A quick visit to the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach turned out to be a nice, affordable beach vacation half an hour outside Tampa.

Disclaimer: This hotel stay was necessary as part of volunteering work I do related to the health care industry. While I did not pay for the room charges, the opinions contained in this post remain my own.

Booking the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach

One of the nice things about the volunteering I do is that it deploys me to different locations across North America. The latest destination for me was Clearwater Beach, about 30 minutes outside of Tampa, Florida. Readers might recall a couple of years ago when I was in Tampa at the Marriott Water Street. Well, I was glad to be out in the area once again, this time at a beach destination.

Anyways, this time I headed off for the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach, which had a negotiated cash rate of only $279/night. Normally there’s also a $35 resort fee you’d have to pay, but we didn’t need to pay it on the negotiated rate. I haven’t said that much before, but seems interesting that if you bring enough business to the hotel that they might waive the resort fee charge though you still get the benefits. If that doesn’t prove that resort fees are bogus, I don’t know what will.

If you’d rather use Wyndham Rewards points here, you’ll find standard rooms cost 30,000 points/night. We value Wyndham Rewards points at 1 cent each, so it can be a decent use of your points here though check the cash price before paying.

Resort fee

The Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach’s $35 resort fee standardly includes the following:

• 2 beach chairs and 1 umbrella on the beach
• Welcome beverage (prosecco)
• In-room bottled water
• Kids 5 and under eat free for breakfast in Ocean Hai
• 10% off retail in the Pallavi Luxury Spa
• Onsite dining discount passport (the more you dine, the bigger the discount)
• Complimentary coffee in the lobby (3AM-6AM daily)
• Pool towels
• Pool pampering, activities, and entertainment
• High-speed Wi-Fi
• Unlimited local and toll-free calls
• In-room Keurig coffee maker
• Access to the fitness center

A few thoughts on these:

• There are a lot of bulleted items, but it feels like a lot of lukewarm items in here like pool towels. Shouldn’t that be a given if you have a pool?
• It’s nice that they have free coffee, but only from 3AM to 6AM? That’s only because the Barista Café opens at 6AM and I guess they don’t want to take away from the revenue they’d otherwise make.
• All Wyndham Rewards members already get free Wi-Fi just for being in the program, so it seems disingenuous to add it to a list of inclusions if it’s a giveaway anyways.

First impressions of the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach

I took a car service in from Tampa International Airport (TPA) and thankfully traffic wasn’t too bad despite some construction going on at the airport. When I arrived at the Wyndham Grand, I was greeted by the rather grand-feeling valet area. I don’t know why more places don’t have a covered area above the valet.

Once you go up the steps at the entrance, if you’re staying at the hotel, you’ll head off to the right. To the left is the Club Wyndham Clearwater Beach, which houses all the timeshare units. Many facilities of the resort and timeshare are shared.

When I stayed here, the hotel was all decked out for the Christmas season. They didn’t have just a single tree, but several and plenty of other decorations throughout. It’s always fun when hotels get into the festive spirit of the season.

I made my way over to the lobby, which was just to the right upon entering the doors. There, I was greeted by a friendly agent who quickly started the process of checking me in. Despite having my Wyndham Rewards Gold membership on file, he didn’t actually acknowledge that I included it until I asked to re-add my number and he said it’s there. Some people wonder if it even matters what someone thanks you for your business with the chain, but it’s at least nice to know they see it so I know I can get credit for the stay.

After the check-in process completed, the front desk agent asked if I would like a glass of prosecco. He poured it from the dispenser hidden away behind the front desk.

I didn’t catch the winery, but it’s not bad. Having a welcome drink adds some classiness to the process and I can appreciate it.

The room

I made my way up the guest elevators to the 6th floor, where I would find my room for this stay (623). You might notice from the picture below that the hallway has a rather yellow hue to it. I don’t really get the wackiness of the coloring in the hallway, but the rest of the property looked pretty nice.

The bedroom

See? The colors seem perfectly reasonable here in the bedroom. In fact, dare I say I enjoy the decor of the room? Since I was here without the kids or Jenn, I was fine with just a singular bed. This king-sized bed is pretty comfortable and firm enough for my preferences. One thing I liked in particular was how plump the pillows were. Overall, I had a very comfortable sleep in this bed.

That said, watch out for that platform the bed sits on. If you’re not paying attention when you walk about the corner of the bed, you might bang your shin. Ask me how I know. It would have been nice if they better aligned the size of the mattress and the platform.

Next to the bed is a chaise, which works if you’re wanting to lounge and watch TV.

Across the room from the chaise is a small table. This is better designed to be an area to eat if you’re dining in your room than it is for doing work. A proper desk would have been helpful, but I get that it doesn’t quite fit with the beachy design they’re going for.

Across from the bed is the TV, dresser, and Keurig machine. Not sure what was going on, but I tried watching TV the first night and it would automatically turn off after about 10 minutes. Guess that’s a sign I shouldn’t watch it.

Under the Keurig machine is a mini-fridge.

And next to the mini-fridge is some Path water for your stay. There are water refill stations throughout the resort, which makes it easy to stay hydrated.

Over by the entrance to the room is the wardrobe, which is actually quite functional. I like the design and would be open to having a similar design at home.

The room has a balcony, which is great for enjoying the warm evening air.

If you’re here at night, you can people-watch as they swim in the pool until late at night. You’re not going to see much else.

During the day, you’ll get a nice view of the beach. Yep, the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach is a stone’s throw away from the beach.

Bathroom

The beach-like feel of the rest of the room extends into the bathroom. There is some lighting around the edging of the mirror above the vanity.

The shower has lots of space and seemed pretty clean. The shower gets plenty hot and the pressure is good, but I’m not a fan of the design. I hate getting doused with cold water at the start of the shower. At least the water seemed to get hot quickly.

Shower amenities are by Beekman 1802. No complaints here!

Hotel activities

At check-in, the agent at the front desk handed me a sheet outlining all the activities at the hotel that month. While obviously knowing the December 2025 schedule isn’t going to be useful for you at this point, it’s still helpful to know there is at least something going on daily by the pool. You can see a list of current activities on the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach website.

The rear of the printed sheet just shows some details about the property. We’ll talk about most of this in the sections below.

This is probably as good of a spot as any to point out that the room keys at the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach are wearable. This design helps if you’re going to the pool or beach but it can rub up against your wrist and be a tad uncomfortable. I’m also not too much of a fan of walking around town with this on to tip off others on where I’m staying.

The pool

The Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach resort has a single pool (with a hot tub) on the first floor. This pool is used by both the timeshare residents and the hotel guests. It’s a popular place to hang out even until 3AM when it closes–at least that’s the story I heard from some I knew who were there into the morning. Both the pool and hot tub are heated.

The background of the pool is a picturesque view of the Gulf of Mexico (not America). If you’re here for sunset, be on the lookout for what’s known as the “green flash” as the sun first dips into the horizon.

The colorful dolphin statues around the pool area were a nice touch too.

There’s a table out here with a set of large Jenga blocks.

One more comment about the pool: this appears to be where they host weddings. It can feel a little awkward to have a bunch of screaming and people in swimsuits mixing with people in tuxedos. Don’t be surprised if a part of the pool area is portioned off on Saturday afternoons.

Fitness center

The fitness center at the resort had plenty of machines, free weights, and natural lighting. It’s also positioned so it gets an excellent view of the beach and the gulf. Sadly, every time I stopped by, there were other guests inside so I couldn’t take a better photo than this one from the outside.

Pallavi Luxury Spa

Around the corner from the fitness center on the second floor is the Pallavi Luxury Spa. I didn’t have a chance to stop in on this trip, but it shouldn’t be surprising that a resort also has spa services.

Hours: 9:30AM – 5PM daily

Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach restaurants

Ocean Hai

The Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach’s main restaurant is called Ocean Hai. This is located right in the lobby near the entrance to the pool. Ocean Hai’s hours are as follows:

• Breakfast:
  • 7AM to 11AM Monday – Friday
  • 7AM to 12PM Saturday & Sunday
• Lunch: 12PM to 2PM daily
• Dinner: 5PM to 10PM

As part of the conference, I was here for both breakfast and lunch. However, I didn’t get a chance to take any photographs of the food. It probably wouldn’t have helped much because sometimes conference food is different than the regular menu. That said, I heard some good things from others about dinner–specifically the flaky sea bass.

DocK’s Pool Bar & Grille

DocK’s is the poolside restaurant that works best if you’re looking for convenience during a day at the pool. From what we’ve seen of the menu, it looks like the typical pool menu. I didn’t hear anyone trying out DocK’s and I didn’t get a chance to check it out myself, but I’m sure it’s fine.

Hours: 11AM to Sunset

eSKPades

Found in the lobby, eSKPades is good for quick to-go items for breakfast or lunch. It also seemed to be a popular spot to grab a drink in the evening. The menu for lunch and dinner seems to be a large variety to satisfy almost everyone, from nachos and tacos to burgers and sushi. This is also where you’ll get coffee from a barista (though if you want free coffee, maybe show up between 3AM and 6AM).

I didn’t get a chance to dine here and I have to admit that I’m not sure the significance of “SKP” being capitalized in the name of the restaurant. Maybe they think it looks fancier that way?

Hours:

• Barista Café: 6AM to 2PM
• Lobby Bar: 11AM to 11PM

In-Room Dining

Here is one thing I tried out. I found the menu fairly easily (just go to https://www.wyndhamgrandclearwater.com/dining and scroll down to the in-room dining pop-up button). One great thing is that it’s available 24 hours a day, which is really helpful if you’re flying in late.

I ordered a Grand Burger and a slice of Chocolate Decadence cake. When making the order, I called the in-room dining number but got an employee who sounded like he was in the middle of delivering another order. A little awkward, but he got the order and room number correct, so it’s good he has a good memory! On top of that, the food arrived quicker than quoted.

The burger wasn’t bad at all. It wasn’t dried out and the bun was slightly toasted. The meat could have used a pinch more flavor but that’s about all I can say. For a room service burger, it hits the spot.

And I splurged a bit with the chocolate cake. Totally not necessary but sometimes you got to treat yourself, right?

Clearwater Beach

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Clearwater Beach at all. The beach is across a small street. Hotel guests have the ability to rent those covered chairs out in the distance by just flashing your wristband. I wish I had more time to just relax out here than I got. Perhaps next time, I’ll bring the kids and let them enjoy the soft sand.

Recommendation: Yes

We recommend the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach to others looking for a nice resort in Central Florida. Some of the best features of the hotel include:

• A comfortable bed
• Good pricing (if the cash price is high, free nights are 30,000 Wyndham points each)
• Stuff to do at the hotel well into the night
• Easy access to a great beach
• Service was friendly from everyone I met

While free nights cost the max Wyndham points per night that Wyndham charges, the pricing is reasonable for what you get. And that’s what ultimately drives my opinion of us recommending it. We’re looking for a good vacation at a good price, which is what you’ll find here.

Have you been to Clearwater Beach before?

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