Ridley House - Key West Historic Inns

We really like historic places, and Ridley House has plenty of charm, with the character we enjoy in a property from the late 1800s. The front desk staff, especially Greg, were welcoming, friendly, and knowledgeable. My wife and I also enjoyed the breakfast each morning. We had a pleasant stay, though the bathroom and bedding weren’t as good as what we’ve had at other B&Bs. Some parts of the room need more attention to maintenance and cleanliness. With a little extra care in the rooms, this property has a lot of potential.

The breakfast was fantastic, and this is a great spot if you want to walk into town. We’ve stayed at two other historic properties in Old Town, so we understand the appeal of an old home. Still, this was by far the noisiest room. We were in a bottom corner room and could hear people in the hall, upstairs, and next door at all hours. Street traffic and roosters woke us between 2 am and 5 am. There’s only one pool.

We were so happy with our stay that we’re definitely coming back. We visit Key West with family every year, and this time booked three rooms at Ridley House for Monday-Thursday. Everyone loved the location, close enough to walk to Duval and the marina. The morning chef made a genuinely great breakfast, and the mattress and sheets were very comfortable. The pool was a pleasant 85 degrees. The only downside was the humidity. One room felt fine, while the other two were unusually humid inside for some reason. I’d still call it a solid 4.7/5, very close to five stars.

We enjoyed the location, the friendly staff, and our clean room. It’s a historic hotel, easy to walk from to pretty much everything, with good complimentary breakfast and happy hour sangria. We were also very grateful to be allowed to check in early. There were some annoying problems over our four nights. The fire alarm went off on two of them, once at 1 am and once around 9 pm. It’s so loud it feels like it could burst your eardrums if you don’t plug them. The old building carries sound, too. If you’re a light sleeper, try for a third-floor room, since you’ll likely hear guests upstairs otherwise. Street noise is hard to avoid. Thirty minutes before checkout, we came back from our last walk to get our suitcases and found our key cards wouldn’t work. Maybe it was just a system glitch, but that added to the small annoyances. Given all that, I’m not sure we’d choose to stay here again.