Hotels near Manatee Statue Splash Pad, Hillsborough County

Hotel Haya is an an amazing hotel located in he heart of Tampa’s Ybor City Historic and Entertainment District just minutes and blocks from downtown and the best airport in the world. The coffee shop has the best café con leche of any place in Tampa, the Flor Fina restaurant has a wonderful menu that serves the best lunch and dinner in Tampa. And you cannot meet a friendlier and accommodating staff from the valet to the front desk to the waiters and waitresses and bartenders and even the people who clean your rooms!

The staff at Le Meridian could not have been better or nicer! They were incredibly friendly and helpful….a big shout out to LaLithia at the front desk who was awesome and helped us upon check-in. The glass of complimentary sparkling wine upon check-in is a nice touch. The complimentary coffee in the lobby from 6 am until noon is also a nice and appreciated touch. Our room was very spacious and very clean. I am giving my review a 4 start vs 5 star because of the room decor and, quite frankly, the hotel (hallway decor) as well. Whoever was in charge of interior design should be fired! Our room was incredibly depressing because EVERY wall except the entry hall was painted a DARK gray. The carpet (new at least) was also a DARK gray. The bathroom was ….guess what….a DARK gray. Because the hotel is a converted old court house, the ceilings are high and made of cement so there is no recessed lighting (understandable). BUT, there wasn’t even a floor lamp in our room. It was SO DARK and DEPRESSING. Needless to say, we felt we were living in a CAVE. When you stay at an upscale hotel for a getaway or mini vacation, you expect to feel happy and uplifted. The decor did just the opposite. In addition, our room was lacking ANY seating area other than the bed and a desk chair (at bar height to match the bar height desk). It was CLEARLY MISSING a couple of comfortable occasional chairs. We called the front desk as soon as we walked into our room and requested a couple of chairs. They brought us 2 stacking chairs. I guess it was the best they could do under the circumstances but they certainly weren’t comfortable chairs that one would want to relax in. Also, the TV was very small given the size of the room and the distance from the bed to the TV. As for my reference to the hotel decor, and specifically the hallways, Marriott fell so far short in making this hotel what it COULD be given its unique history and architecture. When you walk down the hallways the bottom half of the walls have old marble (a nice touch and vestigial feature of the court house) BUT the top half of every wall is BARE. It is just COLD and lacks ANY sign of nice decor. Why wouldn’t they line these hallways with old, framed photos of court houses, court rooms, judges, etc???? Or old photos of Tampa? Or have a local artist paint murals on these walls? Ironically, the hotel gives its guests free passes to the Tampa Art Museum but whoever designed the interior space didn’t bother to include ANY artwork in the hallways. And the “artwork” in our room consisted of a few ugly, random cheaply framed posters. You might think that I am overly critical….after all, as I said, the staff was lovely and responsive and our room was spacious, quiet and clean. BUT, because our room was just so DARK and DREARY and DEPRESSING we wanted to minimize the time we spent at this hotel.

amazing

The room is very spacious and clean. The bedding is very comfortable. Two big beds can accommodate four people. The son owns a bed and includes 5 breakfasts. The breakfast variety is okay, there are hot scrambled eggs and meatloaf, you can also make homemade waffles, original flavor and blueberry flavor, very delicious.

One bedroom apartment with a view of the bay. Clean pool, firepit and sand area for beach volleyball. No actual bay swimming, but you are not far from the beaches. Great staff that are pleasant and courteous. Full kitchen with dishwashers. Yes, the bathrooms can be updated but they are clean. Queen size bed in the bedroom and a pull out couch in the living room. For 2 it suits our needs. Close to Yankee Spring Training, the airport and several beaches. Housekeeping has a schedule that has been changed by Covid, but housekeeping is always bringing fresh towels for our use. No pet policy is fine with us!!

Stayed here for 4 nights. Excellent staff; everyone was very pleasant and professional. Had a problem with our room lock so had to move to another room. Toilets are way too low (unless you are very short). Why would a hotel renovate and not update to high toilets? Water pressure was low. Nice feature was the shampoo, conditioner & gel attached to wall. No maid service unless requested ( did not realize this as not told when checked in) only a sign posted. Room very clean and updated. Free breakfast good but ran out of bacon both days that we ate there. Parking fine and always managed to find a space.

Amazing hotel. Room large and clean. Staff was very friendly