TownePlace Suites by Marriott Tampa South — Hotel in Tampa

AVOID AVOID AVOID AT ALL MEANS!! If I could rate this hotel “1 star “ I would ! I am a titanium member who stays at mainly Marriott brand hotels over 100 days per year so I have corporate expectations as well as being extremely familiar in protocol. The young man who checked me on day one was wonderful ...he seemed very well and freshly trained almost like he spoke as if he was reading a script (franchised location had only been open for approx 5 weeks) He thanked me for my loyalty etc. etc. explained my welcome points and then offered me the upgrade to the two bedroom due to my status and a complimentary bag of gourmet popcorn! The next morning I went downstairs with the app opened and asked if an upgrade was available again if I were extend another night and it was a different young man and he said yes it was and I said can I book the AAA “lowest rate” available and he said , “sure the upgrade was available....” then about an hour later I came downstairs with the room keys to re-key the cards and he said he had a problem and he had to wait for the manager to do the upgrade so we left to riverwalk for a few hours but James Bailey the manager went upstairs to the room when my husband and I were gone to QUOTE ON QUOTE Check a “water leak “ As he {without my permission } went through MY ROOM to search for an extra charge he could tack on to make up the difference .... to get it closer to the amount they wanted for the 2 bedroom /$400 room. I was supposedly being upgraded from the AAA rate of $150 -

I found out form my younger brother when we pulled into the parking lot all the shenanigans; unauthorized entering of my room; scare tactics; going on and OF COURSE I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE FRONT DESK AND DEMANDED TO MEET MY UNAUTHORIZED INTRUDER- James bailey (the manager ).. HE looked confused when I confronted him he was shaking/pupils HUGE/ jaw shivering / hand shaking and my brother was not with me but yet he kept saying your brother admitted it he smoking inside the hotel hallway ?! It was not until I said “I am not paying a fee for something never happened” that he said he was going to call the police -I said show me footage , he said he never actually physically saw him but that my brother came up to him and told him that he was smoking inside the hallway ?? He then said I don’t care if you are a platinum member it doesn’t mean you get special treatment and I specifically said I don’t know why you’re bringing that up and by the way -I’m a TITANIUM . It was such a Bizzarre conversation I told him to go ahead and please call the police if that’s what he needed to do because he wasn’t making sense AT ALL and at first he just picked up his cell phone and was playing with it not calling anyone I truly believe that he thought he would just add the fee to compensate for the rate I was charged because clearly the upgrade was part of “special treatment” I was not eligible for. This location does not ethically handle the corporate protocol for Marriott with deceptive tactics of entering rooms and “creating” bogus accusations to add charges when they feel an ineligible upgrade is being extended. I have never in my whole life been treated so poorly, manipulated and humiliated. I have never in my whole life ever even touched a cigarette. They have some nerve and I hope people read this and AVOID this location!! NOT A REAL...

We really like this little hotel. Extremely clean rooms, facilities, which is top criteria for us. (We always wipe high-touch items down anyway. This was one of the few hotels we've experienced that actually seems to clean the headboard, for instance, which we lean against for TV.)

EVERY STAFF MEMBER I encountered was professional, friendly, helpful, attentive, and good-natured. You can tell this hotel really takes care of its people.

Specifically, Marcus always offered great advice and suggestions. You could tell he really was thinking about your question or matter and wanted to offer the best response. Ruben was also another stand-out, just an all-around cool person, helpful, and patient. Actually, they both were.

The King suites were pretty comfortable, although a bit cramped. Esp. when someone is at the desk, you have to kind of sidle around. Breakfast is "okay." We don't eat a lot of carbs or processed food, so would prefer eggs & protein instead of breakfast sandwiches. Although, they're not bad.

We started out with a very lackluster experience at a Home2 Suites close by. I'd booked and paid for the room, went up, thought about it... and we came back down and checked out, and came back to TownePlace. We don't need (or deserve) to be treated like the other hotel when we're paying for accommodations. We were only at the other place for the better breakfast options, anyway. We were happy to return to our friends at TownePlace.

By the way, on our second stay in particular, we found the lobby to be a GREAT place to hold work/study calls at any hour except breakfast. It's laid out thoughtfully, and there isn't a huge echo-y space, like at Sleep Inn down the road. It's pretty easy to find privacy with the way seating and dividers are arranged. (On first stay, one of the TVs was up a little loud, and I saw no way to turn it down a notch.)

Note, the lobby coffee is old and seems only to be put out once: in the morning at breakfast. The K-cups in the rooms are lackluster. To me, they taste a bit like dust, ashes, and grass. lol. I brought my own coffee here. I did appreciate the irish creme creamers on our first stay. Unfortunately, only hazelnut was available on our second.

Finally, we liked how the lobby was on the second floor, and you can only get to higher floors if you have a working key card. Nice for security.

We'd absolutely stay here again...

I stayed here for business, and I have stayed in tons and tons of hotels as I travel a lot, so here is my honest review..... The good: On check-in, I was greeted by Marcus, which was very friendly and professional. He was a great beginning to my stay. I was on the fourth floor as I requested. Walking to the room was pleasant as the hotel was clean and there were no foul ordors. Breakfast is simple, typical, grab and go, and continental breakfast, so don't expect a fancy breakfast or tons of options. It is free. Coffee was good! You're about fifteen minutes away from downtown Tampa and Tampa General Hospital. The bad: Upon entering, I automatically felt the stuffiness in my room. It was very humid. I was itchy until the a.c. temp dropped blow to 71, and I was able to go to sleep. It is a pet friendly hotel, so if you have severe allergies, don't do it, but I will say the carpet was clean. They have a full kitchenette, which is very ideal if you plan to do some cooking in your room. However, my dishwasher still had dirty dishes from whoever stayed before me. I waited until the next morning to tell somebody, and the man said "oh housekeeping forgot to run the dish machine." I explained it wasn't a big deal but that I thought he should know so that it could be addressed and he procedded to ask if the dishes were clearly dirty And then ask me if I wanted to run the dish machine to wash them. I immediately told him there was no dish soap, sponge or dish machine soap either way in my room to which he responded "I am so sorry they didn't put that in your room" and gave me a packet of dishwasher soap. What kind of customer service is that? For the 3 days I was there, not 1 person came to address the issue. Or even ask me how everything is going. That is the problem with customer service these days. My shower floor definitely needs scrubbing, and after I would shower, the steam would show all the fingerprints left over on the glass panel in the shower, which, by the way, were not mine. Housekeeping never came around to even take out the trash as I'm not worried about changing any linen, so I had food trash in my room for the 3 days I was there and noticed tons of other rooms just put the trash outside their door and 2 days later were still there. I also got 2 shower gels (1 was completely empty) and 1 shampoo, which I was hoping I could use Conditioner because I...