My standard hotel reviews include a breakdown by the following topics. Feel free to skip to whichever section you find most interesting.
- Highlights
- Lobby
- Room
- Hotel Space / Ambiance
- Food & Drink
- Fitness
- Miscellaneous
Highlights: Hyatt Place Tampa / Busch Gardens
Ah Hyatt Place. How I’ve missed thee. This hotel is excellently located – close to University of South Florida, University Mall, and of course the aforementioned Busch Gardens. Outside of that, not much to speak of – think family-friendly clientele, free breakfast, and large, spacious rooms. It’s about what you would expect of a Hyatt Place. The cute towel elephant on our bed, however, was a nice touch.
One thing that stood out was the deliciousness of Pizza Squared – an amazing Detroit-style pizza place a few minutes walk from the hotel.
Lobby
We arrived late late one evening at Hyatt Place Tampa, and there was only one associate available. While there were two couples ahead of us, one had an issue and we ended up waiting quite a long while. With only one associate in the late evening, service was quite slow. I would recommend having more than one associate around at all times – if one is called away, another will be present to man the desk. Not a great first impression.
Room
It was a large, spacious room, with a nice sized desk for working. Additionally, the layout was very similar to the other Hyatt Place I have stayed in Philadelphia. Internet, however, was quite slow. It was so problematic that I was unable to run speedtest.net to tell them how slow it was, and could not run any video higher than 240P. It brought me back to the early days of internet video in 2003-2005. Not an enjoyable experience.
One interesting quirk – while we were only there for two nights, several different pizza delivery menus were slipped under our door. These guests must be very profitable for local restaurants.
Hotel Space / Ambience
This hotel caters to a combination of business travelers and families. We saw plenty of couples and families with small children, most likely to visit Busch Gardens nearby. The quiet, laid back atmosphere fit Tampa and Florida to a T.
Food & Drink
Breakfast was served 6:30 – 9:30 on weekdays and 7:00 – 10:00 on weekends. It was decent, with an interesting Southwestern biscuit. The actual biscuit was quite good and fluffy, but the guacamole, egg, and cheese combination on top was quite weird. I did not have any of their paid food at the hotel bar during this trip, but the menu was very familiar.
Fitness
We checked out the pool – which was outdoor, and clearly designed for tourists and families. The indoor gym was decent for a small hotel, but at least one of the machines was not functioning properly. A couple treadmills, an elliptical, and a bike were complemented by a weight rack. Water was available – although there were no cups available, so bring your own cup or bottle!
Miscellaneous
Upon checking out of Hyatt Place Tampa, they expressed surprise at my internet issues. Perhaps my room was an isolated incident rather than a hotel-wide issue. Free parking was convenient – but with the amount of space in Tampa, it would be a crime to charge.
There is also a Wawa and CVS close by – for you churners. They also have a shuttle with a radius of up to 3 miles which you must schedule in advance. Conveniently, it works for this post office roughly 2-3 miles away.
Plenty of food options near by, with both fast food and sit down restaurants available. We did not have a chance to explore too many of them, unfortunately.
This hotel roughly met expectations, save for the internet issue.
Featured Image of a King Guestroom layout from Hyatt hotel website.
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