Hawks Cay

Since I use Tripadvisor reviews for all my trips, I feel compelled to write my first after I felt many reviews have been written for this property by people with personal stake in it's success. Many of the villas have private owners and I'm guessing they've written the stellar reviews. First of all, I agree with the other real reviews. The service is lacking and not close to the expectation level for the expense of the property. Good luck getting pool side service without trapping a server to help you and there is no personality from any of them. It seems they all dislike their jobs. There is no housekeeping service. You are lucky to get someone to toss a few towels in the direction of your villa. We stayed 4 nights and had this service once. No one ever came to clean or empty trash, etc. The property is fine but nothing above and beyond any other property with a pool we've stayed at. The pirate ship was too young for our kids (ages 6, 9 and 11) so we really only used the main pool. All the kids club stuff is pretty basic. Don't bother with the Angler and Ale-same food as the pool food and you have to wait 2 hours to eat there. It was a fine vacation but nothing I'd repeat and I wouldn't recommend the property to others unless you have to go to the keys and need a more family friendly place to stay. Read less

Expectations NOT met! Certainly not the resort that is advertised. Cheap beds, sheets, pillows. Every night room got hot. Room and hall smelled musty. Internet worked sporadically. Some interactions with staff surprised me with rudeness or flat-out being unhelpful. Added a day to stay before coming and front desk couldn't seem to figure it out. Maid service asked 4 times when we were checking out, even though we extended original reservation. Resort had minimal activities, nothing too great. Inefficient reservation system at restaurant. Not something that can be controlled by the resort, but three large groups of sketchy looking people that took over the pool and hot tub. Too expensive and no value. Not coming here again and not recommending to others. Read less

Experience was excellent. Room was excellently appointed, very friendly/professional employees throughout, enjoyed the bar and pool facilities. We were both highly pleased. The only negatives were: 1) that the place was overrun with small children - which I guess is not to be avoided in March; and 2) if one wants a decent beach, you have to get in your car and drive there. Would definitely go back and recommend to others. Read less

Just returned from another trip to Hawks Cay. We’ve been several times in the past and this time were very disappointed by our villa. We have always stayed in Harbor Villas and were in one again this year, as requested. Unfortunately, this villa was bare bones and did not seem to have been updated in years. The furniture was well worn and some was poorly glued together as is shown in the attached photos. The TV in the master bedroom was ridiculously small and almost impossible to see from the bed. There was no light on the ceiling fans and the bedside lamps were not sufficient to actually light the bedrooms. The vents in both upstairs bedrooms were disgustingly filthy. The owners of this villa care so little about it that they haven’t even bothered to replace the worn out sign welcoming visitors. When I brought these issues to the attention of the front desk they stated that the villas are individually owned However, as I explained to them , we have stayed in villas that were much nicer than the one we got this year and we should not have to pay they same for a worn villa as others pay for the nicer ones. It is the hotels responsibility to make sure villas comply with their standards and if they don’t they should not be allowed to participate in the rental pool. If this villa met their standards then the standards need to be changed! That being said you may be wondering why we gave the hotel 4 stars. We did so because other than the interior of the room we love the place. We had good service at the tiki bar and Angler and Ale. Everyone was friendly and helpful, although I think they need an additional bartender at the bar by the adult pool. They seem to have done a great job rebuilding after Irma, although I think that they should be a little more forthcoming about the status of the marina. We were told that it had just reopened but instead found a man in an empty mobile home answering the telephone. There was no access to bait, much less anything else one would expect to find at a marina. Read less

We spent 2 nights at Hawks Cay, between stops in Key West and Key Largo. The big positive is the setting and location. Unfortunately, there were more than a few negatives. With one or two exceptions (waiters Wayne & Omar and the Turkish receptionist ) service was poor. Staff were generally offhand and dismissive. No sign of the famous American service culture. Our dining experience in Angler & Ale was absolutely diabolical. We had reserved a table, but were pushed out into a gymnasium style overflow room with no atmosphere. Check in at A & A was shambolic with guests milling around unclear as to what to do. Wayne, our server was polite and did his best but against overwhelming odds. The food was ok, but the mains came out half way through eating the starters, with that waitress unapologetic and possibly the rudest we’ve ever experienced. The room was spartan for this standard and price and the walls paper thin. The adult only tranquility pool was lovely, but unfortunately guests were allowed to play their own music with no regard to the interests of others. We had a very good and enjoyable meal in Prime 61, which was the highlight of the visit and just sufficient to drag the rating up to 3/5. Overall, Hawks Cay promises much, but doesn’t deliver. I think the missing ingredient is management, which was conspicuous by its absence. Well led, this could be a nice resort, although the very isolated location, lack of choice and poorly designed rooms would put me off going back. Read less