Staying at the Key Largo Inn in the Florida Keys

Looking for a great little gem of a place to stay while visiting Key Largo? Then the Key Largo Inn is not for you. However, if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive place at the last minute, the Key Largo Inn is the place to go.

A friend and I decided to head down to Key Largo to do some scuba diving for the weekend. We knew finding a cheap place at the last minute was going to be nearly impossible. First of all, most hotels and resorts in Key Largo average around $200 per night. But there are a few that are less expensive. However, the quality drops as well.

We discovered the Key Largo Inn using the Internet. There were mixed reviews and few pictures to really tell if this was a seedy dive or not. Being the only place that was vacant and we could afford, we decided to go with it. For two nights, we paid $220. Not exactly cheap, but better than our other options.

I will state my five major complaints first:

1. The Inn does not take reservations. To reserve a room, you must call one of the travel companies such as Travelocity or Orbitz and if you have ever called one of the companies then you know what a pain they can be. You will be put on hold, transferred several times, and end up conversing with someone who barely speaks English. The hotel also takes walk-ins, but there is no guarantee there will be room.

2. You'd think finding the hotel would be fairly easy, as the Keys consist of one major road with little ones jutting off it. But not the Key Largo Inn. It happened to be on a section of the main road that forks off and there are no signs. We drove by it twice, unbeknownst to us, before finally realizing the road had split in two.

3. The staff is forbidden to take cash at night. The front desk attendant very adamantly told me this when I asked if we could put one night on a credit card and pay for the other with cash. She told me, very rudely I might add, that I would have to come back in the morning before check-out and pay for the room for another night then. So if staying here, make sure you have sufficient funds on your credit card when checking in because they make you pay up front.

4. They have the most pathetic parking lot, part of it being an old fenced in storage area. But the worse part is the hole at the entrance big enough to swallow a mid-size car. It was full of water when we pulled in, so we did not even see it. The front end of the car landed nose down in the hole. Thank goodness there was no damage.

5. Where is the water? The Keys are surrounded by water. But apparently the Key Largo Inn is one of the very few hotels that is no where near the water. However, the Key Largo Fire Station is right next door. You win some, you lose some.

Not all was bad about the place, however. Smoking and pets are not allowed, which is great for the allergy-attack-prone such as myself. There was a sufficient amount of clean towels available in the bathroom. Everything was clean and there were no funny smells or suspicious stains. Each room offers the normal coffee maker and accoutrements, and there are two ice and soda machines. There is even a small courtyard and pool. Although, I have to tell you, the pool is no more than a glorified kiddie pool.

While definitely not the Ritz, the Key Largo Inn turned out to be perfect for what we needed it for. Neither of us were at the Inn long, so we did not need for it to provide us with anything other than it already did. It had its flaws, but all places do. If I ever find myself whisking off to Key Largo at a moment's notice again, then perhaps I would stay there. I have seen worse.

But then again, I have seen better.