swanscn

This is a newly opened property, I believe that it may have opened on 2/11/08. I have work to do in FL and relatives in the Tampa area so we selected this property since it is near them (it is the closest marriott property, we have stayed at the Waterside(very nice), and the Westshore (old and in need of a makeover), and even the Airport Marriott (not bad but it us at the airport and that is not our destination). But this location makes our commute shorter and easier so we were looking forward to this stay. So here is the report so far, since I am still at the property.

Easy to get to right off the Suncoast toll road
Nice enough looking property for a hotel
Check-in still working out some issues, but overall not bad. Do not know how it would be if busy, we were the only ones checking in at that time.

Room nice enough we are in a studio I always think they try to put too much furniture in a small space, and I was not disappointed. The furniture placement seemed odd and not conducive to how someone would actually use the room. I confirmed with the staff that we were the 1st guests staying in that room, so that explains the designer furniture placement. Makes you wonder if they ever give thought to how people would use the space. Then things got a bit odd, there is a dresser with a LG LCD (about 32:^) on a swivel on the dresser. But the placement of the dresser blocked walkng to theother side of the bed. Turns out the coax to the tv was to short and that is why the dresser was placed at that location. Unplug the coax and move the dresser solved the problem short term. Hotel staff needs to get a longer cable. Usually my pet peeves are shower heads but in a new property I was not expecting problems, but I was pleasntly surprised to find a RAIN shower head (nice). The staff told me that the biggest complain they are receiving is about the High Speed internet access, I have had 0 issues with this my Mac connected instantly to the wireless network every time with good speed.
I was speaking with the staff about the bed, over the past 20 years I have spent 5 years in hotels. comfortable bed and nice shower and a clean room and the hotel will not even know I am there. The beds at this property are the worst I have ever come across (including wore out beds in a roadside motel in Tn, and a board with a pad somewhere in Germany). These mattress's are so hard that if you sleep on you side if you sleep you will wake up in pain. I even tried the sofa but that did not last too small and thought about the concrete floor it was that bad. If you sleep on your back you will probably not have any issues. We checked with the staff to see if different mattress's are in different rooms, no. We asked if they had pads we could put on the mattress, no. I then asked for two additional comforters 2 blankets and sheets to be sent up. We put the comforters in and the sheet over them and tucked in the sides. We now made our own pillow top mattress. If this was not convenient to where we are going I would have checked out yesterday, but with out newly engineered solution we can stay the next two nights.
BTW, I was told by the manager that these are the same mattress used in all Marriott's, my experience says this is not true. But , if this is the mattress Marriott is upgrading to, run away and don't look back.