Where to Stay

Tampa Bay boasts an eclectic roster of hotels to satisfy just about any visitor's needs—antique or contemporary, grand or cozy, serene and quiet or right in the heart of the action.

Location, attention to detail and an eye for the season—these are the attributes that define the region's hotels, each relying on one or more of these elements to define itself in this split-personality region. Some accommodations pride themselves on their convenience to business connections in downtown Tampa, but everywhere else relies on miles of scenic beaches to lure guests. Across the causeways, on the beaches of Clearwater and St. Petersburg Beach, Madeira Beach and Treasure Island, several small, family-operated motels welcome you to sandals-and-sarong serenity, where dressing for dinner means donning closed-toe shoes.

Hundreds of corporations have settled in downtown Tampa, where high-rise hotels and business-oriented properties seek attention. Here, a host of corporate offices have spawned hostelries hoping to provide respite to weary road warriors. Naturally, the presence of so many major businesses—not to mention St. Joseph's Hospital (the second largest public hospital in Florida), several universities and colleges, a sleek waterside convention center, a busy port and a top-ranked airport—means there are many reasons for business travelers to enter Tampa addresses in their Palm Pilots. Tampa's roster of corporations reads like a Fortune 500 list of the nation's major companies.

While many of those hotels are focused on attracting business travelers and convention delegates, they may also prove a savvy choice for leisure travelers who don't mind sacrificing seaside accommodations for abundant amenities or, in some cases, for substantial price breaks. Most hotels are clustered around Tampa International Airport in the Westshore area. Not far away, in the Brandon suburb, a number of smaller properties appeal to both leisure and business travelers.

Seeking to capitalize on Tampa's ideal location, Marriott Corporation opened its 2,000th hotel, a USD110 million, 717-room beauty on the city's waterfront, across from rival Wyndham Hotel's handsome highrise. The city's waterfront Tampa Convention Center, opened in 1990, sits just steps away from both hotels.

While the new Tampa Waterside Marriott represents the ultimate in modernity, Tampa Bay is also home to three hotels that steal the scene in historic splendor. On the mainland of Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, flappers once held court at what was then the 375-room, Prohibition-era Vinoy Park Hotel, completed in 11 hectic months to open on New Year's Eve, 1925. In those halcyon days, this massive hotel was the toast of the town. As the years wore on, the Vinoy Park was abandoned lay crumbling for decades. Now fabulously beautiful again, thanks to a USD93 million dollar renovation by Renaissance Hotels, the St. Petersburg Renaissance Vinoy Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a study in Mediterranean Revival magnificence.

Meanwhile, railroad entrepreneur Henry Plant established the Belleview Biltmore. Occupying 625 acres in mainland Belleair, just a few minutes from the sands of Clearwater Beach, the hotel is reputed to be the world's largest occupied frame structure, with a 2.5-acre roof! This magnificent hotel, built in a style known as Steamboat Gothic, first opened its doors in 1897 and hasn't closed since. Inside its white frame exterior are stained-glass panels, leaded glass ceilings and ornate woodwork.

Not far away is St. Petersburg Beach's Don Cesar. Built in 1928 by a land-boom millionaire, this pink-hued hotel closed during the Depression, but was rescued by preservationists and reopened in 1973—a USD7 million renovation put it on the National Register of Historic Places. No two rooms are alike, and nearly every original feature of the hotel remains, including the 13,900 panes of glass! Its splendor restored, from grand staircase to Olympic-size pool, the hotel is today every bit as glamorous as it was when the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Clarence Darrow, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Dr. Walter Mayo frolicked here.

From 100-year-old restored relics to trendy skyrises, a host of hotels welcome the Tampa Bay traveler.