Room that won't bore visiting friends and relatives

Winter guests - and you - can find a lot to like in hotels and inns near the bay area's best destinations.

By Janet Keeler, Times food and travel editor
Published December 16, 2007

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Poor souls now scraping ice from windshields dream about our white sand beaches, balmy temperatures and stone crab claws.

But there's more than sun and surf to draw family and friends from Duluth, Des Moines and Detroit. The promise of free room and board is mighty alluring, too.

Guest rooms and pullout couches around Tampa Bay get a workout from now until late April. That's about the time humidity chases away the sane people. But what if there is no room in your inn? Or if your family and friends want to stay on their own?

What hotel would you recommend?

We went in search of accommodations that showcase the best of where we live. Our goal was to find hotels and inns within walking distance of stores, restaurants, museums, movie theaters or natural wonders, like parks and beaches. If the folks are coming all the way from Pittsburgh, they should feel the sand between their toes.

We looked for hotels beyond the area's grand dames - the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg and the Don CeSar Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach. Lovely though they are, everyone knows them. We wanted lesser-known accommodations that would show visitors what we like about living here and why it's different, other than the obvious climate changes.

It wasn't easy, even though we live in tourist country, and our streets are paved with mid-market chain hotels. Your visitors definitely will know what they're getting when you book them into a boxy La Hamfort Inn 8, but it may not seem any different than their hometown.

Also affecting our search was the 5,000 hotel rooms that Pinellas County has lost to condo development in the past four years. Most of those were at water's edge.

D.T. Minich, executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, is hopeful some of those rooms will return. Earlier this year, Pinellas County commissioners okayed a plan to increase the number of hotel rooms allowed per acre. This could make hotel construction more appealing to developers.

"There's still a lot of options up and down the beach," Minich says. "We have some mom-and-pops and mid-market hotels plus the luxury Don CeSar St. Pete Beach and Sandpearl (Clearwater Beach)."

The condos that have sprung up like weeds are not all solely weeklong havens. Many, Minich says, rent for as little as one night and are convenient because they have kitchens. Most don't welcome walk-in clients, however. The visitor's bureau Web site (www.floridasbeach.com) lists management companies. It's also a great source for bed and breakfast suggestions in smaller towns such as Gulfport and Tarpon Springs.

Chains vs. independent

A well-known, mid-priced chain (about $125 a night) is handy when you need a nearby hotel chiefly for showering and sleeping. We've got plenty of those, especially in interior Pinellas County and much of Hillsborough County. There you'll find plenty of La Quintas, Hampton Inns, Comfort Inns and Holiday Inns, among others.

These chains provide consistent amenities at a decent price, often with breakfast included. The pricier chains such as Renaissance and Marriott have even more bells and whistles, including restaurants.

At independents, particularly the less-expensive hotels, you may have to live with mismatched or dowdy furnishings or not-so-plush linens. We find those allowances easy to make in exchange for a sunset view or an easy stroll to a variety of restaurants.

We strongly recommend that you visit a hotel before you book it for your friends or family. Ask to see a room. Assess the parking situation. Make sure your grandfather can get around easily or that children are really welcome. How does the pool look?

The recently opened Sandpearl Resort on Clearwater Beach is a lovely addition to the beach hotel menu. However, the building and road construction going on around it might be too much for out-of-town drivers. You won't know for sure unless you drive the gantlet yourself.

Place in the sun

Here are some areas and a few hotels to consider for out-of-town guests. Check them out in person to make sure they suit you. Also, Tripadvisor.com compiles guest reviews of hotels around the world. It is worth your time to search for comments about a hotel you're interested in.

The beaches:

The southern Pinellas County beaches beckon land-locked visitors with gorgeous white sand. There are lots of restaurants on Gulf Boulevard and ticky-tacky souvenir shops. A beach trolley travels north and south for people without cars, or who don't want to take their chances in high-season traffic.

This is the spot to send relatives who want to take long walks on the beach and enjoy the nightly sunset show.

On Pass-A-Grille, at the southern tip of the Pinellas beaches, the Sabal Palms Inn (1301 Gulf Way; (727) 367-1305 or www.sabalpalms.com) and Inn on the Beach (1401 Gulf Way, (727) 360-8844; www.innonbeach.com) offer both nightly ($110 to $345) and weekly rates ($700 to $1,500). Accommodations range from standard hotel rooms to multiroom apartments.

Visitors shouldn't miss breakfast at the Seaside Grille across the street. Keep those eyes peeled for jumping dolphins, but don't feed the aggressive seabirds lest you be chastised by a restaurant employee over a loudspeaker.

On St. Pete Beach, we like the funky Bon Aire Resort Motel (4350 Gulf Blvd., (727) 360-5596; www.bonaireresort.com) as much for its retro bar on the beach as anything else. This is the hotel to book if you want to show them how Florida looked before condo canyons and beachfront McMansions. For a waterfront stay, the rates are reasonable (from about $65 to $220 a night) and there are lots of room types to choose from.

The Alden Beach Resort (5900 Gulf Blvd., (727) 360-7081; www.aldenbeachresort.com) is another good alternative on the beach, offering efficiencies, apartments and standard hotel rooms ($150 to $350 a night). We like the Alden for long stays because of the spacious rooms. Try to get a balcony on the beach.

Farther up Gulf Boulevard, in mid county, is the lovely and lushly landscaped Hotel Isis at Redington Shores (17566 Gulf Blvd., (727) 391-0247; www.hotelisis.com). There is decidedly less to do along this largely residential section of the beaches but it's a good location for visitors whose relatives live in Largo or Seminole. If they like to fish, so much the better. The Redington Long Pier is in the hotel's back yard.

Isis is recently refurbished and each room has a flat-panel TV. Nightly rates are $139 to $229 for standard rooms and one- or two-bedroom suites; weekly rates are available.

More Pinellas County:

Dunedin is a quaint spot with a lively, small downtown. Consider the older Best Western Yacht Harbor Inn (150 Marina Plaza; (727) 733-4121; www.bestwestern.com) or the new Holiday Inn Express (975 Broadway St., (727) 450-1200; www.ichotelsgroup.com). Both are a short walk to shops and some of the county's best restaurants including Kelly's for Just About Anything (319 Main St., (727) 736-5284). Nightly rates for the two Dunedin hotels are $140 to $190.

A green market in Pioneer Park at Douglas Avenue and Main Street is a fun diversion from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. Get breakfast from the crepe truck.

The place to be and stay in St. Petersburg is the revitalized, hopping downtown with its vibrant art scene and growing menu of restaurants. The Saturday Morning Market, Museum of Fine Arts, the Pier and BayWalk movie and shopping complex are all within walking distance of two side-by-side hotels. The Hampton Inn & Suites (80 Beach Drive NE, (727) 892-9900; www.stpetehamptonsuites.com) and the historic Ponce de Leon Hotel (95 Central Ave., (727) 550-9300; www.poncedeleonhotel.com) are in the thick of everything.

We like the Hampton for its clean rooms and great beds ($214 to $244 a night) and recommend the Ponce de Leon for the hip factor ($79 to $149 a night with weekly rates available).

We don't know if Babe Ruth or other legendary baseball players ever stayed at the Ponce, which was built in 1922, but we like to think so. This is the place to send guests who want to stay in a hotel with character but not a lot of amenities. Hopefully, they'll wander into Ceviche, the tapas restaurant and bar downstairs. If they're on the floors directly above it, they'll hear the festive frivolity way past 10 p.m. (Ask for the fifth or sixth floor if noise is a factor.)

Hillsborough County:

Send history buffs who want a side of wild to the Don Vicente de Ybor Historic Inn in Ybor City (1915 Avenida Republica de Cuba, (813) 241-4545; www.donvicenteinn.com). Tucked among the nightclubs and shopping mall, new hotels and parking garages, is the 16-room boutique hotel. The Don Vicente is a peek at what Ybor was before Guavaween and the boozification of the historic district. Rates are $140 to $170 a night.

Book your shop-til-you-drop visitors at the Renaissance Tampa Hotel International Plaza (4200 Jim Walter Blvd., (813) 877-9200; www.marriott.com). Attached to International Plaza and its multitude of stores and restaurants, the beautiful hotel offers luxury they'll never get from your spare room. You may not see them the entire time they're in town. Nightly rates are $190 to $300.

Good enough for the relatives? Heck, these places are fun enough for a long weekend away for you.

Information from Times wires was used in this report. Janet K. Keeler can be reached at (727) 893-8586 or e-mail jkeeler@sptimes.com.

Your favorite local accommodations

The hotels mentioned in this story are just a sampling of what's available in the Tampa Bay area.

Do you have a favorite hotel to house visiting friends and relatives? If so, tell us about it by sending an e-mail to features@sptimes.com. Please put HOTELS in the subject line and include your name and daytime phone number.

[Last modified December 18, 2007, 07:41:40]