Upon entering our room (#120) at the Howard Johnson Motor lodge located at 2520 N 50th St. in Tampa Florida, we noticed a damp musty odor. We contacted the front desk and was told to “air out the room with the A/C”. We put the A/C on and left the room to attend a dinner. We returned at 1:15 AM and were bombarded with a loud buzzing from the room next door (fire alarm).
I tried to call the front desk, but there was no answer. I walked down to the office and informed the front desk of the problem. She said no one answered the phone in the room with the alarm going off and that she had no access to that room. I went back to my room and after another 20 minutes, I called the office again and told the person I would call the fire department. She told me she would send a security person to check out the problem. The alarm was finally quieted at 2:05 AM.
At 4:45 AM I was awoken by loud thumping music and loud talking, screaming etc. The entire floor above us was having a huge party after returning from some event. I called the front desk and was told that security would look into it. It took a full 45 minutes for the music to stop, but the loud talking and screaming persisted for another 40 minutes.
I was able to go back to sleep at 5:30 AM or so, only to be awoken by some very loud speaking hotel maids. They were outside my room, laughing and talking in an exceptionally loud manner. I had to go out and tell them that guests were still sleeping. They moved on.
My traveling partner was also frustrated by a missing hairdryer, 2 missing light bulbs and no phone books. The bathtub had hairs all over it, as though it was not recently cleaned.
I travel a great deal and this hotel stay was a nightmare with poor guest service.
I confronted the desk at checkout and told him of my problems, but he refused to offer any compensation.

I just learned of this site through a friend and wanted to post an experience I had at this motel because it was such an awful one. A friend and I arrived on New Years eve in Tampa and checked into our room. I noticed a smell shortly after entering the room, but could not find the source. Finally I was able to determine that it was coming from near the pillow, and I turned back the sheets and found a large pile of mushy feces in the bed. I normally wouldn't take the time to write a review, but the hotel handled this issue very poorly. We had booked this hotel for 2 nights (this was our first night), and although they did offer to give us a different room, they basically said that we must have pooped in our bed. We had no interest in a new room, as the place was a dump (aside from the feces) and the area seemed quite unsafe. The woman at the desk said that we would be charged for both nights. We did end up getting our second night reimbursed after calling and writing Howard Johnson. I know some won't believe this review, but it did happen, and I'm sure others who have written reviews on this hotel won't find it surprising.

Howard Johnson's 2520 50th in tampa Fl. I dont stay in hotels like this one but We drove 1000 miles to get to tampa. The hotel was rated a choice one but it was dirty and had mold growing on the walls. The floor in the bathroom had not been cleaned and the bath tub did not have a stopper. The staff was not friendly and when asked for stopper I was told to take a shower. The walls had plaster where work might have been done but not finshed and not painted.

Dirty, smelly and scary.