My husband and I stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Tampa.  I liked the fact that it had a separate bedroom and a kitchen (nice to have a fridge to the store the smoothies for after surgery, and have the option to stay in instead of going to restaurants).   We stayed 3 nights because we had a 7 hour flight from San Francisco, CA and got in late at night.  The hotel and the staff were great!  The staff knew everything about the Norman Parathyroid Center. There were 3 other parathyroid patients staying there at the same time, so we had a chance to compare notes in the lobby and over breakfast. We had  one vacation day before surgery and had a chance to go to Clearwater Beach, walk on the boardwalk,  and sit outside for lunch in sunny 80 degree weather in February!  Beautiful! Flew home to San Francisco the morning after surgery, ice bag in tow ... everything went smoothly.

We also stayed two nights at the Residence Inn in Tampa. It was a nice place to stay, they also had ice cream you could buy and eat after your surgery.

did you rent a car or use a taxi from the airport?