Tampa 2021 – Summary

Highlights

• Sun and Beach!
• Vacationing with family and not having to work
• Location and activities
• Coming back to NY early for Tomatico’s squash tournament

Lowlights

• Multiple extended hold times with JetBlue
• Last minute cancellation of our first night hotel near Newark
• Rainy first few days, though it cleared up for the last 3
• Hotel elevators were slow and stopped at every floor during peak times, even when full

What Went Right?

• Flying out of the New York area saved us a ton of money, allowed us to visit family, and allowed Tomatico to participate in his first squash tournament
• Early checkin and late checkout in Tampa
• Suite upgrade totally worth it
• Excellent (and free) breakfast for all 5 of us
• Able to use IHG free night certificates for last minute hotel rooms near Newark (EWR)
• Parking at EWR the night before minimized drama the morning of the flight

Takeaways

I have to admit I wasn’t as excited about going to Florida for our fourth trip in a row. I was hoping for a change of scenery, but given that we wanted a warm beach trip, our options were limited, especially given the compressed availability we had due to soccer schedules.

I really enjoyed this trip, though. The hotel worked out very well. The location was excellent. The suite upgrade was worthwhile, especially since it was a free certificate that we didn’t have other plans for. The suite was big enough for the 5 of us to exist comfortably for our stay. While we didn’t use the kitchen or laundry facilities, it could have come in useful for other guests.

The hotel staff was fantastic and the welcome beverage was unexpected and, well, welcome! The hotel location as across the street from the beach and a short walk from dozens of restaurants. We didn’t need to get a car to do any of the local activities, though we did need to get a Lyft to get to things in Tampa itself since the hotel is in Clearwater. If we had plans to do more in Tampa we would probably rent a car next time. For this trip we spent much less on Lyft than we would have on the car rental plus parking.

Choosing to fly out of New York is something we’ve done in the past. Since school vacations are different than in Boston, there isn’t as much demand so prices are often much less. For us, they were about 1/3 to 1/4 the price of similar flights out of Boston so the 3-4 hour drive was well worth it, even factoring in the parking, tolls, and time it took to drive there. The opportunity to visit family in the process softened those costs anyways.

I was happy we were able to change plans for Tomatico and myself to come back early so he could prepare better for his tournament. We had booked one way tickets using points for flexibility and we took full advantage of that. Having a large stash of points with multiple airlines as well as with transferrable points allowed us to make the changes for no cost out of pocket. While I didn’t maximize the value of the points, I got decent value in order to avoid hundreds of dollars for tickets at the last minute.

It was annoying having to wait on hold for multiple hours with JetBlue over the course of 2 calls. The agents indicated it was due to staffing issues more than any weather or operational situation that was causing issues. That’s disappointing, but I suspect it’s something that will become more of the norm as travel ramps up again. At least I was able to make the changes I needed.

It was exceptionally annoying to find out less than 24 hours before checkin that our reservation had been canceled in Newark. My wife never received an email and it’s unclear when the reservation was actually canceled on us. It’s a good thing I checked the day before so I had a little time to find an alternative. The hotel we had booked on a free night certificate held all 5 of us but we couldn’t find another that held 5 that was anywhere close to the airport. Luckily I had the IHG free night certificates to get two rooms. It saved us several hundred dollars or thousands of points that could be put to better use. It was worth far more than the $98 in annual fees for the last two years for the credit card that provided the free night certificates!

For the squash tournament we were able to use one of the Marriott free night certificates we have that is expiring in August. We don’t have definite plans to use them before then so that was a good use for them as well. The hotel was perfect for our purposes, which was mainly a just a comfortable place to sleep.

Overall this was a successful trip and we would strongly consider going back to Clearwater for a larger multi-family vacation adventure in the future. The rooms had the kitchen for those that would rather eat in. There are dozens of restaurants within walking distance for those that want to eat out. The restaurants prices were reasonable for a beach town and much less than Boston or NYC prices. There were activities within walking distance and others that were a short Lyft away so you don’t necessarily need to rent a car. And of course there is the beach and the sunsets. The Tampa airport is pretty small but has enough flights to be pretty easy to get to from most places. It has a lot going for it as a destination.

We enjoyed our time and I’m sure we’ll eventually return. We just have a lot of other places on our wish list before we return to Florida!