Hawks Cay Resort

What a wonderful resort! We’re Floridians that feel a million miles away at this paradise resort. Every staff person we’ve talked to has been/​is incredibly friendly and accommodating.
We’re here for a birthday stay-​cation. My daughter wanted pool, sun, relaxation and we got it all here! Love the tranquility pool. No noisy kids so defiantly relaxing. For her bday that brought her a huge fruit platter and a bucket of sodas! What a nice surprise! Thank you’
The room is a perfect size for 3. 2 comfortable queen beds, nice size bathroom, and a quiet end of the hall. Exactly what we wanted.
The food from the grill was very good. The watermelon cucumber salad was delicious. The burger cooked perfectly and mahi sandwich was excellent. Usually pool side grills are blah, not this one! I heard others say the wings were good too.
Sorry we have to go back to reality tomorrow. But we’ve made some great memories. Thank you Hawks Cay!

What a great resort! We loved the family friendly atmosphere and there was always something to do! We stayed in a 3 bedroom Sanctuary Villa. The splash pool was great and we enjoyed having a full kitchen.
I can’t say enough about the employees at Hawks Cay. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and went out of their way to make sure that we were enjoying our stay! We will definitely return to this resort!

Our first stay out of two visits here we slept in a town house overlooking the Bay Area.
It slept 6 people comfortably and had all the relevant amenities including fridge freezer cooker microwave etc. Clean and comfortable place
We had a veranda that had a table and chairs. The steps led down to the grass and then to the waters edge.
The sun setting behind the arched bridge of overseas highway was beautiful, with an orangey yellow hue illuminating the arches. From gazing at this spectacle my eyes natural dropped down and came back to the table and my friends. Along the way my eyes graced the surface of the water, a wild pod of dolphins breached the surface of the still water with young Dolphins in toe. We thought we were about to here «lights, camera, action!» and we were actually sitting in a movie set. Breathtaking!
The second time of staying we stayed in the hotel complex overlooking the pool and tiki bar.
We had to wait about 15 – 20 mins at checkin. All the staff were helpful, really pleasant. The room itself was clean and had a good feel to it.
We ate at the main restaurant where our server was exceptional. The food was delicious too.
We then headed to the tiki bar for more drinks.
The staff there were equally as attentive and welcoming.
We drank and played games all evening.
It is a family resort so they do close the bar relatively early.
The morning came around and my niece and nephew had booked the Dolphin introduction tour. They thoroughly enjoyed it and had beaming smiles they said it was the highlight to their vacation. Which is nice for them. I have my own reservations and opinions about such encounters with wildlife.

Here’s the deal. My wife and I booked a vacation here based on the fishing show «saltwater experience.» Well, let me tell you, bring loads of cash! I refuse to hate on the cleanliness of the accommodations, because they are super clean. However, if you’re an avid saltwater fisherman looking to enjoy some people of your caliber, this is not your place.
My tip to the folks at Hawks Cay and the cast of saltwater experience is to be very «real» about who they cater to. Lastly, provide a spot (Pier or something like it) for paying customers to cast a line when the weather is too crappy for the guides to get out.

Hawks Cay has it all for families with young ones. My kids are a bit older so we mainly slept there and did all of our activities off property. Our room was Ok the air conditioning did not work very well and my 10 year old pointed out dust on the ceiling which turned my stomach.
Our first night there we went down to the restaurant Ocean. It took almost a half hour for the waitress to come and say hello and take our drinks. The waitress knew I was a bit upset and did her best to accommodate us after that. We had the same waitress every morning and night afterwards and have to say by the end of our stay she turned out to be fantastic.
The property is absolutely beautiful and is nice to have everything right there because my husband had to work and it was great to just get up and go with the kids and do something on property while he was busy. I absolutely recommend Hawks Cay to families with young kids who will be entertained from sun up to sun down while you relax and enjoy the scenery and sun.

This is our go to for when we go down to the keys. Very kid friendly and lots of activities for them to not ever be bored. You can rent bikes for your stay. Highly recommend this resort if you’re going with kids to the keys. Food is good and they have a few options at the resort. Also good restaurants about 20 minute drive away.

I have stayed at Hawks Cay for many years with my family back in the 90s and have fond memories. I was just about to rent this July for a week with my family until I just saw the $ 200 a night fee from other reviews! Will not be staying here anymore that’s for sure.

I never thought staff and service could ruin a vacation completely until I visited Hawks cay resort on duck key.
The location, beautiful. The Rooms, just Ok. The real problem here rely on the staff members and their lack of training. While the marketing team does a good job of getting you here, downplaying major problems and masking truthful reviews they simply do not and never will actually correct the problem. It is so frustrating to me that I am taking the time out of my day at their adult pool on day 2 of 3 to write this review.
Upon attempting to check in on the first day when asking questions about the room, the front desk lady from Bolivia (I believe) kept repeating the phrase, rudely «check in is at 4pm».
Every time I have pulled up to valet I had to give them the key at the valet desk, they seem lazy and confused and refused to meet me at my vehicle, where they should.
Upon calling to request housekeeping at 1pm, because, if I had not I know that they would never clean the room, I stated to them «hi, I would to request housekeeping. She responded, «what are you calling for» I said again to request housekeeping, again «for what… Um to clean the room I replied… «Oh ok» CLICK.
Upon ordering a drink at the hotels pool, the beverage lady made sure to tell me as I was about to sign my check, «TIPS NOT INCLUDED» in a loud voice, most of the pool deck heard.
I’m sure «Matt L» will respond to this review with a preformed apology, trying to convince me to stay again. But obviously most people who stay here don’t come again. Notice how he never offers to make things right… See they DO NOT CARE!
But here’s why this resort doesn’t care. They depend on families or adults with small children. This is one of the only «resorts» in the keys and not a lovers palace, fishing lodge or motel. It’s a kid friendly, overpriced everything, mediocre food and horrible service resort. Not like I car but what hotel pre-auth’s 200 a night on your card? If that Isn’t a for shadowing of how your gonna get ripped, i don’t know what is.
The staff is the rudest I’ve ever encountered. I travel for a living and stay in hotels for half of the year. This staff needs to be retrained or replaced. But again they won’t, they DO NOT CARE.

What a great holiday weekend with friends! Amazing attentive staff for sure. Absolutely love the manager Fabio! So sweet and accommodating. Definitely goes above and beyond to please guests. Some places we have been in the keys, we didn’t get personally greeted by a supervisor daily. Fabio checked on us regularly with a smile and willing to help with anything we needed. We even saw him attending to other guests with the same enthusiasm, even in the hot sun! He’s a great asset and ensures for a pleasurable experience. We will definitely spread the word to our friends and others because of his grace. We trust they will be in good hands.

05/​25/​2016-​THIS IS AN UPDATE TO MY REVIEW. EVEN THOUGH EVERYTHING I SAID ON MY REVIEW HAPPENED WHICH WAS UNFORTUNATE. I HAVE ADDED 1 MORE STAR TO MY INITIAL REVIEW OF 2. BECAUSE I WAS PERSONALLY CONTACTED BY THE MANAGER AT HAWKSCAY, HE HEARD MY FEEDBACK AND HE ADDRESSED MY CONCERNS IN A VERY PROFESSIONAL MANNER. SO MUCH SO THAT I WILL DEFINITELY CONSIDER COMING TO HAWKSCAY IN THE FUTURE. THEY DO CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS AND WILL LISTEN AND ADDRESS YOUR CONCERNS. IF I COULD I WOULD RATE THE MANAGER A 5 STAR BECAUSE HE HANDLED EVERYTHING I SAID VERY WELL AND COMMUNICATED WITH ME IN A TIMELY MANNER. I HOPE THAT IN THE FUTURE I CAN GIVE HAWKSCAY 5 STARS.
05/​23/​2016-​My husband and I came to hawks cay for our 5 year anniversary for a whole week last week. I am rating this resort a 2 solely because the view is amazing. The palms the horizon the resort itself is paradise and the pool and lagoon are quite beautiful and made all the money we spent almost worth while. I am very disappointed that when we got there, we were hit with not only a «$ 39 a day hotel fee» that included a few amenities like valet parking and coffee and the use of the gym. And on top of that a $ 200 a day retainer fee daily for «incidentals or any purchases made to the room. So, immediately as you check in we were hit with $ 1200 hold on our credit card as hostage to be returned once we check out that we were not prepared for. I also blame orbitz for not telling us about this when we reserved so it’s not completely the fault of the resort. This hotel is supposedly a 4 diamond resort, however they dont include free breakfast as many resorts i have been to. You actually have to either order room service or go to the ocean buffet and spend $ 25 a person for breakfast. This is a bit much after eating the breakfast for one day and realizing they dont even have that great of a selection.
This hotel is all about how much more money to get from the customer. Everything has obsurdly high costs to evvvverything. We were able to travel by car around the key islands and were able to do many activities for a fraction of the cost. It is crazy at this resort.
The whole week we were there none of our bed sheets were changed, how do i know this because when we first checked in we noticed a blue stain on the side of the inside sheet and the whole week the same sheet was there day after day.
They are also very stingy with the soap and little shampoo and conditioners. On some days they would leave one and not the other and they didnt dust the place very well.
We ordered room service one day and it took them well over an hour to bring us what we had requested after calling them twice to ask them where it was.
The refrigerator was sooo small we could keep anything in it.
They have a lot of staff that do not speak english well and it was very frustrating to communicate with them. They should not be responsible to check in people when communication is very important. When we first checked in we realized that we had reserved for 1 less day than we had planned so we needed to reserve the room for one extra day. After much discussion with marsha she said to us that she didnt know the actual rate for the room but she said it should be no more than $ 280 for the day. When we got the check out slip they actually had charged us for $ 300. We didnt complain at all we just wanted to leave.
After a nice long day of full activities we came to the room late at night to watch some t. v before going to bed to find that this 4 diamond resort is using ANALOG! Are you kidding me, they didnt have H. D t.vs …not only that ive been to less costly resorts that youre able to watch netflix and access internet t.v. this place needs to get it together all that money and their amenities suck. Its actually a shame, they have such a beautiful location and they could truely be much better than this. I hope they can potentially become an all inclusive hotel. I wouldnt mind paying a few hundred more dollars… anyways i dont believe i will be coming back to this hotel in the future.

Just arrived this evening and already we dislike it. Very overpriced for the quality. I am wearing my shoes in the room because it’s so dingy. Kids paradise I suppose if they are not used to having a pool but definitely not worth the $ 500/​night. Dined at the «fine dining» restaurant. Really expensive and subpar. Dinner for 2 adults and 2 kids was $ 200. Will not eat here again during this 2 day weekend. So underwhelmed.
Our room was next to elevator and we could hear people talking late last night and early morning. The Starbucks ran out of most fruit for smoothies, all but 2 bagels and all cookies by 10:00. No chips or similar available. We actually checked out because the thought of one more night was torture. I have no idea what these Unilocal reviewers like about this place. We would never recommend this resort.

There are so many great things about this resort. Great pools. Great amenities like a lagoon, or a gym, or a mini golf course, etc. Staff was pleasant and we did many days at the main pool. The dolphin connection is also excellent, if a little pricey.
So where is the fifth star? Two things: We stayed at the villa and places just feel a little ok. Not bad, but the bathrooms are small and more like a holiday inn than say a Westin. And the bedrooms are tight for the money that you’re paying. And second, service was just ok. We asked that a toilet be fixed so it wouldn’t run and… it still ran.
But those are minor complaints when compared to the overall place. We really enjoyed our time here.

Always love coming here while in the keys. The pool is amazing with a great place to spend time. The lagoons access with the beach is amazing when the sun is shining. The beach side service is great and the food is delicious. Just pretty pricey.

Very nice resort, unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. The service was very good, the facilities were very nice and the location in the middle keys was ideal for our stay. Be prepared for a large tack on of a resort fee if you stay here. The food is good, but expensive. There is also a $ 200/​day preapproval for incurred resort expenses. What you don’t use is credited back at check out.
I attempted to use the Dive shop and was disappointed with the service. It’s a resort Dive shop and if you are experienced you may do better to look elsewhere. The staff didn’t seem interested or motivated to talk to me about scheduling a trip.

Hawks Cay Resort is located on Duck Key in the lower Florida Keys.
This boating resort provides tons of amenities: restaurants, convenience store, marina, boat slips, spa, gym, pool, salt water lagoon, on-​site dolphins, and tons of water activities. The main purpose for our stay was business, but we did manage to sneak in a little fun. We drove down a few days early and stayed in Key West. The weather was pretty rainy during our visit so I am glad we didn’t decide to stay at Hawks Cay for the weekend since there isn’t much to do in the area except for boating and water activities. You won’t find much to do outside the resort unless you drive to one of the larger Keys.
The resort caters to families. Our initial room during check-​in was suppose to be a bedroom with a king bed with a bunk bed. I thought the room sounded odd when my husband described it to me, but I assumed the room was a suite and the bunk bed was in a separate room… Nope, the bunk bed was situated right next to the king bed. A little creepy in my opinion. I guess there is no romance once you have children? We pleaded with the front desk that we would be willing to take any other room and they kindly switched us to a normal hotel room so we didn’t have to sleep next to the bunk bed with our imaginary family.
While we didn’t get to make use of the pool or the saltwater lagoon we did dine at several of the restaurants at the resort and were quite pleased with our meals. Our hotel room’s bed was very comfortable and we had a gorgeous bathroom with a huge walk-​in shower. The mini fridge was very convenient for storing leftovers and bottled water during our stay.
Overall, Duck Key would not be my first choice for a vacation, but if I had a family I could see Hawks Cay Resort being a very fun and relaxing spot to visit.

Just returning from our visit to Hawks Cay.
We had a great time. We arrived on New Year’s Eve and the resort pool area was packed and they had a pretty good band playing. The place was decorated very festive! We ate at Ocean that night, it was good! A little pricey but that’s resort life.
The next day we did dolphin connection which is right on sight by the pool. That was fun too (maybe they could throw in one complimentary picture though? I mean it’s one click to send it via email.)
The room was great and clean and the service was good and friendly despite some other reviews.
I think this resort could use a couple vending machines though… Can’t get much later in the night to calm a craving! This place was much quieter after the holiday crowds left, nice and tranquil.
All in all, it was worth all four of my stars!
We also took a few hours and drove to key west for lunch, that was a nice break from resort life!
Hope my review is helpful!

What an amazing resort, feels like this place is not in the usa
The location is beautiful, the lagoon, the reef with the dolphins, the kids pools OMG we had so much fun, can wait to go back, this is my must visit new place in Florida

Three and a half stars is way too generous for this place. We stayed here for a weekend and when I first arrived, I was quite impressed with the look of the place. Well-​manicured lawns, clean parking lots, a pristine lobby. All very well done. I arrived early and I didn’t expect to be allowed to check in, but they were fine with that.
By the end of the first day I found that the air conditioning didn’t work in the bedroom I was staying in (in one of the villas), the toilet paper holder was missing the piece that goes through the tube, the phone did not work (and since the place is so remote, I didn’t have cell service so the only way of contacting the front desk was to leave the villa and walk up to the main building), and the hotel staff do not know what they are doing.
At 9:55 p.m. I finally had time to eat. The restaurant was no longer serving but they sent me to the tiki bar, which serves until 11:00. By the time I found someone at the restaurant to tell me they were no longer serving, it was now after 10:00. I went to the tiki bar, where I was told that they stop serving at 10:00 and I would have to call room service. I can’t call room service because the phone in the room doesn’t work, so I went to the front desk. They called room service and I placed an order. I was told it would be 30 to 45 minutes for it to arrive. It was nearing midnight when the food finally arrived.
The next day I had breakfast in their restaurant. This is a very small island and outside of the resort, there really isn’t any other place to eat. The breakfast is a buffet, which is great if you’re a meat eater. I had scrambled eggs, two small pancakes, some fruit and a cup of tea. For that small amount of food, I was charged $ 22. I never ate at the resort again.
When I returned to the villa in the afternoon, there were fresh towels on the sofa in the living room and the garbage in the kitchen had been emptied. This is all you get in the way of room cleaning. The beds were not made, the trash in the bathrooms was not emptied and the place was not vacuumed. If you’re accustomed to hotel service, you don’t get that here if you stay in the villas.
All-​in-​all, I can’t recommend this place. There are plenty of places to stay in the keys and there have to be places that are better run than this one. I’ll keep looking.

Really disappointing. We stayed in a townhouse last year at Tranquility Bay, and this year where our uncle was staying Hawk’s Cay, big mistake.
Check in seemed like a breeze, we all were able to start unloading the truck in to where we were staying.
My husband said the front door was already wide open when they arrived.hmmm.
The smell as I made my way up the front stairs was unbearable… is that dead fish in the air??? Or dead vermen? Quick run down to the front desk, and in no time there was the grounds maintenance staff up in the attic looking for something…
Flash back to when I was a little girl, and found a dead mouse in the cold of winter, and I thought I can bring it back to life with a spot on top of the dryer… Yes that smell.
Nothing maintenance can find or do (they said maybe someone left bait or fishing clothes?), we were in luck another town home was vacant to move into, that and some comps, we were doing ok.
Closer look at the bathroom yes few hairs were spotted, as was in the smelly townhouse :(
Stained couch cushions, cracked tile, wear and abuse is clear here. The tv in the bedroom was giant in the smelly house, and tiny — smaller than a computer screen in the second home we stayed at.
Yes I had to Squeeze through the bed sides (many bruises to prove) to get to the ensuite bathroom in the Master room, so sad.
AC was ice cold in the smelly home, and some ducts didn’t work in the house we stayed at, and didn’t get very cold. The fridge broke at night when we arrived my mom in-​law had to get ice. They compted more.
There is plenty of inconsistency due to the town homes are owned by many individual owners as time shares and rent out their place when away. This will be disappointing to you if you stay at hotels.
There’s a little Marina store by the dock and you can buy bait, drinks, some snack and food items. A 1 litre bottle of water is 3 $.
You can rent paddleboards, kayaks and jet skis at a store off the dock for crazy prices too.
The pools are packed, like standing sardines in a can.
There’s a special children’s water park area with water features near the fitness center/​spa.
There’s a lagoon that has fresh ocean water come in through a pipe, and is so warm.
They have tiki umbrellas and chairs around the lagoon.
You can rent a paddleboard or kyak and play in the lagoon like many kids.
If you don’t like children screaming and playing all over, I suggest choosing another resort, this one seems to be the spot for families, I personally like quiet resorts.
I heard people complaining about how long the drinks took to get to them at the lagoon after they ordered.
The family had buffet breakfast at Ocean the first morning and I liked it.
No tarpon fishing off the docks as many signs will tell you, still saw some kids who caught a couple ;)
The fitness center is in the same building as the spa. You walk through a little boutique — racks of clothes, skin products.
It was quiet and had cardio machines, free weights, Smith machine, machines, and cables, enough to get a good workout.
Not my type of class. The kids staying here were saying some crude things, you’ll see bikinis at breakfast, etc.
At the end of the trip the comps knocked of close to half savings, but still paied 700 $ for three nights. They have plenty of promos at this resort if you stay in the loop they offer discounts.
I didn’t want to stay here, now that I did I wouldn’t again.

This is a nice little getaway for those who are looking for a mini staycation. I love that the resort is extremely family friendly! They turn the fire pit on at night and everyone sort of just gathers around while their children play in the pool. It is a good place to stay and relax with family as there is not much near. There are a couple of restaurants near the resort and Key West is just an hour and a half drive. It rained pretty much the whole weekend we were there so I did not see many activities going on.
Now, one thing I did not like. We checked in and upon entering our room I saw there was a torn sugar packet still sitting on our nightstand and a visible stain on the sheets. We checked in almost at 5 pm so I am pretty sure housekeeping had made their rounds. I decided to do housekeeping myself our second day.
My partner had also booked a couples massage for our anniversary at the spa and they had called to reschedule from 11 to 12 and we agreed. We walk in at 12 pm and then they say that they only had the massage booked for one person even though my partner remembers telling them it was for two. We could not come back later as we already had activities planned and Sherri’s response was, «Well.we can’t cancel it.» I still do not understand why but okay, sure. Was I just supposed to wait in the lobby? Luckily, the lady next to her (I really wish I remembered her name) was able to schedule someone else for 3 pm and give me their slot. So there was a solution after all other than them just not being able to cancel it. However, we were still tense during the massage from what had happened (the masseuses were awesome though!!!). I do recommend the spa to anyone, just call and double check the day before your stay to make sure all of the details are correct.
Other than that the employees were really friendly. At checkout Jose was awesome. We will definitely return sometime but next time we will be bringing our son so he can enjoy the cool pirate ship play area!!!