welcome in advance to our city .  I highly recommend Westshore/Rocky Point. This is near the airport, lots of good business hotels, and is central to the bay area. You can also consider downtown St Petersburg, which is on the bay (great hotels and restaurants) or Clearwater/beaches (high season right now, the beach is great, lots of tourists, but hotel rates are premium in March). Hope this helps.

I would avoid downtown Tampa, casino/fairgrounds, and USF.  The hotel rates can look attractive, but it is not worth the discount.

Lola are you providing here in Tampa during your visit? If so how about a link to your info for us who just might be in the marketplace??