Clean everything, same art in every room, felt safe and secure and all that. Good time. Fitness center is decent, I liked the basketball court and pool. Clean and had more than a treadmill, which was nice. Women at the desk were friendly. Only four because it lacked personality and there was absolutely no excuses for being even a minute late on breakfast. It was gone exactly at 930 am. Reasonable and all, but a boy can dream, eh?

We stayed here last weekend when we were in town for a concert. We walked in and were greeted promptly and they found our reservation without a hitch. Both the lady and the man at the desk were super friendly and explained some of the restaurants nearby when they overheard my wife and I talking about what we wanted to do for dinner.

Our room was great. It had a full kitchenette with fill size refrigerator, desk, couch and chair. The way the bed sat off to the side and the bathroom was around the corner gave the room more of a on-bedroom apartment feel. The colors were rich and comforting.

Once getting back from dinner we decided to take a cab to the concert since the complimentary shuttle was full. Our cab never showed up, but the shuttle returned and a very friendly driver took us and another couple to the TB Times Forum, bypassing a lot of the traffic and getting us there in plenty of time for the show.

The breakfast was also good, not your normal continental breakfast but complete with eggs, sausage and biscuits and gravy.

Checking out was as easy as checking in. All in all, I will definitely try to stay at this hotel again when I need to spend a night over in Tampa.

I arrived at the hotel to check in before rushing off to a business meeting. I spent almost 20 minutes at the front desk waiting while the front desk clerk rummaged through papers to find my credit card authorization form (of which I had already verified receipt a week prior). I then had to call my company to resend it while she summoned the person who was listed in their system as receiving it. Once he got to the desk she asked him where it was and he went to the same location and pulled it out in a matter of seconds. She overlooked it because she only checked one file instead of looking through all of the papers once she realized it wasn't in that particular one. So, that was a wasted 20 minutes.

Next, I get to the room and the counters are dirty and the room has a stinch. I call down and ask her to be moved. She "upgrades" me to a two bedroom suite on a different floor. The room was very average. The carpet has stains throughout the room, it has the same stinch from the first room and the decorative bed spread on the beds look worn and dated. I asked if the hotel had undergone renovations and she said it had in 2008 but that's hard for me to believe since the rooms look so worn after just 4 years. Another thing was that the dishes were dirty but they were put in the cabinets anyway. There wasn't even dish washing liquid available for me to attempt to wash myself. I typically stay at residence inns for the convenience of cooking but I didn't want to use anything in the kitchen at all.

They serve breakfast every morning but its basically the exact same thing every morning. Other Residence Inns offer a variety from one day to the next. The only positive here would be the young lady who worked the breakfast bar. She was very sweet and accommodating.

Finally, their Internet and television was either slow or down depending on the day. They finally got someone to come and take a look at it towards the end of the week.

Overall, I would not stay here again. It is a very average residence inn. I have been to some exceptional ones that really set the bar high. Unfortunately, they set it too high for this one to measure up.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Tampa and our Stay at Residence Inn Marriott. Breakfast each morning was fine, and we enjoyed the happy hour refreshments and light fare that was on Tues and Wed during our visit. Prior to our visit, we received a welcome email from Lexy, one of the managers. Marcus was the van driver that dropped us off for tourist visits during our stay. Sights: Tampa Aquarium, Cruise Boat Port Waterside Area aka Channelside Bay Plaza, River Walk, University of Tampa walking tour, Straz Center for Performing arts across the street. Out of the area we enjoyed Ybor City and the Columbia restaurant, and St Petersburg Downtown and Pier area. Hotel: When our light was not working, it was repaired quickly. Great Staff members helping us included Lexy, Marcus, Chad, Shalita, Amy, Maria, Laryssia. Larry and Jim, executives, are to be commended! We will visit again! Residence in is now our first choice of all the Marriott brands, very comfortable room, very roomy, nice pool.