Hard Rock Tampa Adds $65M in Upgrades: Fresh Buffet & More Slots
The already stunning Hard Rock Tampa just pulled back the curtain on an additional $65 million in upgrades.
Hard Rock Tampa continues to evolve with guest-focused upgrades. © Tim Mossholder, Unsplash
Key Facts:
- The casino resort upgraded one entire hotel tower into new non-smoking rooms.
- They also reopened the long-shuttered Fresh Harvest Buffet.
- With the addition of 200 new jobs, total employment is now over 4200 at the property.
- And by adding 350 new slots, their machine count now tops 5200.
Hard Rock Tampa is no stranger to ribbon cuttings, having spent hundreds of millions updating the property in the two decades since it first opened. But this week’s one featured some long-awaited changes sought by casino guests.
Chief amongst them was a newly renovated hotel tower that is entirely nonsmoking. The 240 immaculately updated rooms are in the west tower and have views of the pool area; some even have balconies.
While many floors of the hotel were already nonsmoking, the newly refreshed tower will now be nonsmoking from top to bottom. This will allow guests with severe allergies to avoid even a whiff of someone’s secondhand smoke.
Reasonable Pricing for the Upgraded Buffet
The second fan-favorite update was bringing back the buffet closed more than five years ago during the pandemic. A very reasonably priced dining option at just $29.95 for lunch and a bit pricier at $49.95 for dinner, the buffet was always a go-to option for Hard Rock customers looking for diverse dining options.
Featuring six dining stations, the Fresh Harvest Buffet allows customers to try everything from the Raw bar with shrimp and mussels to the Cucina Italiano with pizza and pasta. They also serve fried chicken and ribs in the American section or head to the dessert bar for dozens of decadent treats. Let’s not forget your $5 off with your Hard Rock Unity card.
Interestingly, the buffet is currently only open Thursday through Sunday, which may reflect staffing issues. However, the Hard Rock did manage to hire more than 200 new staff, the bulk of whom are servers, line cooks, and hostesses in the newly renovated and redesigned buffet.
New Job Opportunities
This bulking up of staff means that more than 4,200 people now work for the Seminole Tribe, which owns Hard Rock Tampa, making them one of the biggest employers in the region. In fact, the Seminoles have more than 60,000 employees at Hard Rock International in more than 70 countries, including the 16 casinos in the US, of which six are in Florida.
After a tumultuous court case finally allowed the tribe to offer games like roulette and craps as well as sports betting at the casino, a bit more than a year ago, the casino focused on getting the new tables and sportsbook open.
Other Novelties– New Slot Area and 40+ Poker Tables
While they now feature over 160 table games and another 40 poker tables, they finally had the time to refresh their slot offerings. They replaced their food court with a new slot area featuring 350 state-of-the-art slot machines like customer favorite Dragon Links.
Dragon Links is so popular that the casino reported paying out 10 jackpots of over a million dollars just on these machines last year. And speaking of jackpots, Hard Rock Tampa paid out more than $2 billion in jackpots of $1200 or more on their 5,200 slots in total in 2024. Even more impressive is that it’s the third year in a row that they’ve surpassed that milestone.
With these new upgrades, Hard Rock Tampa continues to be the premier casino resort destination in South Florida, and we’re sure they are already making new plans for more exciting innovations.
