RoomExpert - Hotels, Honestly
$$

Embassy Suites By Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center

A downtown hotel near the cruise terminal and streetcar stop, featuring free cooked breakfast and harbor views.

Exceptional · Deep coverage · read from 9 sources · 22 traveler insights
90
RoomExpert Score
Exceptional

The verdict

Who's travelling?

Pick a traveller type to re-weight the scores and re-rank the rooms around what you actually care about.

Read it your way

Located near the cruise terminal and the Riverwalk, this hotel provides convenient downtown access and a complimentary made-to-order omelet breakfast. Guests appreciate the fast internet and the glass elevator views of ships docked in port. However, visits are routinely compromised by slow or nonexistent hot water, persistent mildew odors, and severe elevator delays tied to construction. 5943

Every line below traces back to something a traveler actually wrote — open a line to read the original sentence and follow it to the source.

What travelers noticed

  • Guests consistently praise the downtown location, noting easy access to the cruise port, the Riverwalk, and the free Tampa streetcar stop right outside. 4
  • The complimentary morning breakfast is a major highlight, with reviewers regularly praising the made-to-order omelet station. drawn from the full read
  • Visitors report persistent bathroom plumbing issues, including missing warm water or showers taking up to ten minutes for hot water to arrive. 8
  • Elevator service draws widespread complaints for being muggy and severely delayed, with only two functioning cars creating waits of up to 45 minutes. drawn from the full read

The catch

  • The evening reception divides guests: some enjoy the complimentary drinks, while others describe the food as meager rabbit food in a cramped restaurant lounge. drawn from the full read
  • Opinions on room conditions vary, ranging from comfortable rooms with plenty of outlets to complaints about dirty carpets, sticky floors, and sheets with holes. drawn from the full read

Who it's for

  • Cruise passengers needing quick port access
  • Travelers who want a free cooked breakfast and fast internet
  • Guests relying on the downtown streetcar trolley

Skip it if

  • Guests sensitive to mildew odors or hallway humidity
  • Travelers unwilling to risk elevator delays and hot water issues

How to book

With points
Bookable with Hilton Honors points. We have not priced this property yet.
Book with us

Score breakdown

How the 90/100 is built, category by category — each one with the strongest thing travelers actually said, and the source it came from.

Bathroom

87
read from 1 source · Deep coverage

Nothing quotable yet on this one — the score leans on the rest of the coverage.

Food

92
read from 2 sources · Light coverage
  • Breakfast is good with lots of options...we had a fabulous omelet. 3
  • The staff is fantastic and the breakfast is good. 5

Location

96
read from 1 source · Deep coverage
  • The hotel is at a great location to the cruise terminal. You could walk to the terminal if you wanted too or take the trolley. 5
  • Convenient location. We stayed there for one night post concert in December, 2011. 3

Room

88
read from 1 source · Deep coverage
  • The rooms are large and can probably sleep four people per suite. Possibly 6 if you want to use the pull out couch. 5
  • I stayed at this same property last year during the summer and I remember that my room was unusually warm. I was only there for one night so I didn't bother switching hotels because it was just on the right side of being bearable. 9

Service

87
read from 1 source · Deep coverage
  • The staff is fantastic and the breakfast is good. 5
  • Nice breakfast and managers reception in the evening. 3

Bed & Sleep

88
read from 1 source · Deep coverage

Nothing quotable yet on this one — the score leans on the rest of the coverage.

Value

84
read from 1 source · Deep coverage
  • I JUST got (last night) a really good deal at the Embassy Suites Downtown for $119.00 per night in June... Might be worth it to just pay for the room and use the points elsewhere! THAT is cheap for an Embassy Suites, especially in Tampa..:D 7

Where it is, how to reach it

513 South Florida Avenue
Tampa, Florida
33602 USA

Details checked 2026-09-10

Open in maps →

Where it sits

Embassy Suites By Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center and the 38 other hotels we cover in Tampa. Hover a marker for the hotel; click to open it.

Stay value

How this property reads against the hotels we cover alongside it. Measured on review evidence, not on a nightly rate.

Punches above its peers

Beats what $$ usually buys

Scores 4 points above the mid-range median of 86, across 655 hotels in the same bracket. In Tampa it sits 6 points above the local median of 84.

Price bracket
$$
Mid-range
This hotel
90
Bracket median
86
Index median
86

Based on 655 comparable hotels.

Which room to ask for

What reviewers say about where to sleep inside this building — by room number where one is named, and otherwise by floor, wing, aspect and position. Every line opens onto the quotes behind it.

No reviewer has yet described a room, floor or aspect specifically enough to act on at this property. Room intelligence appears here the moment they do.

Where travelers agree — and don’t

The topics reviewers split on most. A wide bar means your experience depends on which room you get — or whose opinion you trust.

Service
80
Room
60
Location
31
Food
5
View the 12 things travelers said behind this verdict

Quotes run exactly as travelers wrote them — spelling and all. We trim for length, never for tidiness.

Food2 mentions
  • The staff is fantastic and the breakfast is good. 5
  • Breakfast is good with lots of options...we had a fabulous omelet. 3
Room2 mentions
  • The rooms are large and can probably sleep four people per suite. Possibly 6 if you want to use the pull out couch. 5
  • I stayed at this same property last year during the summer and I remember that my room was unusually warm. I was only there for one night so I didn't bother switching hotels because it was just on the right side of being bearable. 9
Location3 mentions
  • Convenient location. We stayed there for one night post concert in December, 2011. 3
  • The hotel is at a great location to the cruise terminal. You could walk to the terminal if you wanted too or take the trolley. 5
  • The one on Westshore is a nice hotel in a nice area, with good restaurants & shopping easily accessible, but it is not particularly close to the pier & nowhere near the trolley line. 7
Service4 mentions
  • The staff is fantastic and the breakfast is good. 5
  • Management didn't do anything about it. My texts were ignored at first until they texted me back a couple days after checkout to apologize, but not compensation or anything. 9
  • Inconsistent cleanliness: Elevators and rooms reported dirty with odors. 8
  • Nice breakfast and managers reception in the evening. 3
Value1 mention
  • I JUST got (last night) a really good deal at the Embassy Suites Downtown for $119.00 per night in June... Might be worth it to just pay for the room and use the points elsewhere! THAT is cheap for an Embassy Suites, especially in Tampa..:D 7

What we still don't know

What we can’t tell you yet, said plainly. These close as we read more coverage of this hotel.

  • No reviewer has named an individual room number here yet.
  • Nothing reliable said about room types.
  • Nothing reliable said about floor level.
  • Nothing reliable said about building or wing.
  • Nothing reliable said about which side it faces.
  • Nothing reliable said about view.
  • Nothing reliable said about position on the floor.
  • Food rests on 2 sources — too thin to rely on.

Ask about Embassy Suites By Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center

Answered only from the coverage cited on this page. If nobody has written about your question, it will say so rather than guess.

How much we read

Deep coverage · 45/100

We read 9 sources for this property, and pulled 22 traveler insights worth knowing. Last checked 2026-09-11.

0
Editorial
9
Blogs & sites
0
Video reviews
0
Podcast segments
Breadth
25
Depth
38
Freshness
98

Watch this hotel

We keep reading Embassy Suites By Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center. Tell us when you're staying and we'll follow it until then — you'll hear from us only when the verdict is rewritten, the score moves, or new reviews land. No daily mail, and the watch closes itself after your stay.

Sources

Everything quoted on this page, grouped by traveler insights, outlets, and video & podcast. Counts beside each group show everything we’ve read of that kind; no one kind can carry the score on its own.

2 of 6 summary lines above are traced to specific quotes. The rest summarise the read as a whole rather than any single document.

View all 9 cited sources

Everything quoted on this page.

  1. 9
    Embassy Suites Tampa USF : r/Hilton
    reddit.comForum thread2026-02-15Current5 quotes used
    AC went out in the building once. When it got fixed it took three days to bring the atrium to a reasonable temperature.
    Read originalreddit.com
  2. 4
    Tampa: Hyatt House or Embassy Suites Downtown?
    reddit.comForum thread2025-03-09Recent2 quotes used
    I would probably choose Embassy..I could see that Embassy had a nice looking pool. It is also in a great location, and there is a free Tampa street car trolley train stop right outside the hotel that you can ride for 2 o…
    Read originalreddit.com
  3. 5
    Tell me about Embassy Suites, Tampa!! - Florida Departures
    boards.cruisecritic.comReview site2005-07-07Ageing6 quotes used
    The staff is fantastic and the breakfast is good.
    Read originalboards.cruisecritic.com
  4. 3
    Embassy Suites Tampa ?? - Florida Departures
    boards.cruisecritic.comReview site2005-05-09Ageing3 quotes used
    Breakfast is good with lots of options...we had a fabulous omelet.
    Read originalboards.cruisecritic.com
  5. 7
    Which Hilton hotel in Tampa precruise? - Florida Departures
    boards.cruisecritic.comReview site2003-03-20Ageing2 quotes used
    I JUST got (last night) a really good deal at the Embassy Suites Downtown for $119.00 per night in June... Might be worth it to just pay for the room and use the points elsewhere! THAT is cheap for an Embassy Suites, esp…
    Read originalboards.cruisecritic.com
  6. 1
Showing 6 of 9 cited · 9 read
1/2