I recently went home to Florida for a 25th high school reunion and I stayed one night at the White Sands Inn on the drive into Key West. My first impression of the White Sands Inn was that it reminded me of the type of hotel we would rent for an all night drinking party in high school if you didn’t want any problems with the management. It should be noted that my minimum expectation in quality and cleanliness would have been achieved by the Seashell Beach Resort next door. However, I prepaid for the room three months in advance by credit card but never received a confirmation letter because as the owner told me, “My wife is lazy.” The hotel grounds and parking lot were covered in palm fronds and blossoming dates, the beach was covered in seaweed, and the pool had a half inch of sand in the bottom (not to mention a lost fiddler crab). The hotel room was repaired but still showed signs of flood damage from the last hurricane. However, I did swim in the pool after I fished out the fiddler crab but the beach was pretty disgusting so I went next door to the Seashell Beach Resort to enjoy their “clean” beach and pier. Overall the White Sands Inn was okay if you were passing though but I would never stay there for a beach vacation. Also note that all of the stores, restaurants, and bars are about a 15 minute drive to the West side of the island which doesn’t make either of these hotels conveniently located. My personal recommendation is to consider the Seashell Beach Resort next door if you are interested in staying on Grassy Key.

We stayed in the renovated house which is just next to the hotel. It is a nice old ranch style beach home that has been divided into 3 rooms. Ours was the smallest (room B). It was larger than most motel rooms in the Keys and was very clean. Perfect size for the two of us. Had a small fridge in it also. The other 2 rooms in the house were larger and had kitchens. There is one window in this room that faces the ocean which is about 100 yards away. The 3 rooms share one patio area which is great if you have good neighbors. We lucked out and had great neighbors and enjoyed visiting with them. If your neighbors are loud though this could be a problem. When we checked in there was no one there but we spoke with the owner on the phone in the office and she told us our room was ready and the key was in it. We only saw the owner twice which was fine because we didn't have any problems. They were very nice and friendly. The grounds were clean but the pool is very small. The ocean area is not for swimming like most of the keys but there are a few beaches within driving distance that are nice. There is a GREAT restaraunt at the Rainbow Inn just to the north of here. They are pricy but the food was excellent. This place was a lot nicer and cleaner than most motels in the keys but we have also been in better.

We stayed here 2 nights on a trip to the Keys in April 2006. It's a great little place! Clean, tropically decorated rooms with big windows to take in the sea view. Nice pool, too. It can be difficult to find decent, reasonably priced accommodations in the middle Keys but this place fits the bill!

The location of the property is very nice, in fact the rooms themselves seem very nice. Our room #4 had a short walk to the waterfront area and they have an excellent hammock for reading and relaxing. However the ants that invaded our bathroom really made the evening rest rather uneasy. We're not talking a few, we actually shot a video of a steady flow of traffic from our towel rack across two and a half walls to the exterior wall. We actually had to call and have someone spray the walls down. He then asked us if we wanted the spray left in our room, which we gladly accepted. And good thing we did.

I had to rinse in the shower before we departed in the morning, but my family refused.

I understand the problems with bugs in the Florida. The fact that the sand comes right to the door/building definitely does not help.

I am a frequent business traveler and in hotels/motels at least 80 nights a year, bugs really kill it for me. We were not expecting the Ritz Carlton here, in fact we stayed at a similar style place later in our trip in Islamorada that was VERY clean and affordable. We will not stay here again.