Coco Plum Inn — Hotel in Key West

I recently stayed at CocoPlum Inn to celebrate my birthday and was genuinely looking forward to a relaxing stay. While the property is charming and the chef was absolutely wonderful (his kindness and attentiveness stood out) my experience was completely overshadowed by an extremely disrespectful and unprofessional encounter with a staff member on the day of checkout.

My friend and I were simply snapping a quick photo outside our room around 11:11 AM (checkout is at 11) with all of our belongings packed and ready to leave. We had already told a housekeeper nearby that we were happy to vacate if needed, and he acknowledged us and continued about his work. Moments later, a woman I hadn’t seen before yelled up to us from the ground level: “Girls, it’s time to check out.” We politely responded that we were just finishing up, but she continued in a condescending tone, questioning if we “really” had our things packed.

We went downstairs to speak with her in person to clarify if there was an issue and were met with even more hostility. When I mentioned I had stayed at this hotel in the past with my mother and had a completely different, more positive experience, she looked at me and flat-out questioned my honesty. She demanded to know what year I stayed and then told me she had worked there since 2019 so she “would’ve known” if I had ever been a guest. It was incredibly unprofessional and honestly very weird. There was no reason to interrogate me or act as if I was making it up. It felt accusatory, unnecessary, and completely out of line for someone in a hospitality role.

When we said the room key was left in the room, she snapped, “I need the key now. Go get it.” I’ve never been spoken to like that by hotel staff, especially over something as minor as being ten minutes past checkout. If she had approached us calmly or respectfully, none of this would have escalated. Instead, I was treated like a problem for simply trying to enjoy the last few minutes of my birthday stay.

I left this hotel in tears. That should never happen after what was meant to be a celebratory getaway. I paid good money to stay here and was polite and respectful to everyone I interacted with. Sadly, this one staff member’s unnecessary aggression and dismissive behavior completely ruined what was otherwise a lovely trip.

CocoPlum Inn has potential, but clearly needs to revisit how they train their staff to treat guests. A little basic kindness and professionalism would have...

We stayed at the Coco Plum (CP) based on its rating on Trip Advisor and as an alternative to the terribly expensive hotels on the water in KW. We stay in B&Bs often when we travel, so my review is based on comparisons with other B&Bs.

In my experience B&Bs always have pluses and minuses and CP is no different.

The pluses are that the CP is very convenient to everything in KW, Southernmost Point, Hemmingway House, Lighthouse, Duval St., Mallory Square, the Bight, nothing is more than a 15 minute walk or five minute bike ride. The place is tidy and well maintained. Lynn the owner is a gem. If she gives you a dinner recommendation take it, she never steered us wrong.

Now the minuses. If out room is typical, the rooms at the CP are very cramped. Our room had a king bed and it pretty much filled the room. In fact if I spent much time in the room (which I do not) I would find the room claustrophobic. There really isn’t any storage other than a very shallow closet and no comfortable place to sit inside. There is a nice little porch outside though. We tend to look at a room as a place to change our clothes between activities, and to crash when we are pooped at night, so this wasn’t a big issue for us.

The second minus is the breakfast. One of the joys of B&Bing is when the proprietor has a specialty, unique offering for breakfast. That is not what the CP does. It is pretty much standard fare, bacon, eggs, toast etc. It is all OK, but certainly not exceptional.

Finally, the location. Yep, it is close to everything, including the Green Parrot bar, a rowdy go till 2AM watering hole. There is no way of escaping the din of the place except for keeping the A/C on in the room and even that will not drown out the Harleys when they crank up. I am a fairly lite sleeper, so this was more of an issue for me than Mrs. Spokaneman who can sleep through almost anything.

All in all, it was a good stay, certainly not the best B&B experience we’ve had, but very good...

Amazing spot right off of Duval perfect for people who like to be right in the mix of things. The staff is friendly, but also completely leave you to your own devices. They’re only there if you need them and are attentive which I like because they’re never hawking over you they just let you do your thing…but we still get fresh towels daily and great service Our room is clean and comfy and well appointed with a full size minifridge microwave and keurig stocked with pods Super comfortable King bed, no complaints on our room For a small fee for my wife they gave us free iced down Prosecco and chocolates when we arrived! Good breakfast. Real food not just danishes, you will get a nice restaurant quality breakfast from here with hot coffee even to go! Awesome POOL warmer than the air outside with tables and chairs - pool area is shady with beautiful greenery, complementary water and ice so you can fill up on drinks the entire time you’re there and has little tucked away, cabanas. Drink water folks helps with the bars Yes you can drink around the pool “just no glass bottles” but ya know it’s friendly for all the things. Found out while staying here the pool is 2 4 HRS A DAY!! How fun to stumble home and take a refreshing dip. I ended up spending about 3 hours in the pool Met some couples Mingled as one does Made them all come swimming with me Asked everyone their signs Turns out my new friend had the same birthday as me August 7! we had a Leo party

Anyway, really happy that we chose Coco Plum. It’s awesome here. It’s definitely a good place to stay and the price was very comparable even cheaper to other places in the area. I’m glad that we...