Havana Cabana — Hotel in Key West

For the money I would have liked a bit more for our first time at Key West. The ''Resort thing" is a farce! Same as a hotel, with less to offer than most hotels with NO ELEVATOR, NO breakfast, only coffee at the pool. The only resort type feature is the watch like wrist band that opens the door that barely closed on this aging facility. Lets get the negative stuff said first moving on to the shower rod that was falling down and sagging and the faucet set up in the tub was barely acceptable to get the shower on with the aging plumbing evident at the sink as well with the drain not working as it should. We were upsold a room with a gulf view and should have just left it alone with all the noise of the traffic on the main highway to the action on the island right in front of us. The very small patio was deafened by the window ac unit and the traffic. Better if you take a pool view in retrospect! Now to the positive side! Upon arrival, it seems the place is pretty cool with its old charm and see through lobby to the pool that has great palm action and landscape that has a mexican resort feel. The pool is probably the best thing the place has to offer, but they have a constant battle with it to keep it cleaned out from all the tree debris that falls into it and if you snorkel as i do, it kind of gross to see underwater, if not it has a cool vibe with the mist pouring off the waterfall area and expecially at night it is nice with the lighting and stereo system surrounding the place that can be too much at times. But no resort style pool perks like games, nightly musician, dancing, or free finger foods, that would have made a huge positive difference. The best service of the the HC was the shuttle service that ran every 1/2 hour to a good drop off and pick up point with a ton of boats, yachts, and fishing vessels, with tours, parasailing, and a variety of water adventures there by the brewery! It was a 15-20 min drive however with heavyier traffic.

Now, just a bit on the whole Key West draw - Duval thing! This is an alcohol based fun place with alot of things to eat and buy everywhere. If you are there for a Romantic Getaway and you dont drink or dont want to get lit each time you go there you will probable leave feeling a bit empty! We love the beauty in Gods creation and places to dance and connect and make memories as God Fearing Husband and Wife so, other than the wonder of the huge cruise ships that came in, and some expensive waterside restruants like AB Lobster, and the Oyster place underneath and a few other nice place with water and boats all around, and the sunsets areas that were packed at that time, once you have been through it a couple of days, the thrill is gone!

Just as bit of warning about the drive to Key West after you hit the island chain. Dont get your hopes up if you dreaming about hours of beautiful ocean and boats with water activites abounding as the only memorable thing about it was the 7 mile bridge that had almost endless water on both sides, the rest of the 3 hour trudge is manzanita groves obscuring the water view, and alot of poorer folk that live there with very little effort being placed on making this long slow traffic laden drive, a cleaned up memorable experience! But, its just something a new floridian feels like they have to do i guess, but we will not be back spending the money for sure and looking for memories. If you go, make sure you do the watersports, like parasailing and jet skiing, the best part there is the water, but we have water here where we live in SW Florida as well!

I kind of was hoping for a Mexican Resort type of feel since it was so far south and part of the US but, not so much at all. We actually went down to snorkel, but this is so tarnished as all the reefs have been so trafficed and damaged that the mexican type beautiful coral is lacking. Too many people, to long, sunscreen, and boats, gas, and humans have minimized this as well with sand covered formations and sea weed. The poor fish are looking for the nice coral as...

We first visited Havana Cabana in November 2024 and had an exceptional time. We left a 5 star review of this visit because it really was great. ||This time we felt unable to provide the same 5 star review for a few reasons. ||When we arrived after a long drive to Key West, we couldn’t park anywhere on site due to a free pool party open to the public. We attempted to park a few times and drove around before speaking to a colleague at the front desk who suggested we park in Publix a couple of streets away. I wasn’t happy with this because we have paid a lot to stay at the hotel already and would also be charged the approximately $60 per day resort fee which clearly states on site parking. Reluctantly we did park in Publix due to no other option and had to wait around a few hours for the pool party to end so we could move the car. We couldn’t use the facilities during this time due to the huge overcrowding in the pool and bar area so we had to just wait around. Whilst we appreciate the hotel wanted to partake in offering an event for the popular Fantasy Fest, we feel that they should have reserved parking spaces for paying guests arriving that day. Or even some communication that this was the case so we could have tried to delay our arrival. ||On the second day, we had a small issue with our bathroom door where the handle came off on the inside meaning it could only be opened from the outside. We reported it to the front desk to a female colleague. She shouted to someone else named Christian to address the issue with the door handle. Upon hearing this, we presumed it would be fixed. It wasn’t fixed and nobody came to look or attempt any repair. We were only staying 3 nights so we just lived with it and couldn’t shut the bathroom door.||The last issue is the major renovations that are going off to the entire block of rooms behind the pool area. This was very noisy throughout the day each time we were there. One of the days the music was so loud - nightclub level loud. Probably in an attempt to drown out the drilling and banging. A few people asked for music to be turned down which was a better volume. But it didn’t change the construction noise. Again, we understand there is never going to be a good time to do any major works like they are doing. And they are trying to improve their hotel facilities we presume. We feel this should have been communicated in advance to give guests choice of moving to a different hotel if they don’t want to have building noise every day near the pool and bar. Our travel agent confirmed they were also not notified of these works. ||As the hotel was only half open with a limited occupancy, they had reduced staffing it felt like. A couple of times we had to wander around the bar area or the food truck area to find someone to take an order. Staff were always busy but it felt like they had cut down so stafg were doing multiple things. Just like the shuttle bus which had been cut down to once per hour rather than twice. A few times, we saw peole have to get ubers because they couldn’t get in the shuttle bus into town. ||We tried to raise these issues at the front desk but it wasn’t cery welcome and no real solution or compensation was offered. I suggested that the resort fee wasn’t appropriate. Or a reduced resort fee to acknowledge the issues. A colleague agreed to deduct $25 from one of the day’s resort fees. This was a poor resolution in my view and didn’t match the situation. When we had paid around £700 to stay there plus $180 in resort fees. Maybe other guests don’t have anything to compare to but we can compare to our stay last year and it was very different this time. Nothing was too much trouble last year whereas this time we felt like there was no willingness to have a reasonable discussion...

Nice property overall, but portions are definitely showing their age. The main lobby and building have been fairly recently remodeled, as has the pool area, but the two back buildings with rooms are in need of some fairly extensive updates. They appear to have gotten a hasty cosmetic facelift following Hurricane Irma, but it didn’t address some of the underlying structural and mechanical deficiencies in the building that seem to stem from its advanced age (possibly early to mid 1970s? Exact age is unclear, current ownership dates to 2014 and management to 2022)||Location is a ways from the heart of Key West and the beaches, but there is a shuttle that runs all day, and the hop on/hop off bus passes right by the property. The resort also has bicycles and Vespa scooters to rent. ||The Good: ||Despite not being affiliated with any major chains/loyalty programs, this property is well managed by a company that seems to know what they’re doing. ||Wireless internet here is excellent, and appears to have been installed in the last year or two, with a properly sized connection to the internet. ||Biggest pool on the island, and has a decent amount of shade from the oppressive Carribean sun. ||Poolside bar is great, and makes fantastic mojitos. ||EV charging (3KW, Free) is available onsite with 2 connectors for NACS/Tesla and 2 for J1772. Listed in PlugShare. ||Room air conditioning blows extremely cold, providing a respite from the heat and humidity. ||Staff is friendly and helpful, and provides daily text messages about what’s happening at the resort. ||The Bad:||Lobby area is saturated with fauxconut fragrance and is a really jarring welcome. I guess the idea is to give it a tropical feel, but it’s so overdone and obviously fake that it misses the mark. ||Room air conditioning blows extremely loud and direction can’t be controlled, so it blows directly onto the bed next to it, and has to run almost constantly to keep humidity manageable. ||Bathroom layout is a little weird, and light switches are hidden behind a cabinet. Distinct lack of anywhere in the room or bathroom to hang towels or swimsuits to dry. ||The Ugly: ||This property has a hefty resort fee that isn’t well disclosed up front or at booking. The items that this daily fee allegedly covers don’t add up to anywhere near the amount they charge. ||The main sign out front looks shabby and worn, like it hasn’t seen a coat of paint or cleaning since 1967. ||Poolside rooms need better drainage outside in the walkways (there’s also no way to get to the lobby without getting soaked when it’s the daily morning downpour). ||Rooms need the exterior wall rebuilt with double or triple pane windows to keep sound and heat out (there is loud music poolside pretty much constantly from 11am to 11pm). Curtains need to be able to be closed all the way. Major gaps let a lot of light in, and possibly wandering eyes. ||The faux wood-look vinyl tile flooring needs to be replaced entirely with something that actually sticks to the floor and doesn’t let water in underneath. ||Plumbing is hooked up backwards (and handles are loose) in the tub. ||Rooms suffer from moisture problems (not unusual in this climate, but needs better...