Ok,

I have stayed at El Patio MANY MANY (at least 10) times over the years. The staff can be friendly most times, to completley irritable.

But that is the nature of the business. They get a lot of people who are expecting top of the line PERFECT accomodations.

If you are looking for some fancy pants, perfect hotel...

Let me tell you now... THIS IS NOT IT.

However, it's CLEAN. It's off the beaten path, is about the only downfall. You can rent bikes on property for cheap, but I highly recommend you rent scooters in order to get downtown.

The pool is always a fantastic place to chill out in the afternoon. The roof top deck is great for sunbathing, or just chilling out at night.

What a lot of people don't realize in the keys is that THIS hotel is really about as GOOD as they come.

I don't mean that as a negative to El Patio. It is a fantastic, and inexpensive place to stay.

What I am trying to say is that, I have stayed at other places in the keys. Places that make El Patio look like the Ritz.

El Patio is NOT the Ritz. But for a great priced hotel, you WILL NOT find a better deal.

Since it is off the beaten path, it is very quiet unless you have rowdy guests, which ALL hotels experience from time to time.

I have been that guest before, so I know.

El Patio is far from perfect, but it has served me well for many years when I visit key west.

I never had a problem that they did not take care of right away.

It all depends on your perspective. If you want a place you can chill out at AND / OR just a place to crash. El Patio is PERFECT for you.

If you are expecting TOP OF THE LINE $200+ (off season) type accomodations... then this is NOT the place for you.

I have heard MANY horror stories about some of the even more expensive places on Key West.

Where do you want to take your chances? If you are coming to PARTY downtown 99% of the time, then you could virtually stay anywhere regardless of the "room" you stay in.

El Patio is a winner on ALL level as far as hotels go in KW.

Happy Vacationing!

This is a wonderful old town key west motel.The location was perfect, close to davull st. and the beaches.The courtyard was full of plants ,lush and tropical. The pool area was the same.it also had a very nice rooftop deck. The perfect old key west charm.

We booked this motel through the Key West Chamber of Commerce on entering the area. We booked for two nights but having stayed one night and getting absolutely no sleep due to other motel guests, the air conditioning fan and the roosters, we left. The guy at the Chamber of Commerce, who we guess was on some commission for the booking really hyped the place up, which made us really disappointed on seeing the apartment, which was basic to say the least. Had to ask for hairdryer and iron, which in fairness we were given, but the bed was awful and the shower room the size of a cupboard. We couldn't wait to leave even though the management was very pleasant and immediately gave us our money back for the night we did not stay. We also saw other better available accommodation when we looked around the next day.

We stayed two nights at the El Patio and found it to be an old but quaint property in a quiet part of town. It's not bad if you know what you are getting.

During check-in and check-out, the front desk was very friendly and helpful, and made some very nice recommendations for activities and restaurants.

The sun deck was nice (though it was too cold with too little sun to partake), and the courtyard garden is very small but very nicely kept.

The room was non-descript and relatively large, with a dresser/mirror, which was nice. Found some dust bunnies and a gum wrapper next to the night stand, but otherwise it was clean enough. Likewise, the linens were clean, and the beds were sufficient, though not particularly comfy. The bathroom was very small, with a small standup shower.

It's important to note that our room didn't seem to have actual windowpanes, only wooden shutters. Now, I could be wrong, but I do know that it was freezing in Florida when we were there, and the chill seemed to come right in. I couldn't figure out a way to seal it out. We just had to grab all of the blankets in the room and hope for the best. Also, because there is no seal on the windows, all outside noises (including crowing roosters) sounded like they were right in our room. Fortunately, the neighborhood is very quiet, so there wasn't much beyond the roosters (and the occasional motel guest) to disturb us in the mornings.

Being in a quiet neighborhood was also good for parking. We never had trouble finding a close parking spot, even late at night. That was very nice.

The service was minimal. The only amenity in the bathroom was a bar of soap - fortunately, my wife brought shampoo I could use, as I always just plan on using hotel shampoo. We also woke up late our first day (around 10:30 a.m.), and that apparently caused us to miss housekeeping, as they never cleaned our room or brought fresh towels. Given that the management only provides two bath towels for the room (and small ones at that), this would have been a big problem had we not hung our towels out to dry. Having a couple more bath towels available in the room would have been nice.

I was able to make a wireless internet connection to an adjacent property. It wasn't the best connection, but it worked. Apparently, the motel is also working to install wireless networking, but it wasn't up and running as of my visit.

The motel is definitely a small hike away from most of the action (almost a 1/2-mile from the south end of Duval Street, then another mile down to Mallory Square area), so I'd recommend renting bikes, which you can do right at the motel. We loved riding our bikes around Key West!

Our only real complaint was the price - $180 a night for an older property with spartan accommodations and little to no service was a bit much, even for Key West during high season. Next time we may start trying to find accommodations earlier, as we saw many other properties while we were visiting that were in that price range but that offered a few more creature comforts.