![]() The hallway to the room wasn’t elegant but we never expect much from old buildings. These were classic elevators that barely fit Sharon and I with our roller bags. We were provided keys to our room on the second floor. The check in process was very efficient, except for the front desk agent forgetting to give us the envelope that told us about all our benefits of being a Hilton Gold member. Along the far end of the lobby (behind us in this picture) is a small lobby bar called RUMba which, despite its small size, can make a pretty great rum based cocktail. There are three check in desks and a concierge in the lobby, along with the bell services desk. While we took this picture at night (the only time the lobby was empty), during the day the space looks much lighter as there’s sunlight coming in from the many windows facing the ocean. That classic elegance carries over into the lobby area. The pastel color exterior and red shingled roof with the palm trees are exactly what someone visiting the Florida Keys would expect from a luxury hotel. The hotel’s exterior just evokes the sense of classic Florida architecture. Why would we want to stay in the new wing? I emailed the hotel concierge at and told them we’d like to stay in the Flagler Building. I read online that rooms in the newer wing are nicer but the reason we wanted to stay here was because the hotel was old. The regular rooms are spread throughout the main historic Flagler Building and the west wing of the hotel. Key West gets hot and rains often so I’d rather not be walking to the car in either of those instances. I could’ve saved the $8 but decided to splurge :-). They did offer self parking at a nearby lot but that was still $27 a day. The one fee we couldn’t avoid was a $35 a day valet parking fee. If you were looking to use Hilton Honors points, rooms will cost you 80,000 points a night. Luckily, the resort fee is waived if you’re redeeming a free night (points or certificate). Starting price was $330 a night before taxes and a $40 resort fee. We only had access to a king bed room with our free night certificates. ![]() Given, most people staying at Waldorf Astoria properties don’t care about the price, but we do. There are 142 rooms with 1 bed, 105 rooms with two beds and 69 suites, some of which are in their own section of the hotel. ![]() Today, the hotel has a total of 311 guest rooms spread throughout several buildings. At the time, this was the spot to be seen in Key West, as President Harding visited the hotel three days after its grand opening, firmly placing it as an exclusive destination. It was conceived by railroad tycoon Henry Flagler as the place where people arriving on his Overseas Railroad could stay when reaching the end of the line in Key West. Casa Marina Key West, A Waldorf Astoria Resort Since this would probably be my only chance to stay at this hotel, I went ahead and booked a Friday to Sunday stay at the Casa Marina Key West, A Waldorf Astoria Resort. That’s including the Waldorf Astoria properties (well, except for several hotels that were excluded from the offer). Instead of points, like most cards offer as a sign up bonus, this card was offering two weekend nights at any of the Hilton brand hotels. This all worked out because before Citi discontinued their Hilton credit cards last year, we signed up for the Hilton Honors Reserve card. Even though we’ve found that when visiting Key West we’d rather spend time at an independent hotel than at at a chain property, I just couldn’t pass us a chance to stay at this hotel. We wanted to visit more sooner than later to help support tourism since people will often avoid places after natural disasters. Sharon and I have visited Key West many times and we actually started planning this trip shortly after Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys last year.
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