Hawks Cay Resort Hotel

I returned from Hawks Cay Resort on March 16th and spent 6 days there with my husband and 4 kids. I was somewhat uneasy about going because of the reviews on tripadvisors. Our rate was $279 for a conch villa and that was hard to beat for what Hawks Cay had to offer. We had a faboulous time at Hawks Cay and would return. The hotel looks old and that is why in April it is going to be reburfished. THe resort's new owner is spending $50 million to fix up the resort. The grounds on the resort are beautiful and kept up. The resort is 60 acres and a great place to take walks and ride bikes. The Cantina by the main pool was great and the staff was super! My kids loved the lagoon and the pirate ship. All the pools were great. At night we loved swimming at the sunset pool that was not crowded. Room service and housekeeping were friendly and prompt. Everyperson at the resort was so nice and polite. The only problem we ecounted on our trip was the wind and the pullout sofa. Our snorkling trip was cancelled three days in a row due to winds. We still had fun at the resort that day. The pullout sofa in our villa was not comfortable at all but not many pullout beds are. We were not looking for a whole lot of night life. There is every type of water activity to do at Hawks Cay. We had dinner at the Island in Marathon and the Marada Cafe in Islamarda. Both were wonderful! So many of the hotels or should I say motels in the keys are runned down. Hawks Cay and Cheeca Lodge are two of the best. Key West is whole different place and not where I would take my kids at spring break. My kids loved fishing right out the back of our villa. I would stay there again but not at $600 a night. The holet offered me the lower price after saying I would have to call back. A big difference from $600 to $279. There is a promotion courrently going on I would ask about when you call to make reservation.

Don't let word of mouth send you here. The hotel is old. If you decide to go make sure you stay in a village, cottage, etc. Stay clear of the hotel. It looks like an old hospital and kind of feels like one too. All the lounge chairs around the pool and beach area are hard plastic and there is no way to fix the uncomfort. Also, you will be terribly bored if your there for more than 2 days. Best bet, stay in Key West or South Beach....

We stayed at Hawk's Cay through a business conference booked through our organization's representatives. The conference rooms and continental breakfast provided in the meetings were very nice. Tables, chairs, room size, temperature in the meeting rooms were all very good. Seemed organized and handled professionally. We stayed in a regular room facing the parking lot. The room was clean (which is the most important thing to me) and a decent size. There was internet connection available for a fee in the room. Wireless connection was available for free only in a few public areas. The Cable/TV picture was not good. We called to see if they could improve the connection or switch out the TV and they sent a maintenance guy, however, he could not fix it and had no extra TV's. From the sound of things in the other reviews, their overall cable connection sounds like it has problems. We could not get the temperature in our room to stay over 68 degrees. It was always COLD in the room (usually 65 degrees) The only way to warm it up was to turn the air completely off, and then the room seemed to get stagnant or stuffy. So, be prepared and bring a sweatshirt for in the room. We only sat next to the main pool and the adult pool. Both were very nice and we enjoyed the palm trees and scenery. There was a nice "beach" area built within a closed off area surrounded by the canal. But, don't expect a real "beach". I don't think the keys really have many sandy beach areas, mostly mangrove. The wild iguana lizards were entertaining to watch by the adult pool as they cruised by ocassionally. The dolphins in the contained dolphin area were also fun to watch. There is a gormet coffee shop right off of the lobby, so we could get our cappucino in the morning each day. That was a plus! The restaurants were average, and as other reviews have stated, gratuity is already added into the bill, so they don't work as hard to give you good service. Food was a little on the pricey side, as well. I would say on average, 25% higher than I would have expected. Overall, we had a pleasant experience. It looked like the people with younger children had a good time enjoying the amenities. It is a nice, quiet place to relax. Not a lot of night life, so if you are looking for a lot to do at night, this is not the area to go to. For action and night life, you'd be better off in Key West with the spring breakers. I've attached photos to show you the sights. Enjoy!

My Husband, Father, friend, and 4 year old twins stayed at this Resort from March 1st through 3rd, 2007. When we first pulled up to the Resort I was shocked at the looks of it. It looked like a hotel that you would see in a 1960's "I Dream of Genie" rerun from the Coca Beach, Florida area. I was very disappointed and my husband and Father tried to tell me that everything was going to be o.k. Anyway, we went inside and the lobby was nice. Our room was nice and clean (although you could tell that the bathroom was old). It had a mini fridge and coffee maker which was nice...although the cable tv was very fuzzy but it was the same in my Father's room. We went to the pool area connected with the hotel and it was an old pool. My first day there was pretty disappointing and I didn't think I wanted to stay there for 2 more nights. The next day we traveled to Key West and had a great day there which wore all of us out. On the third day, we promised the twins that we would take them to the Pirate Pool and that is when we discovered the beautiful spa pool next to it. There wasn't hardly anyone there, the weather was great and the pool was the perfect temperature. The kids had a great time and so did we. We ended the day renting a boat and going out in the ocean for a couple of hours. By the time we had to leave on Sunday, I decided that I would definately come back again and stay at this resort. The breakfast buffet was good (although we like biscuits and gravy and they didn't have it on the buffet any of the days). There wasn't any variety from day to day on the buffet either. It was the same food everyday. We also ate at the restaurant next to the resort (Windjammer - I think). This place was expensive! The food was o.k. although my friend ended up sick a couple of times that evening (she had something totally different than the rest of us). The one thing that I thought was a big rip off was that they charged us $25.00 a night to rent a roll away bed for the twins. I mean come on, even the Holiday Inn gives us 2 cribs for free. I don't think I would want to stay at this hotel in the winter because you definately wouldn't want to hang out in the rooms anymore than you need to but it is a fun place to stay in the summer.

We just returned from a 6 day stay in one of the "villas" at the resort. I give the place 2 points because my 10 month old did love the pools. Our first villa was filthy. The carpets were disgusting. When I went to give my daughter a bath the first night, her hands left black marks mixed with what looked like hair and dirt all over the tub. This was from her crawling on the floor in our bedroom as 10 month olds like to do while I was running the bath. After 4-5 phone calls to the front desk that night plus the next day we were finally moved to another room which was marginally cleaner. While we packed up our stuff, my 10 month old was playing in the crib provided by the hotel when the bottom of the crib abruptly fell out and the whole thing collapsed on her. As the crib was fairly high off the floor, my daughter could have been seriously injured - luckily she was not. The only thing the hotel manager asked me when I informed her of what happened and asked for a pack-n-play instead was 'is she okay'. There were no other apologies. A day later in the new place I woke up covered in what looked and felt like flea bites. The hotel said it was 'noseeums'(?). All I know is they were small, black and hopped. They sent an exterminator but I still found another one hopping on my leg that night. Our villa was around $400 a night and for that I expect someplace that is clean and not infested with bugs. I would also have expected the staff to be more accomodating and helpful given the things that happened. They were not. I heard rumors that the place has been sold so perhaps that it why no one seemed to care.

Just got back from spending a week at this place and I'm not sure why anyone would have anything positive to say about staying here. We stayed in the hotel and paid $200 a night plus a resort charge of $10 plus tax which was for in room coffee, use of the pool and tennis courts oh and pool towels?? Forgive me for thinking these things are usually included in the room charge but this resort will milk you for all they can. The room was something I would expect to find at a seedy motel off a freeway somewhere. It smelt so bad I almost gagged every time we entered the room. The carpets were stained and damp. Beds were rock hard and the decor was dated. Don't expect to get any sleep either, doors bang at all hours, people yelling in the hallways and if you have a land view... of the carpark cars come and go all night. The room was cleaned properly a few times over the 6 days we were there but we came back to the room at one point during the day and the door had been left open by the cleaner. A 15% gratuity is automatically added to any food or drink you might order, oh but that is for YOUR convenience. The staff have no incentive to work for a tip because of that reason, so don't expect great service from any of the restaurants, except for Cantina where they were always great. Food is overpriced and very average, eat at the restaurants in Marathon if you have a car. Resort staff are generally unfriendly and sometimes rude. There was also construction going on the week we were there, why they would choose to do this in peak season I have no idea. If you are a couple or a group of adults planning on staying here for a vacation, go elsewhere. They market it as a luxury resort, but it is far from luxury. There is nothing to do for adults at night and unless you are willing to pay a fortune for their water activities you will be very disappointed.

Up front, I'll say that I'm a hotel snob from years of business travel. With some anxiety, I booked Hawks Cay despite many negative reviews; primarily as my 4 yr old twins are pirate fanatics and the pirate ship looked amazing(even better in person). Calling directly we got a better rate that search engines and our rate included the breakfast buffet for 2 adults. Being Presidents' Week, rates were obviously higher, but we've encountered that everywhere. We tried to check-in about 1:30pm, since only a 2 hr drive for us from Ft Lauderdale; but since I asked for a 4th floor room, quiet area, the room wasn't ready. I asked the desk person to inform housekeeping we were waiting, but he didn't seem too excited and his response was "they already know." Our room was finally ready at 4:30pm(4pm is usual check-in). The room was very nice and not at all like I was expecting from some other reviews. We were on the 4th floor, overlooking the parking lot, but could see water. The room was quite larger than some 4 star hotels I have stayed in. Unfortunately, a cold front had arrived so it wasn't great swimming weather our 3 nites. Despite pools being heated, they weren't heated enough and the pirate pool area being more or less a wading pool wasn't heated at all. Fortunately, kids don't mind nearly as much. This resort is definitely a family resort, but there is an adult-only pool(usually empty). If you don't want to be around lots of kids, there are other fine resorts in the area(Cheeca Lodge, Sunset Key, Tranquility Bay). The breakfast buffet was great. The receptionists always had difficulty with our bill(they calculate the check to help out wait staff )as we had a teenager who we had to pay for separately since we had 2 adult buffets in our rate and she counted as an adult. A plus, kids under 5 are free with an adult. We made sure we sat in Donolene's section, a local resident who was in the middle of a 15 day shift, she was just outstanding. We didn't eat at the other restaurants being the typical, over-priced hotel food. If you're staying more than 2-3 nites, rent a car to take advantage of the many, great restaurants in the area(Sharky's Landing and Keys Fisheries in Marathon). And don't miss a tour of the turtle hospital in Marathon! 15% tip is automatically added to bills, but it is noted you can decrease, increase or remove completely. A $10 resort fee for rooms, $20 for villas, is additional per day. Resort fees, energy surcharges, parking fees, etc., just include the charge in the room rate so it doesn't feel like you're getting nickel & dimed. Costs for events for kids at the Indies Club were out of line. $10 to make a shark, beaded necklace? Hair-braiding was also ridiculously priced vs rates in the Bahamas or Jamaica, but they have a captive audience. Those that have commented on lack of beach area need to understand the Keys are not known for beaches, exception of Bahia Honda state park. Overall, I commented a number of times how surprised I was with our experience and generally good service considering the number of negative reports. I also was told the resort has been purchased by a hotel chain, so will be interesting to see what changes.

My husband, our 2 children and I spent 5 days at the Hawk's Cay Resort in Duck Key, Florida in late Feb, 2007. The property was simply breathtaking! We stayed in a 2 bedroom villa with 2 full baths, a kitchen, and a living area. It had a spectacular view of the canal-way off the private patio with patio furniture and a private spa! There were three pools and numerous public hot tubs. There was an area (incluing pool and hot tub) devoted solely to adults. The tennis courts were beautiful. Our 10 year old son enjoyed several nights at the "Cove" which catered to the pre-teen with its video games, air hockey table, and ping pong table. One afternoon we took a scenic drive down to spend the day at Key West (about an hour drive). There was a full service spa on the grounds where my 18 year old daughter and I enjoyed a Mother/Daughter massage. It was wonderful! The dining on the property was okay, but nothing to write home about. We preferred driving into Marathon or into Islamarada to dine. All in all, it was a beautiful resort which I would highly recommend!

We just got back from Hawks' Cay last week and several review sites had me scared to go. People complained about everything from cleanliness to money. My husband and I went with our 9 yr old daughter for winter break. And I booked this LAST minute. We had a BLAST. Our room was very clean (we stayed in the hotel) There are 5 pools. We found a pool behind the kids Pirate ship that was nice and quite and close enough to the Indies club. Our daughter had fun making crafts and swimming. She met 3 friend in a 2 day period. yes, I won't argue it's pricey. Ours was a package deal so I'm not sure exactly what we paid for our room per night. There is a $10/day per room resort fee. We really had no problem with this. I've heard that it's to keep riff raff out. The hotel was beautiful and clean. The staff was friendly and helpful. The only complaint I could say I had was the buffet breakfast in the Palm Terrace was expensive. $15.95/adult & 7.95/child + 15% gratuity. But that was fine...no one made us eat there. We could have gone off the resort to eat which we did after the second day. My husband rented a kayak and we did the sunset cruise. That was on a sailboat. I got sea sick :-(, but the sunset was awesome! It's a nice quiet place to relax. There was even a lagoon that you could swim in besides the 5 pools. The dolphin encounters were all booked. But you got to see them all day anyway. I think they were in an awful small area for the amount of dolphins they had. We counted 6! I would recommend this hotel, we had a great family vacation. It is surely not for those that are afraid to spend some money.

We booked on Expedia and got $170 per night. The resort was a great location and very removed from the loud and hectic atmoshpere of Key West. The staff was very friendly and we found the accommodations to be nice. We were very nervous after we read some of the reviews but were pleasantly surprised by the resort. Also, thought it was funny that some of the reviewers were upset about the weather. I don't think the resort could control that aspect of travel.