Hawks Cay Resort & Villas — Hotel in Key Largo

A Beautiful Property That Fails to Deliver on Value and Service

My girlfriend and I stayed at Hawk’s Cay Resort last week for four nights while on a Florida vacation. It came highly recommended, especially since my sister had worked there several years ago and had nothing but great things to say. We arrived with high expectations — but unfortunately, they were quickly met with a string of disappointments.

Arrival was promising. We were greeted by a very friendly bellman, and our villa suite was located right next to the adults-only pool — a great location with a walk-out patio and easy pool access. It felt like a great start.

That night, we took the resort’s golf cart shuttle to dinner at Angler & Ale, which was outstanding. Great food, solid drinks, attentive service, and a fun, laid-back vibe (see my separate review). We ended the night feeling optimistic.

Unfortunately, the rest of the experience didn’t live up to that first impression.

The Room: Far from 5-Star

While the beds were comfortable, the rest of the room was underwhelming. The shower was old and basic, with nothing more than a flimsy hotel-style curtain, no glass enclosure, and very little water pressure. The bathroom was dimly lit, and the sink drained slowly, which got annoying fast. For a resort in this price range, we expected a modern, well-lit bathroom with high-end touches — not something that felt more budget motel than tropical luxury.

The TV was glitchy and hard to use, and several power outlets didn’t work at all, which made charging devices a daily game of musical chairs.

Overpromised Amenities

We were excited to explore the property and take advantage of the dolphin experience and check out the alligators, both of which were heavily promoted at check-in.

Reality check: The dolphins are kept in a very small dockside enclosure, maybe 10x10 feet, with limited visibility unless you’re tall or pay for a tour. It felt cramped and, honestly, a little sad.

The alligators are not even on property — they’re part of a separate attraction you have to drive to and pay for. That would’ve been fine if the resort didn’t make it seem like an included, on-site feature in the brochure provided at check-in.

Want to snorkel in their saltwater lagoon? That’ll cost you too. The lagoon is just a manmade pool filled with seawater, not connected to the ocean, and definitely not worth the extra charge.

Drinks & Service: Hit or Miss (Mostly Miss)

The bar drinks were all over the place — either so watered down you questioned if there was alcohol, or so heavy-handed they were undrinkable. We couldn’t find any consistency or quality in the drink program, and for a resort of this caliber, that’s disappointing.

Worse was the communication barrier with the staff. Nearly all the employees were foreign hires, and while many were polite, basic requests often turned into frustrating exchanges. One simple ask — for ice in a water bottle — turned into a several-minute ordeal because the staff member didn’t understand what we were asking.

The One Bright Spot: Breakfast

The included breakfast was excellent (note, we booked through Amex Travel, so I'm not sure it's included with every reservation). Every morning we enjoyed different options: I had French toast and pancakes, and my girlfriend enjoyed a breakfast sandwich and a salmon eggs benedict. The fresh orange juice and friendly morning staff were the most consistent and enjoyable part of the stay.

Final Thoughts

For a resort that charges $350+ per night plus resort fees, the constant nickel-and-diming, poor communication, subpar room conditions, and misleading amenity descriptions really added up.

When you compare it to other destinations — like our stay in Curaçao where $400/night included free snorkeling, diving, beach games, water sports, and stellar service — Hawk’s Cay just doesn’t justify the price.

The property is beautiful, and location is great, but the value isn’t there, and the experience is far from luxury. Our advice? Spend your vacation dollars somewhere that delivers on the...

I was a little nervous about going here after reading the mixed reviews, so I wanted to be sure to leave a review listing the pros and cons from our own experience. I'll start by stating that, even with the few "cons", that we would definitely come back. My husband is a teacher, and they offered a great discount package for teachers, which enabled us to afford this very expensive resort, even adding on an unexpected extra day to our stay without issue.

PROS: The resort is very clean, and there are a lot of things to do both at the resort, and at the many nearby places off-property, because of it's centralized location between Islamorada and Marathon.

Contrary to some of the reviews I had read, the air conditioning in our room worked great.

The adults-only pool was a lifesaver. The water was a perfect temperature, and it was far enough away from the family-friendly pool that we couldn't hear screaming kids or the very loud music that the DJ plays in the afternoons.

Our room had the lower-price-point "Resort View", but we were still very happy with it. Even though one of the parking lots was outside our balcony, we still had a great view of one of the little inlets, and there were a couple of nice palm trees right off the balcony. We would be totally fine with this room again.

The availability of "Salt + Ash" (their high-end dining option) and "Angler & Ale" on-site was great. They are both expensive, but excellent, and we would definitely eat at both places again.

We used the gym at their "Calm Waters Spa" every day. Although they could use a few more treadmills (there were none available one day), there is plenty of other exercise equipment. It was about a five minute walk from the main hotel, which was a fine warmup.

CONS: The pricing at the "Cafe" is completely outrageous. We got what is basically an Egg McMuffin on a tiny "bed" of lettuce for $19, which does not include tax or tip. There are no prices listed for anything in the adjacent store where you can buy snacks, drinks, etc.. So, we realized that if you have to ask the price, you probably can't afford it, so we didn't.

Be prepared for a LOT of kids around. But, as I said previously, the adults-only pool is a much appreciated option. Our only issue with the adults-only pool is that there were clearly some people there were not 21. So it would be nice to have the hotel have some kind of enforcement of the 21-and-up policy, and to be honest, it should be more like 25-and-up to keep it comfortable feeling for those that truly would just like to relax quietly with other adults.

The paddle boards are all inflatable, which makes them fine for kids, but not so fine for anyone over 130 pounds. I'm 120 lbs, and it was buckling even with that weight, so it was a complete impossibility for my husband to try, as he's 6'2". They also should have proper paddle board paddles instead of short kayak paddles, as again, unless you're under 5 feet tall, you're going to have either bend over or somehow hold one end of the paddle so the other end can even reach the water. I'm only 5'2", and still had to hunch over a little to paddle. This is nit-picking, but I'm just stating that they should have a couple of solid boards and paddles for more average sized people.

The door of our room was so hard to open that we had to use our shoulders to open and close the door, and housekeeping must have thought we had locked the door (it was that hard to open), so we had to call the front desk at 5:00 each day to request cleaning (that happened twice). I'm sure that our room was an exception, though, as our door was the only "slamming" sound that was going on. They also could stand to replace the mattresses, as ours felt kind of lumpy and wasn't very comfortable for the price of the room.

Outside of that, we had an amazing trip, and we would most definitely come there again, provided that they offer the good teacher promotions. Otherwise, it would be unaffordable for us. It's a beautiful place, and the staff were overall very friendly and...

When you pay good money to go on a bucket list vacation, it is hard to deal with a resort that does not aspire to a reasonable customer service level. We have been wanting to visit Hawks Cay for years and the experience was filled with extreme lows and a few highs.

We were able to check in early, but once our room was ready we were just given a number. No one told us that there were separate rooms in the main building and villas that had the same numbers. The map only showed the numbers of the villas which is where we went. The communication was sub par and that was a theme throughout the resort.

We went down to the main pool upon arrival (which was scalding hot - odd because we have traveled throughout Florida and the Carribbean and never been in a HOT resort pool) and also the cove which was disgusting. It felt like a dirty lake and was not what we were anticiapting as a feature of thr property. The cove had paddle boards and kayaks which were first come first served. The man running the area was rude and when we asked questions about the process seemed annoyed and and there were paddle boards on the shore that weren't being used.

We went to the marina to book a deep sea fishing trip through the resort. When we came the next morning, we boarded the boat they told us about (we took a pic) and then found out when we returned that we were on the wrong boat but no one confirmed, called or anything. The captain of the boat we were supposed to be on when we returned yelled at us and got mad that it was our fault even though we paid a lot of money for a specific experience. No one offered a discount or help and we just went where we were told. Do the captains not have a list of who is supposed to be on their boats? People at the marina were rude to our children and ruined the experience. I will say the deckhand Jay was awesome and so good with our kids!

When we got done with our catch, they told us we could take it up to Angler ans Ale and they would prepare it and take care of it so we could eat it. The restaurant was not open and no one was there to help us. That was a selling point and the communication was horrible. We has a huge bag of fish and no help. Thankfully Kim the golf cart driver was the only one who got answers for us and was awesome. The whole experience was horrible and got our trip started off on the wrong foot.

The whole trip was frustrating and we kept getting incorrect information with people just wanting us to pay more but never helping us.

The only great part of the resort was the activities center. Staff was great and the pool felt great. Also, the hotel restaurant staff was great and helped prepare our fish to perfection. 61 Prime...expensive but worth it!

Some of our best experiences in the area were actually off resort in Marathon.

The resort room was also a let down. It needs to be renovated. The main entrance of the resort is fabulous but the rooms are a bit gross. Our hallway smelled like skunk the entire time and the carpets had stains. Our bathroom was dark and old which was surprising for what we paid for the resort. The beds had the most uncomfortable pillows.

Overall, I was disappointed, especially for the cost. I am writing this because I would love to see action as opposed to a standard, "Thanks for letting us know and we will do our best in the future." Especially with a family and children and how often I read about this being a family friendly resort experience, it was far from it. Thankfully, we only had a few nights....we would have left if it had...