Hampton Inn & Suites Ybor City/Tampa Question

[MistyRo76]

So I've been stalking Tampa hotels for our April 13, 2019 cruise for a while now. We have narrowed down our choices to the Hampton Inn & Suites Ybor City, Hilton Tampa Downtown and Marriott Waterside. I have already secured refundable rooms at the Hilton and Marriott and are just holding those until the Hampton is available to book. My question is when is the Hampton usually available to book. If you look at the dates available to book, you can book most any Monday through Thursday night almost a year in advance. But on their website, the latest month you can now book weekends is October, which if that holds true means weekend bookings for next April won't be available until the fall??? That just seems really far out! Anyone have any other experience with booking this property earlier than six months in advance on a weekend? Our cruise is over spring break timeframe, so trying to be super proactive and get things booked as early as possible!

[JohninDC]

Have you called the hotel (not the 1-800 number for Hilton brands)? :confused:

[MistyRo76]

Have you called the hotel (not the 1-800 number for Hilton brands)? :confused:

 

Yes...they said all reservations would not be open for a couple months, even though I tried to tell her other weekday dates for that property were already available for booking nearly a year out.

[BlueHerons]

That doesn't make any sense however I think it is a sign not to book there.

 

The area around Ybor City is sketch as hell at night and I would feel more comfortable at one of the Rocky Point Hotels or the other two you have on hold.

 

BTW, there is someone who has stayed there recently, I was thinking it was you but I guess not. Hopefully they will see this.

[MistyRo76]

That doesn't make any sense however I think it is a sign not to book there.

 

The area around Ybor City is sketch as hell at night and I would feel more comfortable at one of the Rocky Point Hotels or the other two you have on hold.

 

BTW, there is someone who has stayed there recently, I was thinking it was you but I guess not. Hopefully they will see this.

 

Thanks! I understand the comments about Ybor at night. We'll have a fairly large group, so that isn't a huge deal breaker for us. We have some similar areas around where I live as well. And we are for sure doing dinner at The Columbia and would like to hit up some cigar bars. So being near Ybor makes sense. The rates at the Hilton and Marriott are both over $300/night, so if we could get something less expensive that would be great!

 

I guess I'll keep checking back or maybe call the hotel again!

[CML13]

So I've been stalking Tampa hotels for our April 13, 2019 cruise for a while now. We have narrowed down our choices to the Hampton Inn & Suites Ybor City, Hilton Tampa Downtown and Marriott Waterside. I have already secured refundable rooms at the Hilton and Marriott and are just holding those until the Hampton is available to book. My question is when is the Hampton usually available to book. If you look at the dates available to book, you can book most any Monday through Thursday night almost a year in advance. But on their website, the latest month you can now book weekends is October, which if that holds true means weekend bookings for next April won't be available until the fall??? That just seems really far out! Anyone have any other experience with booking this property earlier than six months in advance on a weekend? Our cruise is over spring break timeframe, so trying to be super proactive and get things booked as early as possible!

 

I stayed there two weeks ago, but am unable to answer your question. However, I wanted to give you a heads-up about their free shuttle to the port, which I found very annoying. They do not allow you to schedule the shuttle until 7:30 am the day you need it. I made out alright, because there was only one ship in port the day I was there. A staff member told me the weekend before that, there were several ships in port, and the line of hotel guests to book the shuttle was winding through the lobby. Just wanted to make you aware of that...

[JohninDC]

Another example why you are better off not focusing on hotels that offer "free" shuttles - find a hotel that meets your needs/budget and then use Uber/Lyft or a taxi.

[MistyRo76]

I stayed there two weeks ago, but am unable to answer your question. However, I wanted to give you a heads-up about their free shuttle to the port, which I found very annoying. They do not allow you to schedule the shuttle until 7:30 am the day you need it. I made out alright, because there was only one ship in port the day I was there. A staff member told me the weekend before that, there were several ships in port, and the line of hotel guests to book the shuttle was winding through the lobby. Just wanted to make you aware of that...

 

We will most likely schedule a private van for our group or just pile in taxis or Ubers. But appreciate the heads up!

[MistyRo76]

So I did a little more investigation on why the weekend nights are not show able to be booked on the Hampton website. I spoke to a very nice lady at their res center and she couldn't get availability to pull up either. Her best guess was that the hotel was requiring stays of so long over the weekend. Sure enough...our date of April 12th is available if you select 3 or 4 nights instead of just the one. She even tried to force it in and her computer system was not allowing that. I've emailed the Hampton to see what can be done about this especially since we need a block of 8+ rooms. Hopefully, they can accommodate our request as this is our preferred location!

[MistyRo76]

Update: I have just been randomly checking availability for this hotel and finally today it was showing available for our pre-cruise date! I snagged two rooms at the Hilton Honors Discount rate of $189/night. I'm still holding rooms at the Marriott and Hilton Downtown. So once I confirm with the hubby that he's definitely good with the Hampton Inn & Suites, I'll probably go ahead and book the non-refundable rate of $165/night. As much as part of my wants to splurge and stay at the Marriott or Hilton, I think the Hampton is really our best option - $100+ less per night, free hot breakfast, trolley and shuttle access (within 3-miles of the hotel) and right in Ybor City where we want to be. We probably won't use the hotel shuttle to get to the port.I'd prefer to just Uber or set up a van if our whole group books this hotel.

 

Gee - I'm pretty much done with planning for this cruise and we're still 290 days out. What I am going to do for the next 9+ months! lol