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Hotel busted for preparing breakfast buffet in 'unsanitary conditions'

At the St. Pete Hampton Inn on U.S. 19, state records indicate that breakfast might not be as clean as you think.
Credit: 10News Staff
Diners have breakfast at the St. Pete Hampton Inn.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Customers come to Hampton Inn because they know what to expect -- a clean room, friendly staff and free breakfast.

“The free breakfast is the best thing,” said hotel guest Steven Cain, who was visiting from Atlanta. “You don’t have to leave the hotel or pay for it.”

But at the St. Pete Hampton Inn on U.S. 19, state records indicate that breakfast might not be as clean as you think. The hotel was temporarily ordered to stop food service last week after a state health inspector discovered food being prepared not in the kitchen, but an empty hotel room.

The inspector reported finding clean dishes and plasticware, linens, and even the oatmeal and cereal stored on the room’s carpeted floor with coffee filters not stored in a protected manner to prevent contamination.

The inspector reports no handwash sink in the food preparation area. Only the sink in hotel room’s bathroom was available for use, with no paper towels and no 3-compartment sink or a dish machine. Instead, the inspector says the cook was using a sink in the employee break room to clean the dishes.

“That’s disgusting,” said guest Kristy Voigt. “I’m glad to know that. I won’t eat any of the food here.”

10 News stopped in Thursday afternoon trying to find out what was going on. Hotel staff did not want to speak on camera, but the hotel’s owner explained off-camera the hotel is going through a complete renovation and will soon be transformed into a full-service Holiday Inn.

In the meantime he says, the hotel’s kitchen is under construction and that’s why food was temporarily being made in an empty guest room.

But guests say they’d rather the hotel not serve breakfast at all unless it’s made in a sanitary kitchen where employees can properly wash their hands and the dirty dishes.

“You would think they would want to take better care of their guests,” said Voigt.

The hotel’s owner tells 10News everything is now corrected with a new three-compartment sink installed. But when we asked to see where food is being prepared now, we were told that area is off limits.

The state did clear the hotel to resume serving breakfast, but a re-inspection is still required.

No one from Hampton Inn’s Corporate Office returned our call for comment.

Not all restaurants are substandard. Here's a list of restaurants that got good grades. At the bottom in green are the restaurants with perfect inspections. The rest had near perfect inspections without a single high priority violation.

At the bottom in green are the restaurants with perfect inspections. The rest had near perfect inspections without a single high priority violation.

Perfect 10 List by 10News WTSP on Scribd

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