1301 E 7th Ave
Tampa, FL 33605
Pros:
- Location convenient for walking around Ybor City
- Close to trolley line
- Clean
- Breakfast
Cons:
- Dishonest staff
- Management not interested in customer feedback or holding staff accountable
- Parking fee, limited covered/garage parking
- Small rooms
We sold this hotel to our clients for years without issue. When all goes well,this hotel offers a decent value – good location on the main street of Ybor City, clean rooms, and the standard Hampton Inn breakfast. As is the case when you travel, however, things do not always go as planned. When this happens, it is nice to know that the companies you give your hard-earned money to will do their best to resolve issues quickly and amicably. This is not the case, unfortunately, with the Hampton Inn Downtown/Ybor City.
When we called recently on behalf of some clients who decided at the last minute that they may need an accessible room, they did not have any accessible doubles available, only kings. The hotel was advised that this would not work but unbeknownst to me they went ahead and changed the reservation anyway, resulting in a frantic call from the client on a Saturday evening. When I called the hotel to advise that the change was not authorized and that I had the original confirmation affirming they needed a double, the front desk agent disconnected the call. After reaching out to hotel management, I discovered the agent lied to him about what transpired during our call (most likely in order to save her job) – a call that was on speaker phone with other people in the room on my end who can collaborate my story.
Management was not interested in investigating the matter or even offering an apology for my clients. Needless to say, the staff will never be retrained as a result and I’m sure my case is not the only one in which something like this happened. Clearly, the front desk agent knew she could lie and get away with it, and she did. I am quite sure this is a result of culture set in place from the top. Imagine all the other areas where things could go wrong and this culture of lying and apathy toward the truth or customers can present itself. Save yourself a potential headache and stay elsewhere.
