Hilton is now taking bookings for the Hilton Key West Resort & Marina (reward nights from 72,000 points)

Hilton has opened up bookings for the Hilton Key West Resort & Marina on Stock Island, its twelfth property in the Florida Keys and its first “Hilton Resort” property in Key West. This is not a new build. This is the former independently run Ocean’s Edge Resort & Marina, now flying the Hilton Hotels & Resorts flag so the only thing new here (apart from some of the refurbishment work) is the fact that this is now bookable through the Hilton website.

Here’s a quick look what the property offers, and a look at whether it’s worth booking on points or cash.

Location

The resort sits on Stock Island, on the eastern edge of Key West, at 5950 Peninsular Avenue. It’s about 10 minutes’ drive from Key West International Airport and roughly 6 miles from Duval Street, so you’re close to Old Town without being in the middle of it.

A shuttle bus is available to take guests into Old Town for Duval Street, Mallory Square, and the Historic Seaport, which is how you get to the nightlife and back without renting a car or paying for a taxi/Uber/Lyft each way.

The property

The hotel has 175 rooms, including 86 suites, and every one comes with a private balcony over the marina, the Atlantic, or the grounds.

The resort sits on 20 waterfront acres with six temperature-controlled saltwater pools and a working marina. The marina has 111 wet slips taking vessels up to 140 feet, with fuel and a pump-out station on site. The pools are open 7 am to 10 pm daily.

If you’re travelling with a boat, that’s the real differentiator here over most of the hotels clustered around Duval Street.

One thing to note before you book is that as part of the conversion, the property is getting refreshed flooring, furnishings, and décor in the guest rooms, as well as a new “Tiki Event Pavilion”, so if you stay before that work wraps up, you may not get the finished product.

Dining and recreation

Food and drinks for sit-down meals are served at Yellowfin Bar & Kitchen and at Ocean’s Edge Café for coffee and grab-and-go. There’s also poolside service (11:00 to 17:00) and in-room dining (08:00 to 21:00).

Yellowfin serves food all day, with the bar running 10:30 to 22:00 daily and a happy hour offered from 15:00 to 17:00 daily.

Ocean’s Edge Café sits within Yellowfin Bar & Kitchen and serves Cuban-inspired coffee, smoothies, and breakfast and lunch bites grab-and-go style between 07:00 and to 11:00 daily (which seems like a very small window).

Recreation options at the resort include paddleboarding, kayaking, bicycles, yoga, lawn games, and poolside movie nights. There’s also a fitness centre for anyone who can’t go a few days without a workout.

Pricing

As you would probably expect, the room rates vary significantly depending on the season, and as things stand, entry-level room prices mainly sit at these levels (all taxes and fees included):

• July – October: Between $270 and $295 per night
• November – December: Between $280 and $400 per night (excluding Christmas and New year which cost more)
• January – April: Between $460 and $680 per night
• May: Between $410 and $435 per night

Annoyingly, this property charges a resort fee of $52/night, and that’s information which, at the time of writing, you won’t find on the property’s home page or the property’s information page.

The homepage mentions that there’s a “Daily Resort Charge” which covers …

• Guest internet access
• Hourly shuttle to downtown Key West from 9am to 11pm
• 2-hour paddle board
• Kayak and bicycle use
• Resort activities including yoga, standup paddleboard classes, poolside movies, and lawn games.

… but you’ll have to dig in to the room rates to find out that the charge is $52.

Leaving aside the fact that this is clearly a rip-off, the lack of clarity and the failure of the property to display this charge prominently, is not a good look.

Reward bookings

At the time of writing, there are dates showing reward night costs starting from around 72,000 points per night, but during the times of the year when the resort is likely to be most popular, reward nights cost 90,000 or 95,000 points each.

On a randomly selected night during busy season (January), an entry-level room at the Hilton Key West Resort costs 95,000 or $527 (including taxes and fees).

Booking this night with points would see a Hilton Honors member getting approximately 0.55 cents of value out of each point.

It should be pointed out, however, that the $527 rate isn’t flexible while the reward night booking is, so a more appropriate comparison would be with the semi-flex rate which, on this occasion, is $576.

Now someone using points to book this night would get approximately 0.6 cents of value out of each point used.

This means that there will be times when buying points in a Hilton Honors sale (when points are sold for 0.5 cents each) and then using them at this resort will be a money-saver.

Check the current cost of Hilton points here.

Note: Don’t forget that unlike Marriott, Hilton doesn’t charge resort fees on award night bookings.

Final thoughts

This is going to be an interesting property to watch as brand conversions like this one tend to go through an adjustment period, and Hilton and the Keys have a track record here.

The Reach Key West and Casa Marina Key West both came into the Hilton portfolio as Waldorf Astoria properties and both were downgraded to the Curio Collection within a few years, with reviewers noting service and maintenance hadn’t caught up to the brand promise (the Reach shows a score of just 3.8 out of 5 on the Hilton website).

Anyone considering a booking here should keep that in mind and be aware that it may take the property time to adjust to its new brand standards (for what it’s worth the hotel currently has a Tripadvisor rating of 4.5).

Overall, however, if direct marina access and a quieter setting away from Duval Street matter more to you than being in the thick of it, this could be worth a look. If you want to walk out of your chosen property’s door into the nightlife of Key West, this isn’t the place for you and you’ll be better off elsewhere.

Bottom line

Hilton Key West Resort & Marina gives Hilton Honors members a waterfront, marina-front option on Stock Island with a reasonable cash rate and points pricing that may make Hilton points sales a little more interesting.

Don’t forget, however, that this is a rebrand that still appears to be undergoing some renovations and it’s not a new build, so it will probably be prudent to wait for early guest reports before committing to a booking.

Link to the property’s booking page

All images courtesy of Hilton.