WESTIN TAMPA HARBOUR ISLAND
725 S. Harbour Island Blvd., Tampa, FL 33602, 813-229-5000, .
Rates: Start at $349 per night for one king or two queen beds on weekdays and $249 on weekends, both for rooms with a bay/skyline view; suites with a view start at $795 ($495 without). Overnight in-and-out valet parking $16, and that’s pretty much your only choice.
Stay here if you’re: A business traveler with a good sense of humor or very much in love with the idea of “pampering” being the fact that they know your name when you get to the registration desk.
It’s close to: Adjacent to the Tampa Convention Center, two blocks from St. Pete Times Forum.
The rooms are: Small and oddly plain, considering they just finished a big renovation; their claim that the rooms are “oversized” is exaggerated. They make a big deal about the Heavenly Beds, which are comfy, but mine were topped with duvets filled with such rumpled comforters (see photo) that I thought the maid hadn’t made up the room yet when I first walked in. Ergonomic chair and desk.
They put all of the money into: Hard to say. The place is usually full because of the convention business, but many systems were on the fritz during my visit. Only one of the three elevators worked, which made many guests cranky, and then the front desk phones shut down for hours in the evening, which meant that the carpet in my room — which was soaked with what was apparently water from the time I checked in — became a nightmare to fix. They were full, so they couldn’t put me in another room, and so I had to walk down to the front desk repeatedly to find out what was going on with the problem, and finally at 10 p.m., when I was ready to turn in for the night, they decided to send someone to put an industrial fan in so the carpet wouldn’t mildew. They took $80 off the room rate, which is great for one’s company but not so great for one’s sleep. It took the guy 45 minutes to assess the situation and then get the fan — for a problem I had reported at 4 p.m. Then they gave me a coupon for a free drink in the bar — so I could go hang out with some conventioneers? At least they apologized. While I waited for the fan, I read in the brochure in my room that if I needed an amenity — say, a nail file and nail polish remover — I could just call their “service desk” and get them. So I did. The woman who answered said, “Oh, we don’t have that.” I said, “But your in-room brochure makes a point of saying that you do.” So she grumbled and said she would try to track some down. A half-hour later she arrived at my door with them in-hand, saying that she’d found them in their market. “Since we’re having phone troubles tonight, we will give you one packet and then charge you $1.50 for the other.” Well, thank you so much! But then the charge the next day was for $2. No biggie, but the whole thing left a bad taste.
The bottom line: I had been so impressed when they called me by name after I turned the car over to the valet, but things just went downhill from there. This is an instance of flattering the guest’s ego with the illusion of service but not following through with any actual service. And I’m so sick of going to truly business-oriented hotels that charge more than $300 a night and then stick you for a $9.95-per-day Internet fee — and it’s not even WiFi.
Kyle Wagner
