Holiday Inn Express & Suites Tampa -Usf-Busch Gardens by IHG — Hotel in Tampa

Disappointed and Frustrated – AC Issues, Poor Response, and Privacy Violation

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Tampa USF Busch Gardens by IHG (2807 E Busch Blvd) and unfortunately had a very poor experience. While the location is great and convenient for visiting Busch Gardens, the condition of the rooms, the response from staff, and a serious privacy issue made this stay uncomfortable and frustrating. Upon checking into room 115, I did my usual inspection for cleanliness and safety. I routinely check things like AC filters, and while the filter looked clean, the PTAC unit was displaying an “LC” code and it was still running. We left for a bit and returned around 7 PM, at which point the unit had shut off, the room was hot and sticky, and the unit now showed an “LE” error code. This can indicate a lockout mode caused by a frozen coil or a communication failure with the wall thermostat. At around 7:30 PM, I went to the front desk to report the issue and asked if maintenance could come take a look. I was told that no maintenance staff would be available until the next day, and we were moved to room 104 down the hall. Unfortunately, the experience in room 104 was even worse. Despite the wall thermostat reading 72°F, the room remained humid and warm. The AC unit would shut off and cycle back on every 20 minutes, displaying the same LE error. This constant cycling kept us awake due to the noise and the inconsistent temperature. The wall controller was completely unresponsive we couldn’t adjust the temperature, change settings, or even turn on the fan for circulation. The following morning, I told the front desk about our miserable night and asked that the issue be resolved while we were out for the day. I spoke with the manager and explained that I work in a field where I deal with these types of HVAC systems, and suggested the issue might be fixed by relinking control back to the wall unit, as it could be a controller communication issue. I was told this was likely outside of what their maintenance staff was capable of, but was assured the problem would be handled before our return. We returned around 5 PM and, at first, the unit seemed to be working better possibly even replaced but after about an hour, it shut off again and didn’t come back on for two hours. I was about to walk down to the front desk again when my wife called to say it had finally kicked back on. Once again, the wall controller was useless while the LE code was displayed. We were unable to make adjustments or turn on the fan, no matter how low we set the temperature. That night, the unit continued to turn off and on repeatedly, waking us up throughout the night with noise and failing to keep the room at a consistent temperature. By this point, I had resigned myself to enduring one more night. I didn’t want to put my wife or our infant son through yet another room change, especially since the maintenance staff clearly wasn’t equipped to properly fix the issue. I wasn’t planning to write a review, but the final morning pushed me to speak up. At 9:30 AM, housekeeping knocked once and immediately entered our room despite a "Do Not Disturb" sign clearly displayed and I confirmed checkout time of 11 AM with the front desk. My wife was breastfeeding our infant son at the time, and the lack of respect for our privacy was deeply upsetting. When I addressed this at the front desk, I was told, “We’ve told housekeeping not to knock that early,” and then that it was a new housekeeper and an isolated incident. Frankly, that felt dismissive and not entirely truthful. At no point did the staff show any real concern that someone had just walked in on my wife in an extremely private moment. Lastly, room 104 had heavily stained carpet and sticky areas on the floor. We kept our shoes on in the room because it just...

Wife, three boys, and I stayed four nights here recently over Spring Break. Overall, it was a very good stay! The location can't be beat given its proximity to Busch Gardens. The best part about staying here is the free shuttle that takes you to and from the main gate at Busch Gardens. That alone saves $30/day of parking at the park. This was a big reason why I booked this hotel. The immediate area is a little on the sketchy side, especially with a sketchy motel right next door and a run-down neighborhood just to the south. But the parking lot is very well lit, plenty of parking in back surrounded by a tall fence. Our vehicle stayed put for 2 full days and we didn't have any security issues.

As far as our room goes, we couldn't get the bigger suites for a family of 5 so we had to squeeze everyone in to a 2 queen with sofa bed suite. It wasn't bad, we managed. Good to have the mini fridge and microwave available.

The bathroom fixtures, specifically the tub, need updating. The tub faucet leaked the whole time and the pull-up lever for the showerhead needed replacing. Our first morning there, I brought this to the attention of the front desk and they immediately sent Gus up to fix it. He got the faucet sort of taken care of. Then the shower head was low pressure! He did what he could with what he had to get it to working order, but it needs full replacing.

This hotel does have an outdoor pool, but no hot tub. The pool is NOT heated! I'm sure an unheated pool is just fine in the middle of the Tampa summers, but in March, that pool needs a heater. My kids didn't even want to go into the pool and neither did my wife and me. In fact, we didn't see anyone in the pool the four nights we were there. And it's such a wide open really nice pool area too! They really could use a hot tub or two as an added bonus especially for adult time after putting the kids to bed.

Breakfast, as with any HIE, was great! My boys loved the automatic pancake maker. Can't quite get this at home so it was thrilling to them to be able to make pancakes at the push of a button. Lots of other hot and cold options as well. The seating area in the breakfast room is rather crammed. I know they want to seat as many people as possible without making people take their breakfast back to their rooms, but it's quite tight.

Overall, a very good stay. Good customer service, the shuttle came in extremely handy. Little TLC here and there with the building itself and fixtures and it'll be...

Check in was easy. Front desk greeted me and even had my name on a little glowing sign because I’m an ihg member. Very nice touch. Staff was very welcoming. When we got to our room, it felt humid and musty inside. Before staying I had contacted the staff to let them know I would like a renovated room but there was no speak of that at check in as to whether I was getting a renovated room or not. The lobby

was nice. Not a huge space but enough for the size of the

hotel. Given the modern look of the lobby you would think the

rooms would match but they are still very much dated. The

bathroom was clean but there was clearly signs of wall and/or counter damage. The bed sheets had blood stains on them. Not fresh but there was obviously blood there before washing and they did not throw them away. The bed was incredibly hot to sleep in even with the ac set to 70. The pillows were labeled firm and soft so you can choose your preference. When it came to breakfast the choices were very limited. The floor was constantly dirty and the apple juice tasted like it had been heavily watered down. Pool is not as big as the pictures suggest. Only one lounge chair available that was heavily used and stretched out. The chair material was hanging almost on the ground. Ants kept biting us as we were sitting by the pool at the table. The day we checked in the fitness center wasn’t open. So we didn’t get to use it. However the day we were checking out it was open again. The shuttle service ran pretty much the whole day which was nice. Only during a certain window it wasn’t running because of the drivers break. But they let us know in advance. He gave us some sketchy tips in hopes to get a better tip. I will say on the way back to the hotel because there were kids in the car he offered all of us small water bottles which was greatly appreciated seeing as Busch gardens isn’t the coolest park around. Little to no shade or AC really any where. But overall I didn’t go in with high expectations. It’s a holiday inn. What can be expected. We stayed for a night. Good food locations within walking distance. An Olive Garden and red lobster right next door. As well as many fast food chains nearby as well. Don’t think I’d stay again but if you’re on a budget and need a place to stay...