tampa fl hotel High

The city of Tampa is situated on the western coast of the state of Florida in the USA.
With a thriving commercial seaport and many waterfront areas, Tampa is also close
to a number of notable beaches, such as Clearwater and St. Pete. Located across
from St. Petersburg and within easy reach of Orlando, the city has much to offer
visitors, including many historic sites, family attractions and major sporting venues.
Tampa currently has a population in excess of 300,000 and covers more than 110
square miles / 285 square kilometers.
Tampa also features a wealth of shopping centers, together with restaurants, bars
and a healthy nightlife. Much of city life is centered around the downtown area,
which contains the Port of Tampa and the Waterfront district. With two universities,
many entertainment venues and the outstanding Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center,
the city has earned itself a reputation for being Florida's cultural center.
Tampa Tourism:
Tourist attractions in Tampa are extremely impressive, with many superb beaches
nearby making Tampa the perfect holiday destination. Facilities include imposing
landmarks and monuments, museums and art galleries, many must-see sights and
family attractions, recreational activities, and a number of large parklands and
gardens. Top attractions include Busch Gardens, which is one of the best theme
parks in the whole of Florida, with thrilling rides combined with a vast zoo.
Also worth a visit in Tampa are the Florida Aquarium, Dinosaur World, the Weeki
Wachee Springs, the extremely historic Sacred Heart Catholic Church and the
Raymond James Stadium, which regularly hosts major professional football games
and is the home ground of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Throughout the year the city
regularly features many exciting festivals, including the extremely popular
Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which is held each year during January and always attracts
large crowds.
Tampa Transport:
Around Tampa, public transport is well ordered and the city is easy to reach by
road, with nearby highways and interstates. Greyhound buses operate within
Tampa and travel to a number of Florida cities, including Orlando and Miami. Other
popular modes of transport include Amtrak trains, inner-city streetcars and taxis,
which should generally be booked in advance.
Tampa International Airport (TPA) stands around 7 miles / 11 km from the city
center and is an important transport hub, regarded as one of America's most
efficient airports. With many passengers arriving each day, Tampa Airport offers a
range of convenient ground transport, such as shuttle buses, taxis and car rental
options.
Tampa Hotels:
Being a popular and sunny coastal city, with many exceptional attractions, it comes
as no surprise that Tampa offers an array of hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and
affordable accommodation. Some of the most popular hotels in the city can be
found in the heart of the downtown district, close to facilities such as shops and
restaurants. Also, a number of waterfront hotels in Tampa offer exceptional coastal
views and are extremely desirable, although the hotel rates often carry a premium,
particularly during the high season, which is from January to April. Weekend and
summer rates are usually reduced and this is a good time to find discounts.
Tampa Restaurants:
Tampa has an abundance of restaurants, which are readily available and suit every
palate. Restaurants, cafes and bars have developed greatly in recent years, due to
the rapidly expanding tourism trade and busy seaport. Concentrated around the
central areas of Tampa, in the Hyde Park neighborhood - particularly along South
Howard Avenue, the waterfront and throughout the lively Ybor district, most types
of cuisine can be found in Tampa, including fast food at large food courts in
shopping malls, traditional Hispanic eateries and exclusive seafood restaurants
along the coastline.
Tampa Shopping:
The city offers a diverse shopping destination, with a large and varied selection of
shops and stores. Facilities in Tampa include many designer outlets, well-known
department stores, top boutiques and shopping malls. Popular shopping areas
include the city's historic and cultural areas, the Centro Ybor Mall - which is located
in the Ybor Historic District, and Old Hyde Park Village in Tampa's Old Hyde Park
district, where you will find a mixture of modern stores, specialty shops and art
galleries, in a particularly scenic setting.
Tampa Weather:
Tampa features warm and sunny weather, with pleasant breezes from the ocean.
Temperatures during June through August are at their hottest and can attain highs
of around 33°C / 91°F. Winter and spring are warm seasons and many
people choose to visit the Tampa area at this time of the year. December and
January are the coldest months with daytime temperatures remaining extremely
mild and warm, generally around 22°C / 72°F, although lows of
15°C / 59°F may be experienced.

Nia Rees writes for World Guides - providers of travel and tourist information for major cities throughout the world. For further tourist information about Tampa, Florida, USA visit: Tourist Information About Tampa, Florida For further airport information visit: Visitors Guide to Tampa International Airport (TPA)

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If you are a hotel industry professional then you probably know the importance of Internet marketing in regards to achieving sales goals and high online conversion rates. There are many pieces to this puzzle, but the purpose of this article is to focus on one very important piece that is often overlooked by hotel general managers, management companies, and sales managers alike. That piece of the puzzle is online rich media.
Online rich media can mean many different things to hoteliers and to potential guests. Rich media can be a 360 degree interactive virtual tour. It can be a web-based streaming video that is able to be shared with others. It can be an interactive Flash presentation or application. It can also be an interactive photo slideshow. Rich media can be downloaded to a user's computer, presented on a CD or DVD, and/or distributed and viewed via the Internet. The main point here is that rich media engages people and puts them in control of the content that they are viewing.
In the hotel industry, rich media allows potential guests to immerse themselves in a property prior to actually booking a reservation. It allows people to educate themselves and make informed decisions before actually pulling out their credit cards to book a stay at a hotel or resort. Needless to say, the rich media that is produced for a property must accurately reflect what the property actually has to offer. How many times have you gone online to book a hotel room and were presented with outdated photos and virtual tours that paint a horrible picture of the property, only to find out later that the property has recently been fully remodeled with new bedding, flat screen televisions, landscaping and other amenities? That property is cutting their selves short and losing business. Or even worse, have you ever been presented with generalized media that does not accurately reflect the actual property that you are booking a room with. You arrive for check-in and are astonished by the poor condition of the hotel and the room you are about to stay in. You tell the manager, "This isn't the same place I saw online!" The importance of rich media in a hotel's overall marketing plan cannot be stressed enough. Keeping this media current is very important.
According to recent industry statistics, over half of all Internet users have taken virtual tours and the numbers are increasing daily. Millions of people view hotel virtual tours, hotel videos, hotel photo slideshows, and hotel photos online each and every single day! At the end of 2007, approximately 300 million people were surfing the Internet over a broadband connection, opening up an extremely large audience that can experience rich media without waiting a long time for the content to download. Hoteliers must realize the value of rich media content and the influence it has on its potential guests' decision making. Hoteliers need to provide high quality content to the ever-increasing population of broadband Internet users in order to compete in the current marketplace.
Inflation, war, high fuel costs, and airlines that nickel-and-dime their passengers are all working against the hospitality industry. According to the Travel Industry Association, "The July Travel Price Index, TPI, rose 9.4 percent compared to July 2007. Gasoline prices increased 0.7 percent from June and jumped 38.3 percent from one year ago. Lodging prices were down 0.2 percent compared to July 2007 and increased 3.1 percent from last month. Airfares increased 19.9 percent against twelve months earlier and rose 2.1 percent from previous month. The Consumer Price Index, or CPI-U, was up 5.6 percent from July 2007."
People are just not travelling as much as they used to. Family vacations are being reduced from multi-week trips across the country to simple one day visits to the local parks and attractions. Times are tough, and so is the competition in the hotel business! Simply stated... the hotels and resorts that invest in high-quality virtual tours, photography and other rich media will have the competitive edge over properties that do not. They will see higher conversion rates and will retain more repeat visitors. They will build loyalty and trust with their guests by providing accurate visual content that helps them make more informed decisions.