Just got back from a 4 night stay here. The hotel itself is decent, but the people that are attracted to Clearwater, Florida are probably the trashiest Americans I've ever encountered. It was a bit of a shock at first (call me naive...I guess I just haven't spent all that much time in Florida), but after we got used to just how crowded the beach is and the people who visit there, we figured out ways to have fun.

As a globalist, I used a suite upgrade certificate and received a one bedroom king. Used points for the first 3 nights and a cat 1-7 for the last night. My stay was merged before I arrived and I didn't have to move rooms for the cat 1-7 night. Unfortunately, I don't believe I was further upgraded from the standard 1 king suite. Still, upon check in, they gave me a bottle of what they referred to as "champagne" (actually a bottle of Campo Viejo Cava that retails for $10) and 4 free "Rum Runner" drink tickets (a rum punch that was super sweet, but definitely did the trick). Breakfast was completely comped - whether you did the buffet or ordered a la carte including as many appetizers and entrees as you want. I tipped anywhere from $7 to $10 per breakfast, but what was charged to my folio always came out to weird numbers like $2.13 and $5.26...not sure what the deal is there. Breakfast was decent. Not the most extravagant buffet. I ended up going for the crab omelette every day after getting the buffet the first day, while my wife opted for the buffet every day. Nice that they didn't care that the same table did both, and the staff was nice.

The pool is too small for the hotel size. There's just no arguing that. We checked in on Saturday night and Sunday was out of control packed in the pool. Not sure if this can ever be remedied, but luckily the weekdays we were there weren't quite as crowded (but were still busy in the pool).

We have a toddler, and a hotel like this does what it can to please the kiddos. One of the conference rooms was used daily as a kids play room, but there just weren't that many things to do/toys to play with. The state of the art video game system was a first generation Nintendo Wii.

No complaints about the suite itself. I'm thinking it's been remodeled somewhat recently as nothing looked banged up or too out of date. The balcony is a little drab though with just a metal table and some chairs with no cushions. The suite is a true suite, both rooms have a huge tv, and there's a full kitchen as well. One weird thing about the layout is the bath tub is in the half bath near the entrance, while the master bathroom only has a shower. I liked that the whole room wrapped around the balcony and could be accessed from both the bedroom and the living room (things like this are important when your 3 year old is sleeping and you want to go have a drink on the balcony).

Other then that, the hotel is comfortable, quiet, and I enjoyed the hot hot hot tub on the 16th floor with a beer at night on a few occasions. Tons of pretty delicious (but totally cheesy) restaurants right outside of the hotel with some great seafood. The food was a highlight of our trip, and that's coming from a couple who has eaten our way around the world, through the streets, and have collected over 100 Michelin stars.

I'll never go back to Clearwater again, but I would imagine this hotel makes for a nice staycation or maybe worth a 2-3 hour drive to go get a couple EQNs. I wouldn't fly to Tampa from Dallas just to stay there again like I did though lol...