Wingate was a suggestion from the folks at TBAM, the venue...it is very clean, new, and 2.1 miles from the venue...however, it is a bit of a crawl to the beach proper. On the other hand, much closer to the naughtiness of Ybor City in Tampa as Supa noted.

I will likely stay there for sure on Friday night as I will be at TBAM on Friday afternoon, etc. I am no longer allowed into Ybor City...

On SPB, I checked out Sirata and Tradewinds Sandpiper...I will try haggling with the Sandpiper to see what we can get as far as a group rate...they do not have a 3 day minimum which might encourage folks to stay together...very clean with a beach view pool...covered parking, attentive folks in the front lobby. If you are put off by the 3-day minimum of the Sirata, book Sandpiper--they are maybe 150 meters apart....we can bar-hop. I'm gonna book Sandpiper since SBB is only a 1-nighter for us.

I checked out two other places...if you really want to stay on the beach, next door to the Sandpiper and the Sirata is the Grand Plaza Hotel www.grandplazaflorida.com. Advertised rates for the time period is $279 for bayview and $319 for Gulf, but the "red hot deal rate" is actually $188 and $257, but while this place has nice rooms, free internet, parking, pool towels, etc (I will post photos), it's very dated on the outside, lobby, and hallways...he building looks like it would be at home in a Romanian coastal city (no offense to our Romanian friends)...The lobby is slightly stanky, but the rotating penthouse lounge may be chock full of Springbreakers in March for those in need of some perving.

I also checked out the Alden www.aldenbeachresort.com. A very cool Palm Springs retro entrance disguises a warren of chopped up older buildings in rather dull color schemes...I peeked in the rooms and they were not inspiring...pass..take my word on this.

Edit/PS: Thanks to ylwjacket for the airline info...if folks are flying into MCO (Orlando) that is about a 100 mile drive to SPB.

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