Another birthday, another staycation. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful place, a place most people have to fly to for vacation. But not us! Last year the Husband took me to the Aloft Tampa and the Epicurean Hotel, both in Tampa, for my birthday weekend.
This year I wanted to go to the beach. I just wanted to lay outside on the beach, read a book, and relax. The last time we stayed at the Loews Don CeSar we were disappointed so we decided to try the new Hotel Zamora. It’ the first hotel to open on St Pete Beach in decades.
The hotel is beautiful, from the outside to the lobby to the guest rooms. We had a king junior suite with a Gulf view. The hotel is actually across the street from the beach so it’s not much of a Gulf view, but you can see the water.
Lobby.
Gulf view…
Check in was quick and easy and they even let us check in early, even though it was Labor Day. The staff was friendly as well.
Our room was on the third floor so we headed up the elevator to our room. The fitness center was also on the third floor and looked pretty nice.
The rooms have a funny entryway. You go through a door with a little peep door into a small hallway, where you find the doors to two rooms. The rooms have a locked doorway between them, so you can book a group of people together. Nice for large families, but not so much for everyone else. We could literally hear everything the group of girls next to us were saying. Word for word. And I don’t think that they were being terribly loud; I think the walls are quite thin.
The room was gorgeous and had lots of lounging areas. Our suite had a living room with a couch and a door that you can close between the bedroom and the living room, in case someone is sleeping on the couch.
Living room in to the bedroom.
The bedroom was large and had a comfortable king size bed and a nice sitting area, as well as a desk area.
The bathroom was large, with a watercloset for the toilet and a huge walk-in shower with a handheld shower head and a waterfall shower head. It was a glorious shower.
The pool area was on the intercoastal and has a beautiful view of the waterway. There were plenty of lounge chairs and the pool was both outside in the sun and underneath the roof, ideal for when it rains (well, except for when it’s lightning). There is a nice size hot tub as well.
We had a little rain but the bar area was covered and it was nice to watch the rain.
The pool bar had a pretty good variety but no menu. So if you were undecided or wanted something other than your regular go-to drink, you were on your own. You also had to go to the bar to get a drink; there weren’t any servers in the pool area, at least none that I saw.
They recently opened a rooftop bar that apparently has amazing views. Unfortunately, once it rains, they close it and don’t reopen. So even though it was nice out by sunset the bar remained closed so we never got a chance to check it out.
I was disappointingly underwhelmed by our stay. With such fabulous hotels popping up all over Tampa Bay I thought that a brand new one would blow my socks off. But everything (save the shower) was just ok. It was nice but nothing wowed me. We had mentioned that is was my birthday on both the reservation and via social media, but I didn’t even get a happy birthday when we checked in. I know that’s just a little detail but I’m used to staying at places that make you feel good about choosing them for your celebration. There wasn’t any cool new technology either. Our hotel during a recent stay in San Antonio had a remote control by the bed that literally controlled everything. You could turn on the lights, change the temperature, even turn on the do not disturb light right from bed! Now that wowed me, and the hotel was historic, albeit renovated, hotel. Our hotel in Zurich had an interactive TV that knew I spoke English, called me Mrs Bath and even allowed for streaming from your phone. It was super cool and something that I tell people about often.
I’m glad I was finally able to stay at Hotel Zamora but I doubt I’ll stay again. I’ll probably go back to staying at the Don or one of the other hotels on the beach. There are so many to chose from.
I would like to see the rooftop bar so I will probably stop back for that reason only. Again, there was nothing wrong with our stay but it was just ok.
Hotel Rating
(Zero being worst, ten being the best)
Cleanliness: 10
Friendliness: 8
Experience: 5
Comfort: 8
Value: 5
Amenities: 8
Location: 7
Overall Rating: 5
Referral rating: 5