Ella's Cottages - Key West Historic Inns — Hotel in Key West

Summary of my stay at Merlin Guest House. Small clean room with adequate space for 2 nights. If staying more then a few nights definitely consider upgrading to the largest unit available. Having minimal storage made it difficult for two people to share a room with luggage, shoes, etc out in the common floor space. This can be typical when staying in key west so was not shocking to me. Addition of a small fridge would have been nice to keep beverages or snack foods handy. I have a restricted diet due to food allergy so it's nice to have food readily available. Property did have a soda machine, ice machine and filtered water available in courtyard. Had a difficult time deciding between 3 or 4 ☆ but overall experience, having stayed in Key West prior leaves me at a 4☆.

Price fluctuates throughout the year. For the room we stayed in, Room #9 I'd feel comfortable paying up to $149/night. We payed more then 2X that along with $63 for parking. For last week of April 2019 payed a total of $1040 for 3 nights. Tues/Wed/Thurs not even weekend nights. Other month's would be cheaper but wanted to visit before the hot summer temperatures. So I'd say if you can get the room for a reasonable price it's a nice stay.

Price for our stay versus accommodations 3☆. Location I'd give 5☆ close to everything. Cleanliness of room and property grounds 5☆ AC unit was working hard to keep room cool and this was April, not sure about hottest months 4☆. Breakfast selection 4☆ (having a few Gluten Free options: Cheerios, yogurt, fruit, hard boiled eggs) the baked goods and pastries did look wonderful, unfortunately unable to enjoy them. I did request a Gluten Free bakery item since they are delivered fresh daily, was told I had plenty of choices. Bed 3☆ noisy base and uncomfortable. Bathroom 4☆ was clean and just large enough, shower curtain was helpful, it helps to wash you while its stuck to you 😁 wooden louvered door makes it easy for conversation with others. 😳

First 2 nights were quiet, it's easy to hear the guests in next room but nothing bad until night 3 when guests partied loudly outside on shared porch till 3 A.M. woke up to beer bottles and full ash trays on tables all the furniture moved about. It's Key West is how I decided to look at it, but stay down on Duval and party not outside others doors. For $99/night this may be acceptable but at over $300 not so happy. Staff leaves at 10 P.M. so no one is on the property to regulate such activity. 3☆ This is when a hotel is reccomend over a Guest house. Not everyone has the same courtesy for other...

Where do I start with the experience that I had at Ella's Cottages.

First lets start with the name, it should really be Hella's Cottages, because staying here only for 1 night was hella terrible.

My wife and I decided to take a little get away, have some time to ourselves and found Ella's. We looked up the reviews,  amenities, pictures, and everything looked great but it was all false advertising.

The staff was extremely rude from the moment we tried to check in, they made it seem like we were inconveniencing them for trying to do so. After we finally got checked in, we went up to the room and couldn't believe what we walked into. The room was tiny, there was only a king bed in the room, no desk, no chair, no where to put our luggage, just the bed.

The bathroom was the size of a closet, if you are over 6 feet, your knees are going to be touching the wall when using the toilet.

After we looked at the room we went right back to the front desk and asked for a different. The front desk told us that there were no other rooms and we were stuck with the one we got. At this point my wife and I were tired because of our long day of travel, so we agreed to just spend the night(we should have know better). Overnight we kept hearing stray animals, specifically a cat howling up a storm right outside, rummaging through the trash, among other sounds. Needless to say it was not a pleasant night.

The next morning comes along, we get a call around 7am saying that we need to pack our stuff because they found a different room for us. My wife and I are thinking awesome, hopefully it is not near our current room and we won't have to try to find another hotel.

We get to the office with all our stuff, and the front desk agent tells us "oh, we made a mistake and that room is not available, you are stuck with your original room." We asked to speak with a manager at this point because this is becoming ridiculous. When speaking to the manager we still got no where and went back to our original room.

We were also promised to use of bikes which were NEVER provided to use during our stay no to mention the pool was the size of an over sized hot tub.

This was by far the most unprofessional experience I have ever had at a hotel. I would NEVER recommend Ella's to anyone, unless they want to get treated like...

Location. Location. Location. And this is NOT IT! I thought a Kimpton hotel would be excellent, but I was surely wrong. Our room on the porch along Simonton was EXTREMELY LOUD - all day and all night. There was an ENDLESS parade of LOUD cars, buses, trucks, and motorbikes with periodic LOUD music at all hours of the day AND night. The speed at which these vehicles passed by in the night is astonishing. The Navy jets and airliners provide almost constant overhead noise during the day as well. Did I mention that the fire station is one block away so sirens are a regular assault as well? We were awakened in the middle of the night multiple times by loud voices using vulgar and abusive language (next door or outside?) and then kept awake by roosters that started crowing at 3:45am and kept going until well past dawn. Then, the staff rearranged the furniture in the early morning hours on our porch.

The room had ZERO sound insulation, the shutters were broken, and the doors are sticky and must be slammed to shut them. Oh, and a spaces above the door and frame added insult. The only way to mask the noise was to run the loud AC but it went in and off all night.

The sink is so small that you can’t wash your face without splashing water all over the bathroom floor. There was no place to put our stuff - no drawers, only a hanging rack with a sloped edge. The “free” breakfast was just meh (packages of cold cereal or instant oatmeal, sweetened yogurt, bagels/muffins, oranges, and hard boiled eggs). Did I mention the bugs? I woke up with bites on my arms and legs.

I’ve traveled on 6 continents and this was one of the very worst hotels of my life. If you’re making a reservation for someone you don’t like, this would be a great choice. Otherwise choose something else. Other than convenient power outlets next to the bed, I really have nothing positive to offer. For the price, I expected a much better experience and would never stay here again, nor...