The Islander Resort

This review is for the meeting facilities. I attended a meeting with about 50 attendees. It was in the building referred to as The Ballroom.
The signage says Museum and Nature Center. But that’s an Islamorada thing. The resort itself is called The Guy Harvey resort. However, the gargantuan retro sign visible from Hwy 1 says Islander. O and a conference event was announced for the Zane Grey Lounge at Bass Pro but the building says Sportsmen. That goes along with the very serious Hurricane Monument where a survivor observed, «Those palms are blowing out to sea on that carving, and believe me, that ain’t right.»
The experience was good. The house had the A/​C set to polar, but was very helpful for adjusting the temp. We were bodies, yes, not cadavers (yet).
Catering was efficient and quiet for lunch setup. Thanks!
We started the morning by arriving in a summer squall. There is a nice covered patio outside the entry doors to regroup after a sprint in the rain.

I liked it fine. They have 2 pools (one salt and one fresh), and a bar. Rooms are clean and I really liked the screened in porch with the ceiling fan on the back of our room.
If you like it quiet, ask for a room away from the pools.
The prices are in line with most places in Islamorada. The staff was very helpful and friendly. It’s conveniently located to everything. Nice sized beach on the ocean side. Great sunrises.
They have a laundry room. You can purchase detergent at the gift shop or just go down the road to Dollar Tree and buy some.
Not as fancy as Cheeca Lodge, but not as expensive either. I’ll definitely come back.

The Islander Resort is newly remodeled and doing their best to provide a great atmosphere right on the water some of the most wonderful tropical climate in all of South Florida. They do a very good job with breakfast in the morning the rooms are clean have refrigerators small stove sink and dishwasher the amenities in the rooms are all very nice and they are all one bedroom rooms great for a large group of people looking for a place to stay with individual attention. Granted this is not a five-​star restaurant or hotel but they are a good three-​and-​a-​half to four stars and they do try very hard

I never make post like this, But I have to be totally honest me and wife had our wedding 4÷30÷16 onsite and it was beautiful location for film. The service was horrible at grille, everytime we placed a order, it took server 30 minutes to bring anything. The manager was rude as if we were bothering him with any question regarding service, drinks, food also didn’t want to give our party a umbrella for our table when the bar was completely empty. The coordinator Karly really did her best to make it a great event and I thank you, but, everything else at the location and the experience was terrible. Really to much to write about. We’ll never go back!!!
Bernard Arnold Jr.

I stayed here during a busy time of year, wedding season in the keys! We were just looking for the cheapest deal we could find so we didn’t expect much, but were very pleasantly surprised at what we found. The front desk staff were very accommodating, we arrived before noon for a check-​in time of 4PM. We got to relax by one of the two pools and get some drinks before our room was ready early at 2. Our room was nice, with a kitchen and 2 queen beds. We had a view of the courtyard and got to watch some huge iguanas lounging around just outside our patio. The free wi-​fi was a plus. Our basket of coffee and creamers was refilled while we were there. They also swapped out our just-​opened bars of soaps for fresh ones. It’s the perfect location, we went across the street to watch the sunset at the Lorelei, and woke up to watch the sunrise at our beach. The only negative is the service at the bar, we were greeted with a «hi» at least 4 times before someone finally asked if they could get us anything, didn’t even get a menu until we had been sitting there for 15 minutes. However, once we ordered the service was great, they were incredibly friendly. The Key Lime Colada, conch chowder, and conch fritters were fantastic! I would definitely stay here again.

This was quite a find. Located very close to the water, even the room that we had, which is the furthest from the water was only a short walk. I was bummed at first because it was the the furthest from the beach and the pool, but quickly got over it because: 1) It is right next to the office which served the best damn hotel coffee I have ever had and all day long (that is a big deal for us). 2) It was just far enough from the patio and pool to enjoy peace and quiet when you want it (the rooms closest to the pool/​patio/​breach are great but you are going to listen to the music and pool goers during the day. Not a big deal, but our room was only a 30 second walk to all the action. This place has a great private beach with incredible ocean views. The patio and pool areas have things going on most of the day, especially weekends. Both pools are big, and they have one for families and another for the drinkers. Great bar by the pool, there’s a pier to walk out on and water sports on same beach. It is close to everything. If you are fan of the HBO special «Bloodline», the house is only a few hundred feet down the road. We were quite pleased overall.

This review is just for the grill… I didn’t eat there. I sat down was seen by many servers and the bartender no one ever came to greet me so after a few minutes I left. The end. Lorelai across the street is right on the water more affordable the food was great and the service was awesome !!!

Decent rooms. Some what outdated if you compare to the rest of the country but for the keys they are okay. I was more upset with the staff. I left something in my room and came back a few hours later and the yet used to let me go to the room to get it and wouldn’t even let me go with a manager to the room. I was checked out and heading to key west and wouldn’t be back. They even called house keeping but they said nope. Well the next day I got a call and they if my item but again i was in key west. When I asked if they could mail it they said it would be three weeks before they could. So I had to drive all the back that night to get it. Front desk staff was rude. Won’t stay there again. Bar and restaurant is average at best as well.

Don’t stay here. It’s not worth the money. The rooms are run down, over priced, and the fact that check in is at 4pm and check out is at 11a and is inflexible, well blows. Oh and the «ocean view» room is more like a sliver of the ocean that you can see if you are standing pressed up against the wall. Good luck with that. 400 for that? Not worth it. Not even worth it if it was half the price.

Used to stay here often as a kid and enjoyed it. Stayed here for my honeymoon and really enjoyed it. Right on the water. You can snorkel or fish on their pier. Their resteraunt menu isn’t great but just walk over to the Lorelei for that. Really cool pool and Margaritaville Sirius Station playing on the speakers all around the water. Huge rooms with screened patios and full kitchens. Pricey but definitely worth it!

This is an old style property with nice grounds but rooms that need substantial updating. To carry the Guy Harvey name, the owner needs to REINVEST in this property. Prices like this require more that a coat of paint.
Overall, the room was not very clean.
The bathroom setup has tub and toilet in a very small space with the sink/​vanity outside in the kitchen area. Who wants to brush their teeth while someone is cooking 3 feet away? The jalousie window in the bathroom would not crank open so imagine the smells wafting into the kitchenette area.
The kitchenette was just sad and barely functional. Fortunately, they had plenty of coffee in the lobby or we would have been SOL.

Ducked in for a night on a whim and it was a fine time, here’s why:
* Guy Harvey refresh of the brand rocks!
* Screened in patios with ceiling fans ROCK!
* Directly across from Lorelei – be CAREFUL walking across US1!
* Sprawling property, easy to get lost on, which is awesome.
* Corners, nooks and crannies abound. I like that.
* Huge pool,
* Right next to another pool, and a
* Hot tub
* The fishing /​thinking /​canoodling pier is open ²⁴⁄₇
* Soft, white, powdery, and freshly raked sand is everywhere
* Park in front of your room. I like that.
* Charcoal grills all around the property, encouraging you to cook out and save money.
David Carl always likes to say «the Devil is in the details.» One of the details I found MOST pleasing about the whole experience is that they went the extra mile to put my favorite, flavored coffee creamers in the room, along with the make-​your-​own-​coffee kit. HOME RUN (See photo). Nice.
Many, many thanks to management for letting me keep my car on property as I ran off to Key West for another couple nights of crazy Spring Break adventures with my squad.
I’ve been patronizing this property for many, many moons and I am happy to see it evolving properly, not just being another over-​priced high rise.
Much appreciated.
Cabeza OUT

My husband and I stayed here so that we could be close to a family member’s wedding venue. From the moment we drove away from check-​in, our faces fell when we saw the property. It’s rows and rows of old buildings. When we found our room, we were even more disappointed when we walked in and saw where we would be sleeping. The floor was made up of tile floors that were really dirty (so we knew we wouldn’t be taking our shoes off in the room), as well as a few uninvited guests (roaches). We would NOT recommend this hotel to anybody.

I have frankly stayed in much better hotels and resort. The staff at the front desk was rude and had an attitude (not sure what for). The rooms themselves are decent. We booked an ocean facing suit. The main thing to note here is, it is ocean but not a beach and it is not exactly facing it is close by. We were facing the pool and all the people who decided to jump into the jacuzzi fully clothed and the staff did not seem to bother about that. All in all, unhygienic behaviour.
I am rating this decent only for the room and housekeeping. Please do not expect service from any hotels in Florida Keys or Florida for that matter.
Ohh yes and the wifi does not pick up signal in your room. wonder if wifi means something else in Florida since this was the case in all our hotel stays in Florida.

Do yourself a favor and not only do not come here to the Islander Resort, but STAY AWAY FROM THE FLORIDA KEYS ALL TOGETHER. Theres NOTHING to do, nothing to see… Overpriced as hell. What a waste of time.
This resort is run down, has dead bugs in the rooms and is overall just crappy. We paid over $ 350 a night for this shit hole. The worst. Don’t do to the keys or this resort. Trust me. And Wi-​fi doesn’t work well if at all.

I found the Islander after a Google search, looking for a hotel in Islamorada that rents boats and also has shore fishing.
The room– We checked in on a Tuesday in October– we were surprised and happy when our room was ready at noon and they checked us right in. We immediately loved the layout of this hotel– you can park right outside your room so it’s very easy to load and unload your stuff. Every room has a little kitchenette and a huge screened porch. I had read some poor reviews about cleanliness but I didn’t notice anything like that. The room was very clean! The hotel is a little older in that it has older style doors and locks and no place for USB chargers. There is free wifi but it’s a pretty weak connection. An important thing to note– the door to the screened porch LOCKS behind you so if you head out to the porch w/​o a room key, you are locked out of your room! (Yes, it happened to us at about 10pm, but luckily I had my cell phone and someone came over to let us back in right away)
The property– we were really impressed with how well the grounds are kept, a huge «beach» with lots of chairs for laying out, swimming pools, shuffle board courts, grilling areas…
The fishing pier– this is one of the things that sold us in our decision to stay here. We are fishing nuts so wanted to be able to fish whenever we want, just a short walk from the room. The pier is gorgeous, well lit, and open 24 hours. Some of the fish we caught or saw being caught were hammerheads, nurse sharks, barracuda (small), saw fish (a gentleman from England pulled in a 200 lb sawfish and released it), mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, pigfish, puffers, mutton snapper, and I’m sure some more that I’m forgetting right now. I think you can rent fishing equipment there but most people brought their own.
Islander watersports– located right on the premises and you can rent boats from them, schedule charters, rent fishing equipment and probably more. We rented a Boston Whaler for 8 hours and on the way in the engine died. Luckily we were in sight of the resort so it was fairly easy to have someone come out and get us. They were super apologetic about the whole thing.
Guy’s Beachside Bar and Grill– not a huge selection but everything we tried was good– mahi mahi w/​crab cake (OMG– was so good), chicken Cuban sandwich, and conch fritters. Very good frozen rum runners too! I found out that Guy’s won’t cook any fish that you catch but there’s a restaurant/​bar directly across the street called Lorelei that will :-)
So to sum it up– great value for the money and we will definitely stay here again (I guess it’s an off time of year as well because it was not packed at all!)

We stayed here for a wedding and loved it! Spacious rooms with a mini kitchen, patio, and a ceiling fan above the bed!
Great little beach area. No umbrellas, but lots of palm trees, so we were able to get shade when we wanted it by moving our chairs around. 2 pools with a bar area to order food and drinks. My husband was thrilled they had TVs in the bar to checkout some of the games going on.
Breakfast area on-​site with the choice of continental or buffet with an omelet station. Very reasonably priced breakfast. Property was clean. Loved that we could park outside our rooms. We wish we could have stayed longer! We will definitely be back!

The islander is a beautiful resort. They allow dogs and they have an awesome private beach and two pools. There was good food at the bar and great drinks .
NOW here is why my two stars come in rolling… There was a cockroach in my sisters room, huge with wings, and he was just walking around on the sheets. DISGUSTING
Secondly we decided to rent a boat from their water sports booth. Let me tell you horrible and rude. The boat was supposed to come at 1:00 pm and didn’t show up till 2:30. The boat was given to us dirty from the previous group who took it out fishing, seriously who wants to sit on fish scales … Um not me. The guy who helped us get on the boat was pretty harsh and not very friendly. Your in the customer service industry, put a smile on your face :).

Rooms were clean and comfortable.
Our room was close to the beach and pools, poolside service is a plus++
Yummy frozen drinks really help beat the heat.
Cute hammock outside of our room was relaxing to sway in.
We stayed the end of April and had a great time, we were close to all amenities and especially close to the destination wedding held at the resort next door.
Very good breakfast buffet with excellent service.
We had a great mini-​vacation and would go back.

Very pleased with our spontaneous destination to The Islander Resort. The staff is extremely friendly — we arrived around midnight and everything went smoothly! Parking is available near each cottage.
Clean spacious rooms. The kitchenette is very nice to have.