We had booked this "hotel" on the internet for 4 nights in a double room suite with ocean wiev. When we arrived we realised at once, that what we had seen on white sands inn site, was very far from reality. The room was 30 meters from hwy 1 and you could see the ocean if you were bending over the fence off the balcony. The beach was more seeweed than sand, the pool is the smallest I have ever seen !
We lost 450 dollars allready taken from the credit card, took the car for 3 miles more south and found a beatifull place Ocean Beach Club. A 5 star place!

The past 2 years my husband and I have stayed at white sands inn , it is a cute place and has a warm feeling to it . The rooms have a cute bright decor the island colors , and owr room had a little kitchen a queen bed a futon pullout sleeper . T he room we stayed in the year befoew 2006 was room 5 I beleive was nicer , it had a queen bed a kitchen both rooms of course had a very tiny table and chairs and VERY TINY bathrooms with a narrow shower . The pool was nice and every morning Maria put out fresh towels (Maria is the maid but seems to do almost everything) she is as sweet as can be , the beach was just concrete with sand on top and needed to be cleaned up . As far as the water accsess it was pretty nasty it was sooo thick with dead seaweed/seagrass that it was hard to even get to the water , plus the water was not clear at all it was dark and merky so we avoided going in the water . Last year there was a bright orange snake making itself at home on the rocks so to walk up to the pier you had to get pretty close , and im scared to death of snakes for good reason so we went to the office and let them know about this . Well it was pretty upsetting that they didd'nt seem to care the man / owner walked out saw the snake and said oh yeah its a snake alright , well that was it he did nothing to move it or call someone to remove it .. SOMETHING SHOULD OF BEEN DONE I FELT !!! There were 2 other couples that were very nervous about the snake and avoided going near that area by the pier or the water , so that put a damper on my enjoyment of the beach also there were so many jelly fish washed up they were a blue and also purple kind we didd'nt find out til later what they were . So you had to be careful if you did go out even ankle deep on the beach / water , dont get me wrong the place is cute and charming and the 1st year I really liked it but they need to clean the beach up and do a little work on the rooms . I mean my husband and I are not over picky kind of people but we had visited many other places , and the beach area was always raked and cleaned and the dead seaweed was removed .. much cleaner . It's nice if your looking for a quite place to really relax and unwind but dont expect alot in the way of things to do , we wanted to take a paddle boat out but both were broken so that was upsetting . But we did visit alot of other beaches this last year we went 2007 so the beach problems at white sands didd'nt bother us as much , BAHIA HONDA IS AWESOME be sure to visit if you can this is just a gorgeous beach to lay out or snorkel . The past 2 years we went there we saw a nursing shark about hip deep dont be afraid of them they are very mellow , just admire them and dont try to touch them I must have stood there in the water for about 15 20 minutes watching him and then he calmly swam away .... they are a gorgeous shark to look at just respect them and remember this is thier home we are just visiters and you'll have a great time .... I SURE DID !!! Over all about white sands yes it is a cute place with a certain charm to it and yes I would visit agin possibly , the owners are nice and thier daughter is sweet and the maid is sweet . One thing I didd'nt bring up is they never really cleaned the room , it was never sweep or mopped just left us clean towels and that was it . So if they would clean up the beach and work on the rooms a bit it would be pretty nice , just needs some TLC like most would give thier hotel in the 2 times we stayed not once did I ever see anyone pick anything up on the beach to clean it up a bit or nor did they ever make any attempt to rake the dead seagrass like I said not many people want to walk threw a few feet of dead muck to get to the water and wade threw jelly fish !!!!!

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.