Stayed here with kids 15 and 12 who like nothing more than enjoying the pool, beach, and Gulf. We're from Michigan where Winter is much, much too long!!! We had many things to do in Tampa, as my wife and I are USF Alumni, and I worked at Busch Gardens as a student. Trips out to those locations are a bit of a haul, but there's no denying that Clearwater Beach is one of the cleanest, widest, and white sandiest (is that a word) that you'll find anywhere. I grew up in North Miami Beach so I know something about beaches.
Location: Best on the Beach, real close to Hwy 60 and the Pier that has craft merchants in the evening. A few cheesy carnival activities at the base of the pier. We relied on the CVS heavily and it's just a short walk to get water, beer, snack, toiletries, etc. You'll really need to get bottled water as the tap water SUCKS. High sulfur content I guess?
Room: Location important. I don't know the idiot that built the hotel, but the layout is weird! Must get Parkview rooms. We were on the 5th floor parkview kinda close to the harborview side. Not bad, but try to get a little higher-9th floor-and closer to the Gulf instead of the street. Direct Beachfront rooms have you staring down at air conditioner units, while harborview looked at the street and the harbor, not bad but parkview is the only room that you'll want. Rooms themselves apparently renovated a few months back. They are a little on the small side, not terrible though. The bathrooms however are too small for a family of four
with someone always needing the sink, shower, toilet. Small refrigerator, but they need a microwave and more AC outlets. Great plasma TV with satellite stations in HD. Clock radio needs illumination to see time in the dark. Balcony decent size.
Room safe present. Sign up with Hilton Honors before your stay to take off the $10 WiFi charge daily.
Food: Did not eat at the hotel restaurants after reading reviews. Plenty of other options around. Beach shanty across the street for Breakfast was OK, nothing fancy and prices were OK as well.
Frenchys down to the left was a typical tourist trap with decent food and beachfront location. If you want real Cuban food, venture off to La Teresita on Columbus near the airport/stadium. No frills diner with the real deal Cuban fare, many other "Cuban" places such as the Columbia are modified Spanish, not really Cuban. Do not get scared by the looks of the place, the portions are huge, and the food is the BEST!
Pool: Cafe between the two pools. Heard food is not great and drinks are a little pricey. Two pools themselves well maintained with one being a little more shallow than the other. Average size whirlpool present but never seemed to work when the button was pushed. Towels available at times but not consistent. A very friendly supervisor was only too happy to get us towels that were stashed in the back at 8AM, before they were open.
Did not rent chairs, umbrellas, cabanas. We have no problem laying on towels and were playing in the surf most of the time anyway.
Parking: Ample and easily accessed with the room card. $5 self park,$8 valet park.
Staff: No compaints. They did charge us $50 to delay check out until 3PM as we had a later flight but we felt this was worth it in order to enjoy the Beach and Pool fully the last day. WARNING: It rains every day during the Summer. Probably best to time your activities early morning or later on in the evening to allow for this.

We love to be right on the beach! This is a great hotel for that purpose. Also including 2 great pools, outside Tiki bars, beach chairs, umbrellas and towels.
The inside is beautiful. Nice check-in staff, bellmen, bartenders, and the housekeeping staff was excellent.
The rooms have just been updated & are kept very crisp and clean. They have a small gym, but also give you a pass to use a bigger facility just down the street.
The location is ideal. Within waking distance of shops, restaurants, the pier & other outdoor activities, such as the many boat cruises you can go on.
You are also not far from Downtown Tampa, which has Theater, shops, more restaurants and museums. If you are a baseball fan, you are 10 minutes from Bright House Statium, which is the home of the Philadelphia Phillies!
We would recommend the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort to anyone.
We will definately return.

We stayed in a harbor view room on the 8th floor for a week in July. Although there is a busy road outside we were never bothered by any traffic noise.

The harbor view is really nice, you can sit and watch all the boat traffic coming and going.

The hotel trades on its location and has a private stretch of beach where you can only consume drinks & snacks purchased from the hotel.

We went to Busch Gardens a couple of times with the trip taking around 30 minutes each way.

You shouldn't limit yourself to the hotel beach & bar / restaurants as there are some nice places to visit just along the road that wont charge the same premium.

Another nice place to visit is bradenton beach which is around an hour and a half to the South.

We came here after our Disney Cruise for a couple days and it was pretty enjoyable way to wind down the vacation. The pool scene was fun and the marina across the street offered several things to do. Fishing excursions, speed boats, pirate cruises, etc.
The room was nice and spacious and the view we had was really nice....we had a view of the ocean and the marina. (we were on the top floor) The beds were very comfortable and appeared to be newly remodeled.
Room service was efficient, quick and friendly.
Maid service was good.
The bellmen/concierge were very good with offering dinner recommendations and excursion ideas.
The restaurant at the pool was very steep. 3 hot dogs and a hamburger with 4 soft drinks was $42. (and 2 of the hot dogs were kids meals!)
Over all it was a nice stay. No complaints.