This was not a great experience. To the positive, the location of the hotel is very good with regards to it's location on the Riverwalk, and it being near many venues is great. Also, the service at the hotel was very good and thorough. However, here comes the rest: $50 a day for the valet parking is over the top. I have never paid that much anywhere, even in some pricey locales. It is compounded by the fact that the closest public parking option is several blocks away. Secondly, it appears that this may have been an older hotel that the Marriott purchased, and placed under it's umbrella. The room had only 2 drawers to place clothing in(we 3 had to request additional hangars), and a night table that was wobbly. The balcony had a nice view but the outside tables were dirty and rusty. There was a table in the closet which had a safe on it, but this table prevented easy opening of the closet doors .The shower doors did not close adequately, as there was always water on the floor. On the second to last night of our stay the air conditioning in 1 segment went out, and could not be repaired until the next morning. There is a $30 per day resort fee charge(which was a bit of a surprise), which can be used towards any hotel dining, but not the coffee shop or the bars. With the least expensive breakfast at about $19 pp you are really not getting much. The resort fee applies to other things, such as kayaking and paddle boards, but that is really not the reason that I came to Tampa. They do give you 2 passes to the water taxi(for 2 people), but since there were 3 of us, that did not go far. Finally, it was never mentioned that the hotel was pet friendly, and for my wife, who is terrified of dogs, having dogs being walked through the main lobby consistently, was disconcerting. Overall, I do not feel that I received true value for what I paid, and will be considering another option when in Tampa again, perhaps even the much more modern and alluring JW Marriott, which is connected to the Water St. Marriott by an in hotel bridge.
