**INITIAl REVIEW**…read more From August 27th to August 30th, 2025, The River Church in Tampa held their Men's Conference known as the "Unshakeable Conference," as in men who are shaken by God will be unshaken by the world. I attended the last two days, and so I didn't drive back and forth from Palm Bay to Tampa, I stayed one night at The Spark by Hilton Tampa. The question is, was staying at the Spark worth it? By all accounts, the concept is really good for someone who is on a budget and needs to stay for a single night, right? Well, sadly, the Spark was not much of a spark, but more of a fizzle. Though an address is provided, Sparkby HIlton Tampa (which I will shorthand simply to Spark for the remainder of this review) is located at the northeast quadrant of the South Faulkenberg Rd. and SR-60, right behind (north) of Bob Evans and La Quinta Inn. Upon arrival, you'll notice the shape of the building looks like an old Hampton Inn... which you learn many of the Spark buildings are the lower-tier Hampton Inns reimagined for this concept. Talk about keeping up with the whole "economic" price and convenience angle they are pushing. The building all-around is updated to be minimalistic with artwork that has no real soul. Imagine geometric wall art. Imagine turf instead of grass. Imagine a simple rectagular pool the size of two bedrooms in space, side-by-side. Now imagine that it is real. That is a Spark. Inside is more of the same. Bland-color washed walls, simple structures with hard angles, so on and so forth. The only bit of "personality" I came across was a table with artwork for charity auction. Simply put: it was not part of Spark, but Spark hosted it. The check-in personnel was hit-or-miss as the initial person to check me in was kind, but did not give me all the information I needed when I asked questions about extending my stay. I understood I would pay the price of the day with an extension, however, I was not told that another security deposit would be required. So you know, security deposit is $100 per stay, and an extension is considered a different stay from the first so another $100 security deposit over the first. The room was minimalistic, too. The amnemities were up-to-date and provided what was needed. For my room, I had a flatscreen HDTV with numerous channels. It also have subscription services you can use to login on. Internet is complimentary and hi-speed. There is a mini-fridge, iron and ironing board, and a hair dryer. Other typical things includes a desk area, one singular chair to sit in, and all the basic toiletries. On the outside, everything was functional, but there were some issues I came across in my room. Some of the light switches were repaired incorrectly so the on/off switch locations are reversed, the hanger on the back of the bathroom door broke off and instead of replacing it, the hotel painted over it. Finally, instead of a safe baseboard door stop for the bathroom door, you know, the ones that are like springs. You know what they decided to do? They used a solid floor stop, the small little butt-looking things that hardstop a door. I wouldn't say that would be a problem, but they installed it in the area people step out of the tub onto a floor towel. If there way any reason someone stubbs their toes on a doorstop, this is it. And also, the bathtub drain didn't stay up so the water kept building up and I would have to manually hold it open to drain the still water after my shower. The free breakfast is a simple selection of cereal, milk, juice, oatmeal, muffins, and bagels. Coffee is complimentary all day long. The gym is literally a cardio hub housing one treadmill, one elliptical, and one stationary bike. There is a four-set medicine ball rack with only two medicine balls, and a balance trainer. Take note the three cardio machines are aged and a lot of the buttons don't even work. I can keep going, but you get the idea. This is a minimalist stay with a price that is supposed to be convenient, but to be frank, I would rather spend the extra $40 or so to stay at a place that has a full breakfast, a better gym, and better accommodations. Ultimately, if you have to stay at a Spark, do so with the intent of not getting much out of it. But besides that, I wouldn't really recommend a Spark to anyone unless they really want to save $40 or more from other (a.k.a. better) overnight options.

I have stayed at many hotels in my life and this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had!…read more To start off our hotel was close to a train somewhere and it went through in the middle of the night (I'm guessing about 1-2 bc I got up to adjust the temperature). It was so loud that it woke me up. Then again in the early morning (6-7?). And the room we had was 130 exactly at the end of the hallway where the exit door was (which is locked). I don't ever stay in this location bc I anticipate noise HOWEVER THE NOISE WAS SO LOUD I COULDN'T SLEEP. People were knocking on the doors, slamming the doors, in & out knocking and yelling and knocking and back and forth. This began after the first noise of a shower that sounded like someone was coming through the wall during the shower! The noise issues is a MAJOR PROBLEM FOR ME! I was so tired and I still didn't get any sleep. Please don't stay here! I also have always stayed in a room with a refrigerator/freezer and a microwave. This is a less than basic room. It has a refrigerator that barely holds the temp and no freezer. No microwave. These things are just a must in today's world. I'm sorry but I have to drink alot of water and I like it cold and I can't do that here. There were also NO COMPLIMENTARY BOTTLES OF WATER OR ANYTHING WHEN WE ARRIVED AT 6:30 pm. Very sad! Disappointed. The room was ok. Size was small but it was fine. The ISSUE WITH THE ROOM WAS THE TEMPERATURE!! I was cold when we got there and the air conditioning was on 62. I moved it to 72 to warm up the room a little (my house is 68 all year) so I expected it to be a decent 70ish to sleep. NO!! All night we were up trying to adjust the temperature to either make it warmer or cooler. The problem was it was going from one extreme to the other! I've never been in a more uncomfortable place than this one. I don't think I can even give 1 star for anything! I'm just going to say AVOID THIS PLACE AND DONT STAY HERE IF YOU WANT SLEEP AND A DECENT TEMP. AND we had the smallest blanket ever that didn't even cover my husband and I and we were trying to huddle together for the warmth. I just don't have anything good to say about this place. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND KEEP GOING TO ANOTHER HOTEL. I suggest you ask about trains, the temp controls and how they handle noise issues. This hotel room should not be used for guests bc it's simply so noisy and people knock on the door, slamming doors to the outside.