they'd send someone up. Nobody came. Asked again and clarified the urgency to have this done as per our requests - they acknowledged and said someone would come. Nobody did.

We had plans later that afternoon, so we skipped naptime for kiddo and went out assuming the pack and play would be delivered over the course of the next 4 hours. We even called the front desk from our cell while we were away to make sure it was delivered for bedtime when we returned. They said "absolutely". We arrived back at our room at 8:00PM ready for him to go to sleep after a long day. NO pack and play STILL.

We ended up grabbing one that had placed outside someone else's room as we were desperate and this hotel clearly had no care about the situation or honoring their guests requests - even after advanced notice and countless reminders.

Second issue (and way more relevant for most guests) - this valet and parking situation is abhorrent. We texted for our valet (as per their instructions at 10:30am) and it said "car already requested". We thought that was weird. We went downstairs are 10:45am to retrieve our car to find a long, winding line of guests waiting for their cars. There was NO valet attendant and the valets themselves were running around like they had no clue. We waiting in line with our newborn and 2 year old for almost 1.5 hours waiting four our vehicle. So ridiculous - we nearly missed the birthday party that was the entire reason for our trip to Tampa.

On the way back to the hotel later in the day, we went to drop our car off at valet. They took our keys, shut the car off, and my wife and I went to unload our stroller, etc. For some reason the valet had locked the car, so as we closed the trunk and went to get our 2 year old out of the passenger side backseat, the car beeped and locked. Mind you, it was extremely hot outside. We called for the valet who took our keys to come back and unlock the car, but he was gone - where? Who knows - these guys don't have a clue. My wife started panicking as our kiddo was sleeping in a car that was quickly heating up, and there was nobody - not a single person in sight to help us.

We finally grabbed someone and they started scrambling aimlessly to find our keys. I'm not sure why they were away from the car, considering it had to be moved from the valet line, but they were gone to some other area of the hotel. 5+ minutes went by with our child stuck in the car, and by the time they finally got him out he was drenched in sweat. We seriously considered breaking our own car window.

We tried to plan for the same chaos for the next day we were leaving. But trust me, these is no planning for this hotel's ineptitude. We called for a luggage cart so we could load our luggage and then try to time the whole departure thing out. Waited. Waited. Eventually went down to grab a luggage cart myself, and the lobby was a disaster. So many angry guests, luggage carts piled up with people using them waiting for their cars. Valets running back and forth from the front of the hotel to the back scrambling looking for keys. They legitimately could not find the guy's keys that was in front of me. Took us again nearly 2 hours to leave the hotel.

Whatever system they have is obviously broken. Would give 0 stars if I could. They offered to refund me a single night - which was nice, but I would never stay at the hotel again. Avoid at all costs - there are so many others in the area that have their act together. The Westin is comparable and price and functions so...

If it wasn’t for the breakfast staff Mr Willie, Miss Rosa, and Yaneli(probably wrong spelling). And there’s one more gentleman African American with a bald head who was absolutely amazing it would’ve been one star the whole way down. I came here because my home was damaged during Milton so it’s either take advantage of the FEMA voucher or sleep in my truck. I’m starting to realize that sleeping in my truck was probably the best bet. Service was great the first week until everyone found out that I was with FEMA. Then I was treated like I was some second class citizen. I was embarrassed by the front desk supervisor for a simple misunderstanding, which Sarah from F&B made up for being a truly hospitable associate. There was a group that harassed me the entire time and it felt like valet was assisting them on where they would place my truck until I finally stopped giving them the keys and even though they would still want me to park in unsecured locations I still tipped them. And then comes today. My home still isn’t ready and every hotel is booked. I asked if I could extend until the 8th and was told they were sold out. So me being the astute individual that I am, I went online and made a reservation and received an email saying that there were 43 rooms available in the hotel for the dates I needed. So I was lied to being in a desperate situation and now I’m probably going to sleep in my truck. I realize that some of the FEMA people are disrespectful and obnoxious but I did my very best to keep my head down and respect everyone. I called the 1-800 number to file a complaint when the supervisor embarrassed me and was literally told it was a bad idea because they would probably retaliate on me. Verbatim. What happened to hospitality? What happened to caring for your neighbors? The gentleman also reminded me that I wasn’t the only one that went through the hurricane, but I still can’t figure out why he said that because not once did I bring up the hurricane or anything. It was just a terrible feeling the entire time, felt like everyone was fake and judging, again why? I’ll never know. They claim to have security but you see random people walking on the property at random times throughout the night to the point that I barely slept keeping an eye on my truck. It was just a terrible experience and not being able to go home makes things that much worst. It’s crazy there are people on this earth that can careless about the needs of others based on their opinion of you. And I almost forgot the loud banging throughout the day the last couple weeks. Literally felt like someone was trying to break through my ceiling and wall. I’m going to try an attach the video I took but trust me. Anyone else would’ve complained and probably moved or comped something. But I took it and kept my mouth shut. If you’re a person of color like myself (Puerto Rican) go somewhere else. And it’s sad because it’s a hotel with a beautiful view of our city. God forbid we experience another hurricane and something happens to my home I’ll take my truck over staying here. The only reason service got a 3 is because again the F&B staff mentioned and valet though being a little shady still allowed me to park my truck in view of the camera once I stopped giving them my keys. I realize they didn’t have to do that. And also it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention the Rob and Patrick from the front desk were also great and treated us with kindness...