Driving an Exceptional Guest Experience

October 1, 2025 | Operations

While behind the wheel of a hotel shuttle, what Miguel Maldonado truly drives is an exceptional guest experience at Hampton Inn & Suites Ybor City.

“I always wake up happy that I’m going to work,” he says, “and my job is making sure our guests are happy to be here, too!”  

Indeed. With a smiling face and a helping hand, Maldonado personifies the brand’s promised “Hamptonality.”  

“Miguel is so much more than our shuttle driver,” says General Manager Crystal Arthur, noting she’s lost count of the 5-star guest reviews that mention him by name. “He is, in every essence, a hospitality ambassador.”

One example: Maldonado was driving a family of hotel guests to the Port Tampa Bay cruise terminal. Just as they arrived, the father’s belt broke. Without enough time to go back into town for a replacement, the shuttle driver cheerily removed his own belt and handed it to the grateful guest to take aboard the ship.  

“You can’t go to the Captain’s Dinner without a belt,” Maldonado says. 

The Hampton Inn management team only learned of this via the guests’ thank-you note that arrived along with a photo of the family (complete with Dad wearing Maldonado’s belt) on their cruise.

“Miguel never mentions his many, many acts of kindness himself — to him, doing whatever it takes to make it right is all in a day’s work — but we hear about it from guests all the time,” Arthur says.   

Maldonado’s shirt-off-his-back spirit extends to coworkers, too. He drives out of his way on his morning commute to pick up one of the housekeepers, thus minimizing her transportation challenges. He’s quick to assist with any task he comes across, from laundry to maintenance to breakfast service.

Hospitality is a second career for Maldonado, who joined Hampton Inn & Suites Ybor City in March 2023 after two decades working as a case manager for a benefits-related organization.

“I didn’t know working in a hotel would be so much fun,” he says. “I enjoy the face-to-face interactions with guests. I love being able to tell them about Ybor City: places to eat, things to do, sights to see while they’re in town.” 

Guests love it, too. Here’s a sampling of what they say:

• We could not praise Miguel, the transportation driver, enough. He gave us lots of information during our stay.
• Shuttle driver was phenomenal. He was really informative about the history of Ybor City. We took his advice and had a great time.
• Special kudos to Miguel, who helped us negotiate our outside explorations.
• This hotel was a great option before our cruise. … Miguel is 100% fabulous. He gave us a nice history lesson while driving us around. We actually had a different hotel booked for when we got back, but ended up cancelling that and staying here again because we were so impressed.    
• You have a gem in Miguel.

A gem who truly shines.

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