Hampton Inn & Suites Tampa/Ybor City/Downtown — Hotel in Tampa

I booked room based on the excellent reviews about staff, breakfast, and the room. great location, parking available, easy to get to the downtown.||||However, after staying there 3 nights, I think I should have read the negative ones too.||||At the breakfast bar, there was no concept of keeping meat trays separate from the vegetarians options. The spoon used in sausages was being used in potatoes and eggs. I asked the staff twice; first to get new serving spoon but that didn’t work and I asked to get fresh from kitchen and the person said, they had run out.. we used to have porridge, bread and yogurt and cheese. The fruit was stale, old apples , oranges and bananas. No tea options. No vegan milk options.||||the bathroom was a disappointment. The sink tap was on the right side and was small. It was impossible to wash properly without spilling it on the side. The hand lotion bottle was empty. There was no soap dish. No glasses/cups.||||One full toilet paper roll and the other one half the size. There was no number mentioned of the front desk on the telephone so I had to go down to the front desk to ask for the roll.||||we needed housekeeping and I was told by the front desk they need to be informed 24 hrs in advance. It was by chance that I asked for it in time for to get it for the NEXT day.||||Next day, we expected housekeeping sometime between 11 and 1 pm. we returned from our day trip around 4 pm and the beds weren’t made, no new toilet roll. I checked the room and it wasn’t vacuumed.||||I went to the front desk and reported and they said it’s Thanksgiving and “could be” due to staff shortage and it’s possible that housekeeping is still happening for other rooms and our turn hadn’t come yet.||||Around 5:15 pm, the housekeeping lady arrived and we left her to work. We thought it’ll take time so we went for dinner outside. ||||We returned and were shocked. The beds were not made. The carpet still dirty. ||||in the bathroom, the floor was mopped, new towels and body lotion topped up and trash taken out. But NO toilet paper and instead one of the holder was snapped out and broken. We literally had that half used toilet roll from when we had left the room. The mirror was stained and sink had spills from when we had used before housekeeping showed up.||||I had to go down to front desk again and complain. Now I’m not the kind of person who shouts and screams and cause a scene and I don’t disrespect people especially waiting staff and hotel staff but I think I will have to change how I feel about poor service.||||They gave me the same crap about thanksgiving and limited housekeeping being done as it was holidays. If I have paid for room and asked for housekeeping which I am eligible for, then I expect to get proper service and not excuses.||||Overall the staff were okay and felt there was bit of rudeness. I felt every bit disrespected as a guest. At no point in the conversations I had with staff did anyone apologise.||||Also I found out after unpacking from the trip about the missing cash. I wish I had spotted during our stay. I know it is my fault I brought cash on my trip so I am part embarrassed for my own foolishness. ||||during housekeeping and breakfasts were the only time I was separated from my bag containing the cash which was stuck in my cabin bag and in the closet. And when I used to go out, that money bag was always with me in secured pockets and i only used my credit cards and never took that bag out so I know I didn’t lose it elsewhere. This is $800 stolen! Thankfully they left $200 to lament at.||||When the housekeeper had come, I had all the bags in the closet. Two other bags on top on my bag. I don’t know how the person managed to find time to go through our bags and skim money. Was it them or someone else from staff. I don’t have the proof but I am 100% sure about the theft.||||my reviewing of hotel here is to grow awareness to be wary of your belongings and always report and complain when things are wrong. Always review everything before checkout. ||||It is unlikely I’ll get my money back. I only hope if there were other complaints about thefts during thanksgiving then hotel management will take action.||||I’m sure other people staying at the hotel may have had better experience but I...

Room was nice and clean. Service was good. The reason I'm only giving 3 stars has to do with the parking situation and the way it was handled by staff. They have a parking garage on site at the cost of $20/ night. The extra charge is no biggie. But the only way you can pay for it is on your phone (Or at least that's what I was told at first).

When I checked in, I was instructed to scan a QR code at the front desk which would take me to the payment processing site for the garage. I did so and after putting in my cc info several times it would not work. That prompted me to check my account at which point I noticed 3 or 4 fraudulent charges. I called my bank and they had actually already flagged the charges and cancelled my card. I really thought at that time that the fraud and the payment QR code were not at all related but as I would later find out, they probably were. Anyway, after trying several times to pay for parking, I went down to the front desk and told them I couldn't get my payment to go through and asked if I could just pay through them. I was told that the only way was by scanning the QR code and was advised to try other cards... Which I did. After I ran out of cards to try, I went back down to the front desk to tell them nothing was working and to see what could be done about paying or avoiding getting a ticket. At that point they broke out a tablet that they had behind the desk and used it to scan the code and I was able to pay. There were a bunch of other peoples card info accidentally saved on the tablet so I could tell this was a pretty common problem for people. As I proceeded to use the pay site on their tablet, I noticed that it was different from the site I was directed to on my phone. When I brought this up to the girl at the front desk she said "wait, did you use you camera to scan the code or a QR reader?" I told her I used a QR reader. She then said "Ohhh yeah. Never use a QR reader always your camera". I didn't even know that my camera could do that at that time. I guess I was expected to know, but neither my wife or my teenaged kids knew this either. She explained to me why I might be brought to a different sight when using a reader vs my camera. But yeah, omplete news to me. Anyway it was a major pain in the ass because I had to cancel cards and keep a close eye on our accounts for the next several days which sucked extra badly because we were getting on a cruise the next morning. The staff was super nice and I don't think anyone at the hotel was up to no good or anything. But this is definitely something that the hotel should address. Either by switching the service they use for processing parking payments or simply by training the staff to do a better job walking guests through the process. ie letting them know they need to use their camera and not a QR reader app. Maybe offering the use of their tablet up front or just by checking to see if the right site comes up on the guest phone before they walk off.

Also, just a tip for all those reading, make sure you pick a spot in the garage that isn't below the chickens favorite pipe to sleep on. We failed to do this and our cars was covered in chicken shit after only a couple hrs. The chickens seem to like the interior of the garage where they're more sheltered from any breezes. Park towards the perimeter of the garage and avoid parking...

Hotel was convenient in a quaint town of Ybor. To get to Downtown, easily took the street car across the road.The staff at the front desk were friendly and welcoming.The room had good setup; big beds. There was table and chair. Refrigerator. Iron and other basic including a large TV.But the bathroom was a disappointment. The sink tap was on the right side and was small. It was impossible to wash properly. The hand lotion bottle was empty. There was no soap dish. No glasses.One full toilet paper roll and the other one half the size. I had to ask for another. There was no number mentioned of the front desk on the telephone so I had to go down to the front desk to ask for the roll and to ask for housekeeping.The ridiculous part is that we were told that for housekeeping, front desk has to be informed 24 hrs in advance. Any was I was there 24 hours so I got housekeeping for the NEXT day.We expected housekeeping sometime between 11 and 1 pm. Well returned from our day trip around 4 pm and still the beds weren’t made, no new toilet paper. I checked the room and it wasn’t vacuumed.I went to the front desk and complained and they said it’s Thanksgiving and “could be” due to staff shortage and it’s possible that housekeeping is still happening for other rooms and our turn hasn’t come up yet. I asked for another toilet paper roll.Around 5:15 pm, the housekeeping lady arrived and at the same time we left for dinner.We returned and were shocked. The beds were still not made. The carpet still dirty. But in the bathroom, the floor was mopped, new towels and body lotion topped up and trash taken out. But NO toilet paper and instead one of the holder was snapped out and broken.I had to go down to front desk again and report. They gave me the same crap about thanksgiving and limited housekeeping being done as it was holidays. At the breakfast bar, they was no concept of separating meat trays from the vegetarians options. The spoon that was being used in sausages were being used in potatoes. I asked the staff twice; first to get new serving spoon but that didn’t work and I asked to get fresh from kitchen and the person said, they had run out it. The bananas, oranges and apples were old and tasteless. We reported this to the front desk as well.What I hate the most Is that that housekeeping stole my cash money. Unfortunately I have no proof and I found out recently as I was unpacking. It’s was the only time I was separated from my bag when I left it in the closet under another bag and housekeeping had suddenly showed up after 5 pm. I don’t know how the person managed to find time to go through our bags and skim money. No wonder the room hadn’t been done. They were busy doing the stealing. I don’t have the proof but I am 100% sure about the theft. I’ll write to the hotel directly as well but my reviewing of hotel here is to grow awareness to be wary of your belongings and always report and complain when things are wrong. I’m sure other people staying at the hotel may have had better experience I was appalled.Their website said $18 + VAT for parking but we were charged $20 + VAT.Overall, I am...