Authors Guest House

Driving down the Florida Keys we stopped at one of those bright yellow Visitor Centers advertising coupons and discounts. So glad we did because otherwise we wouldn’t have known about the best kept secret in Key West that is Authors Guesthouse.
Pros first: Adorable rooms and cottages. Beautiful courtyard, deck, gardens and a canopy of trees. Quiet residential area. Secured with locked gates. Free and plentiful street parking. Spacious rooms named after famous authors. Kind and attentive staff. Free wifi. Powerful air conditioning. Sweet resident cat. Very clean premises and rooms. Layout is perfect as rooms are private, not on top of each other. Wraparound deck or porch for every room. VERY reasonable priced, especially with Visitor Center discount.
Cons: Very small heated pool that doubles as a jacuzzi (it’s tres humid so a cool refreshing swim would have been welcome!) Wifi in our room weak (probably because of our room’s location being away from main area.) Only breakfast choices are orange, banana, bagel. We consider it a Pro, but some might not like its location so far away from the tourist action. Small shower means I missed a few spots shaving my legs.

This place was one of my favorite parts of Key West.
Devonna checked us in and was super helpful and friendly. There are only 10 rooms here and it is so quaint. Our room had a stack of books, which I promptly geeked out over. They naturally also have a couple of resident cats.
This place was in walking distance and so we parked our car on the street and then used our legs to get where we needed to go.
In the morning, they had a nice little continental breakfast laid out for us. We were able to eat on the large patio area and read the local newspaper. All of the people there staying there were super nice and gave great tips on where to go.

As Florida natives, Authors Guest House has been our ‘home away from home’ for 10+ years when we visit Key West a couple of times a year!
A short walk to Duval Street, Authors is a wonderfully quaint, quiet, and clean place at an amazingly reasonable price. Trust me that you want to be on Duval Street until you want to sleep at which time you want to be at Authors in their residential neighborhood away from the chaos. Privately owned and operated, the staff will treat you like family and do whatever they can to make sure your stay is great. They also have the inside information — tour operators, restaurants, boating excursions — to make your Key West stay whatever you want it to be.
We always stay in a small room for two but they have a hotel that is comfortably small and creatively built where you can reserve several rooms that adjoin so larger groups can be together. I can even envision someone renting the entire place for a large event like a family reunion or destination wedding. Please just don’t do it on a weekend I want to be in Key West !

I will definitely come back to this quaint place. If you are looking for a true Key West feel outside the hustle if Duval street this is the place for you. Clean, cute, comfy. Still close to where the action is although you will need a bike or good walking shoes to get to the center of the action. The staff was very professional and accommodating, they allowed me a late check out which is unusual for small places like this one. Thank you Author’s :)

Absolutely neat and cosy place. Very friendly owners an managers. Rooms are nicely decorated and clean. Beds are very confortable. Breakfast is included in the room rates!!! Close to one of key wests beaches and duval street. Free parking on streets. Absolute recommended. It’s our future place of choice when we are returning to Key West. Thank you so much!

Awesome customer service, cute place.

Authors is a fantastic alternative to the $ 300+ per night hotels on Duval Street. Its about a 10 minute walk (through the cemetery if you’re adventerous) to get to the bars and tourist traps of Key West. If you want to experience that true local Key West… stay here. If you want to get to Duval, you can be active and walk. To anyone who thinks it’s too far away, get off your ass and walk dammit. If that’s too much, rent a bike (bonus points for still being active and using the locals’ preferred means of transportation). If you really can’t stand the distance, rent a moped or call a pedicab.
They have a variety of rooms and they are all unique which adds to the charm of staying at a guest house on the island. The room and the grounds were extremely clean and having stayed in Kwest multiple times this is definitely not one of those dingy, run down lodging options.
The fairly large hot tub is open all day and night but you can’t use the keys after 9pm. There are pool towels available for your use.
Breakfast was fairly simple but at least there was something. It included bagels, yogurt, and fruit. Coffee was available during breakfast, but tea, cold water and ice was available ²⁴⁄₇.
Staff were very nice and accommodating. The bed was great and the nicely decorated room included a small tv and a mini fridge.
This place was a fantastic find!

We had an excellent two night stay at authors – the rooms were not huge, in summer the hot tub was not very useful, and like most places they didn’t take advantage of the excellent (and relatively low cost) bakeries to stick their breakfast table – but those are tiny negatives compared to the comfort, excellent location and service they offered. We’ll be back there if we venture to the keys again!

Wonderful Key West spot that doesn’t break the bank. Our room (Margret Truman) was clean and comfortable– and had a mini fridge and outdoor patio/​seating area, which was nice. The breakfast was typical (basic) continental, but well stocked.
The front desk service was outstanding– she went above and beyond! We got recommendations for everything from dining to charters and all of the spots she told us about were great. You can rent bikes on premises, they deliver them to you and the rate is typical of the bikes on Duval. The pool is small but clean. And the location is very close to all the action, but far enough away that you aren’t bothered by noise.

This place has a lot going for it. Feels very private, clean, and Ramsey (the staff) are great.
Pros:
Well-​priced, clean, and big enough (don’t come to Key West if you want to hang out in your room)
Close to the action, but not so close that you have to hear it at night (less than a mile to just about everything you would want to do)
Staff are friendly, fun, and knowledgeable about the area (Thanks, Ramsey!)
Quiet and private (at least in our room… some rooms seem like they could hear more noise from the road)
Hot tub is warm and nice to relax in
Neutral:
Parking can be tough, but I never had to park more than 1.5 blocks away (walking or renting bikes is the way to go in Key West)
Breakfast is basic… bagels, yogurt, coffee, OJ, etc…
Hot tub is right outside two of the rooms
Wifi was okay, but in certain spots I could not find it (if you are on a working trip, then this may be more important to you.)
Cons:
Hot tub hours end at 8pm (understand that they want the noise to be kept down, but we would have liked the option for some late night soaking)
Breakfast isn’t available until 8:30am (Coffee is there a little earlier, but we are used to getting up early and wanted to get the day going sooner.)
Overall, the price point is just right for what you get. The location is safe and allows for easy access to all the fun stuff in Key West. We would consider staying here again upon our next visit.

Place is very cozy and well kept. Can’t beat the price and location. Breakfast is great. Just rent a scooter because parking stinks!

Really nice little guest house in a good location with extremely friendly staff. Bit pricey though 130 dollars a night. Suppose it ties in with the price of the area, but I still find it way to much

loved it great room

Perfect place for a nice weekend in Key West. It’s tucked away from most of the major attractions, but close enough that we could walk to Duval (and pretty much everything else). Our room was right off the pool. We could open our doors, take five steps, and be swimming. We didn’t have any issues with noise as we never saw anyone actually use the pool.
The grounds were nice, tropical, and the staff was welcoming. A great option and very well priced!

The good:
I recently stayed at the Library room, which was very clean and spacious. The staff was friendly and eager to recommend activities and restaurants on Duval St. They even arranged the bike transportation during my stay! On-​site parking was a plus.
The bad:
Although the location is far from Duval Street, the traffic outside was loud enough to wake me in the early morning. Their breakfast did not make up for my lack of sleep. They offered a continental breakfast that is typical of a chain hotel — fruit, yogurt, bagel, etc.
The ugly:
The pool is very small… probably the size of the queen sized mattress I slept on.

Well-​priced with a pool and a 5 – 10 minute walk from the main drag, I booked my room too close to Fantasy Fest to have the full range of hotels to compare to every B&B around, but their prices were reasonable and their staff were friendly.
The room was decent enough with an in-​room freezer fridge, an air conditioner more than capable of keeping the heat at bay, and great sleep without hearing any neighbors or outside guests chattering and clattering around. I’d definitely visit again.

The Author’s Guesthouse is a small, cute B&B which makes up a lot in charm where some may think it lacks in space or commodities.
The price is the real reason why this is a total win in my book. A close stroll to Duval Ave, and you are looking at ~100−120 for a 3 person room. Not too shabby at all. Smaller rooms? Yes. But you are in Key West! Why hang out in your room (with T. v and free wifi — both ignored by yours truly) when you have so much so close at your disposal? Beds are comfy, a. c is a workhorse and keeps your rooms rather brisk, and the bathroom is clean and full of extra towels.
The continental breakfast is nothing special — some fresh fruit, bagels and english muffins. But you get to eat outside on their fabulous patio and maybe even have a local six-​toed-​cat as a breakfast companion. The pool is small, but well maintained and never got too loud at night (our room was RIGHT in front of it).
The staff were super friendly — marking points of interest on the map and telling us all the best places to go.
I wouldn’t hesitate staying here again. The place is just made up of a whole lot of good things!

If i could would give 3.5 stars. Stayed here for a night which was prefect for us. It was clean close to Duval and great service. The front desk staff is super informative and friendly. They were taking out the carpet from the to floor somewhere so they switched us to a bigger room below right by the pool/​hottub, which was fine by me. The room was clean tile and the bathroom just a regular guesthouse in the keys. They have an ice machine and filtered water system outside which was key bc we filled up our water jugs a few times so that was a blessing. We rented bikes and rode around the keys and left the bikes at the hotel where the rental company picks them up. For $ 18 dollars for 24hrs its the best way to travel and see the keys. The breakfast definitely could be better since it said to be a bed and breakfast. We had coffee, orange juice and there was bagels and english muffins with choice of butter cream cheese and jelly. They also offered some fruit. It wasn’t the worst and filled our stomachs but I except a little more if you call yourself a B&B. The small pool is more like a large hot tub bc u can turn on the jets and its usually warm temperature. The front desk said we can go in at anytime just be mindful of the noise level which was the laid back attitude I love about the keys.
If your staying for a night or two, the price is good and the location is not far from Duval.

Hate to give a bad review, however; it was earned here. Our room was not comfortable at all. The room was dingy & dirty. Walking bare feet in the room was out of the question. The air conditioner didn’t work well & was very noisy. We turned it off and tried to open windows to let cool/​fresh air in. The windows wouldn’t stay open. We got one to stay open by using a plant stand to prop the window up. We had a horrible nights sleep. The breakfast left much to be desired. English muffin, bagel, coffee, & orange juice. That’s it.
Not at all worth the price.

First time here. We stayed in the Harry Truman room. Really nice. We loved this place. Everything was great. Maybe they can improve the coffee.