Extended Stay America Suites - Tampa - Airport - Memorial Hwy.

It was the cheapest place near the airport for my 6 AM flight, but I should’ve slept in my car. The front desk person was honest enough to warn me that there was a good chance of roaches, and she was right. I saw them in three different areas of my room. They’re selling the building and planning to tear it down, so apparently no effort is going into hygiene. Gross.

On a one-week trip with my two children, I had to move rooms because of roaches, and the second room had them too. The front desk woman was professional, polite, and apologetic. She stopped mopping the lobby to change my room and even came up to help with my bags. After getting back from a seven-day vacation late at night, exhausted and with only a few hours before my flight, I didn’t go down again. The rooms look clean at first, with neatly made beds and fresh towels, but closer inspection showed they weren’t really clean or sanitized. There was red sauce spilled inside the fridge, clearly left from the previous guest. The towels were refreshed each morning, but that seemed to be about all they did. I’d tried another Extended Stay in Independence, Ohio, where I spent three months near the hospital while my daughter had high-risk medical care. That place was also infested with roaches. There was black mold at the pool, leaks from the ceilings down the walls, and a gym that was never properly cleaned. The same water bottles, keycard, and trash stayed in the exercise bike cup holders my whole stay. I even found women’s panties beside the bed. At that location, manager Jessica was amazing, as was one other young woman whose name I can’t remember. Most of the other staff were rude. Jessica left midway through my stay, and the new manager raised my prices by more than $300 and was hostile and nasty. I thought maybe the problems were limited to that hotel, so I tried this one because it was affordable and near the airport. I was very disappointed both times.

We left early after paying more than $700 for several nights, and I’m still furious. The hotel charged my card at check-in, and now I understand why they don’t wait until checkout. With this condition, people might refuse to pay. The place smelled strongly of cigarette smoke and old, rotting food from the minute we walked in. The hall carpets were stained and filthy. This felt run-down, badly managed, and unsafe. In our room the sheets were turned inside out, so we couldn’t tell whether they’d been cleaned. There was a roach in the bathroom every morning. The ceiling had water damage, and the fan, remote, and hallway light didn’t work. The shower diverter wasn’t attached to the wall and dripped constantly. The hot and cold directions were reversed, the tub was worn and dirty, the sink had no stopper, and the fridge wasn’t clean. Our key kept deactivating, too. Getting help was difficult. The desk was often unattended, and I saw several guests waiting. One man had to call “hello” five times before anyone came out. We couldn’t reach the hotel by phone at first. When someone eventually answered, the calls seemed to be outsourced to the Philippines, so there was no way to talk directly to on-site staff. That’s not acceptable when guests need immediate help. There was no designated dog-walking area despite the hotel being pet-friendly. People appeared to live there full time, and many were loud at all hours and made the place feel unsafe. Police were present on several occasions, which left us on edge. We’d expected a reasonably maintained hotel near the airport and corporate offices, but this felt like a neglected, low-grade housing complex. I’m disgusted and disappointed. I want real action on these problems, not just an apology. The property needs serious inspection and immediate improvement. I don’t have much faith corporate will respond, but my travel agent knows about the experience and is documenting everything.

We’d read reviews mentioning the smell in the lobby and halls, but hoped our stay would be different. It wasn’t. The lobby smelled like a dirty litter box, and the corridors were musty. In the room, the bed hadn’t been made properly, a blanket was just tossed over it, and there were no pillows. The woman at the front desk was really nice, but said there were no other rooms available and offered to refund us. Given the odors and how disorganized the room cleaning seemed, I wouldn’t stay here again.