SureStay Hotel by Best Western St. Pete Clearwater Airport

The room was clean, the staff were friendly, and breakfast was good. But the airport runway was right nearby, and a racetrack added noise well into the night. We’d asked for a first-floor room because of a knee injury, but were given one on the second floor. The hotel had no elevator, and by the time they found the mistake, all first-floor rooms were occupied. They didn’t offer another solution or help us carry our heavy luggage upstairs. Nothing in the room worked properly: the phone was dead, the TV didn’t work right, and the toilet handle had to be held down until the bowl filled to the top before it would flush. It was rather disgusting, often took two flushes, and the second one splashed water out of the bowl.

The pool was really nice, and being next to the airport didn’t bother us. Breakfast was okay. The room was a little dirty, with a slightly stained shower curtain and sheets, and the fridge didn’t seem to stay cold.

I’m deeply disappointed by how little compassion this hotel showed. We couldn’t make our trip after booking a non-refundable room, and I understood we’d lose the money. I called to ask if the room, already paid for, could be used by CASA, the local domestic violence shelter. I was willing to handle the coordination myself, and my understanding was that the reservation name could be changed for another guest. They refused, not because it wasn’t paid for or couldn’t be done, but simply because they chose not to. I was told the room would go unused instead. They’d rather leave it empty than let someone in crisis use it for a night. If one compassionate review is enough to make you consider somewhere else, there are plenty of places that understand hospitality means caring about people as well as profit. SureStay by Best Western in St. Pete/Clearwater clearly doesn’t.

We’d never heard of a “SureStay” when we booked online, so we hoped it would be decent. We just needed a night’s stay before catching an early flight. The room was clean, there was a pool, we felt safe, and we didn’t see any bugs. That works for me. The downside was that our room was right outside the pool, where a group was barbecuing and playing music, so it wasn’t very quiet.