Marquesa Hotel

The stay at the marquesa hotel was full of expectations on arrival which sadly didn’t deliver. It’s a lovely property in a central but peaceful location and I’d been told it was Relais & chateaux although it turns out later it wasn’t any longer which is good news as it wouldn’t deserve any re-admission to such a prestigious institution any time soon. It’s still a 2 key Michelin rated property that brings with it some expectations. How it got this rating is honestly questionable and without any rationale logic based on my three day experience and multiple stays at other genuine 1-2 Michelin key properties who are filled with hospitality warmth and a superior experience than I found at this property. Paying an average of over $1000 a night for a room ought to bring a degree of expectation of what should be a luxury boutique stay or so I thought! Staff on arrival were great and although staying a few buildings away down the road, we checked in and shown round by a terrific guy who does the car lot meet and greet and helped with luggage. He was the star of the show with a warm friendly atmosphere in an otherwise pretty underwhelming experience. The grounds and communal areas were nicely presented and you feel like it ought to be a quiet oasis. We discovered early on no turndown service on fist night and no bottled water in room. They charge $50 resort fee per night per stay so that felt a bit odd charging $50 resort fee on a first night stay with nothing but free WiFi which you don’t need in this day and age anyway. Maybe it’s a North American thing but I doubt the hotel could not afford to put two small bottles of water by the bed on a more traditional turndown experience offering, helping to justify the resort fee a bit better. We were told our rate we entitled us to a 2 person free drink per day during our stay so went at 5pm on our first night at the restaurant opening and found tables were booked, bar seats taken and told we could only have a drink to go! I can’t imagine many $1000 a night properties thinking this was a good solution offering a drink in a container to go as a coherent strategy for dealing with other guests! A hotel without a bar or one for guests (60 rooms) seemed a little odd. They couldn’t offer to send across to our room either but they’ve probably not got staff to fulfil that hence the ‘to go’ offering which is pretty awful given you are paying $1000/night and would think they’d have thought through the negative vibes this might give customers. The next day we were told we could have had in reception but that wasn’t offered the night before. We felt kicked out and rejected so went to downtown for an enjoyable Spanish Tapas dinner where a friendly waitress restored some faith that hospitality does exist in Key West. The next day the hotel offered ( after some complaining ) a credit of $50 which was nevertheless appreciated. Resort fees are really common now in the USA but $50 a day for so little other than towels, free tea and coffee seem aggressively priced, especially when charged on day 1 and they skip turndown to save on thier costs you’ve been charged for. I’ll come back to the credit and free drinks later! The room itself was great, overlooking a pool but the fridge kept me awake all night on our first night and you couldn’t turn off the balcony external lights - security we were told, in case someone cared to climb up to the first floor and break in! That light kept me awake a lot too on the first night. A noisy fridge, brights lights with no curtains and no free drink. Could it improve? The outside bulb was removed on day 2 when we were informed there we no switches to turn off the bright lights immediately on our balcony. The fridge still rattled but in daylight hours I worked out how to turn the machine off so we slept better. No one asked if I slept better or if there was anything more they could do. I found whenever we walked passed or saw any employee they tended to ignore us. The bed was very comfortable but our feet were regularly dirty walking on tiles they presumably were not cleaning often. Our fellow travellers also said their feet seemed to be really dirty too from their bedroom floor too and found the hotel to be significantly different than a previous visit. The turndown service we finally got to experience on the last 2 nights also was particularly underwhelming. It seemed to consist of closing a couple of blinds, one slide curtain and grabbing the pjs from under the pillow. No chocolate on pillow and nothing more. It wasn’t so much a turndown service as a turn up and leave as quickly as possible visit. They might as well not have bothered. The pools have a mixed experience as most not heated but one was but often filled with leaves and no pool attendent or mid afternoon clean up so by mid to late afternoon the pool had loads of leaves in. There’s no availability of drinks or food by the pool and the hotel is missing a trick not providing drinks by the pool or an opportunity to talk to guests! Or make more money from them. For a hotel of this standard an alternative honesty bar would work well if they don’t want to employ someone else to look after thier guests. The heated pool was also much colder on day 2 to extent not enjoyable without sunlight on the pool. It was very smelly in the main hotel area on one occasion with cooking smells from the kitchen but otherwise is quite tranquil, despite the kitchen air cooling humbling in the background. I can imagine that when the property was family owned and cared for, it was loved and sensational. But now, it felt very unfriendly lacking any genuine hospitality. Ii can only guess its shifted focus from hospitality to a cash cow for owners perhaps more interested in short term profits than caring if you come back or if they want to improve. You can’t help feeling they’ve cut out in small little areas which could so easily be fixed and help justify high prices. Right now, instead, you feel ripped off and overcharged in a very inhospitable environment. It made me reflect on how much better some hotels are where you arrive and feel wanted, respected and cared for in properties who often don’t charge as much of this. I love hotels, trying new places and in such beautiful surrounds as Key West you feel that the Marquesa Hotel is a hotel and boutique inn where its glorious days have sadly gone and won’t be repeated. I did complain but sensed no one was that bothered, no manger asked to be aquatinted during our stay to try and turn round our obvious disappointment. A file note was made on the credit. Even at checkout I was not asked if we enjoyed our stay or where we headed next. No one in the entire three days basically said hello or can we do anything to make your stay nicer? It surely doesn’t take much to ask. We did have a very enjoyable dinner in the hotel restaurant with food and staff much warmer on our last night. Two servers were charming. The man who kicked us out on night one was thankfully not on duty. So, as I checked out I insisted on seeing the folio/bill. Needless to say, The $50 promised credit hadn’t been placed on the account and none of the “free” drinks on day 3 we did manage to secure were not credited either. When the bill was emailed through I was sent a blank page with no information on it. It summed up how little was right, they seemed to enjoy getting everything wrong. I got the $50 credit and one drink credited and have now emailed three times saying they still owe me a credit for the second free drink as part of the package - I doubt it will ever be credited despite it being part of the deal. So, don’t assume you’ll get what your promised! The owners may well happily see us pass through take our money and not care if we ever came back. I expect it’s fine for some but the rates paid don’t reflect what you’d reasonably expect. By the time you’ve paid - in my case - $3200 on room rate and taxes for 3 nights, hit with a further, $50 a day extra resort fee and $35 a day car parking and found it difficult to get that daily free drink you were promised, so regularities in the bill and zero touchpoints of anyone from management or customer service reaching out, you leave feeling underwhelmed and frustrated. This isn’t what hospitality businesses should be like. You can’t help thinking, next time I’ll stay somewhere else. I won’t be staying at any Noble properties ever again if I can help it! I can take my hard earned cash to somewhere more appreciative. I’m sure there are other properties willing and capable of ensuring you enjoy spending time in Key West with warmth and affection but I’d not check in to the Marquesa unless you want to feel totally underwhelmed and ripped off. I doubt I’ll ever get the owed money for my free drink back after this review but that’s not the point. They just don’t care, so why should you? Do yourselves a favour and stay somewhere else!

The location is great if you want to be in the middle of it all without being in the middle of it all. It's on a quiet street a block away from Duval Street. It's has a charming exterior with an interior courtyard, with rooms overlooking the pool. The hotel seems to have older and newer buildings. We did not get to experience the newer rooms but our room (50) seemed to be in the older part of the hotel. It was clean but ready for an upgrade. The curtains had holes, some windows had old metal blinds, the bathroom was showing signs of wear, and the floors were creaky. Our room was quite noisy as it was located in a high-traffic area where metal gates kept getting slammed shut. It also shared a wall with an office where it sounded like someone was printing documents at all hours of the day (and night!). We didn't get to experience much of the service but the complimentary coffee by the pool (from 7-11a) kept running out and not getting refilled. Thankfully, there was a Nespresso machine in the room. Overall, it's not a great value. I cannot recommend this hotel (at least not room 50) and will not be staying here again.

Our stay at Marquesa Hotel was exceptional. Beautiful, well-kept hotel with clean, well-appointed rooms which include individual patios. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. There are two pools surrounded by lush foliage. The Marquesa is a gem, and in my opinion, the best hotel in Key West. We will stay there again.

Perfect location, absolutely picturesque inside and out, and the grounds are so quiet. No noisy pool bars or music. Just relaxation. The room was probably the cleanest guest room I’ve ever stayed in.

Nice hotel, but there is a large variance in the size and comfort of the rooms. We were lucky to get an upgrade, but our friends from out of state did not, and were directly above the lobby in the main building. They were not told about the planned construction in the lobby that started before 8 and continued until after 5. The hotel seems to be a bit understaffed, and the price including resort fee seems high compared to other properties in the neighborhood. This hotel is on a very busy corner, with lots of traffic and trash truck noise, don't expect to sleep in unless you have noise cancelling headphones!