I booked a 3 day trip to Grand Cayman simply to go to Sting Ray City, presuming I would find basic room availability for 2 nights in February without issues... not so!! Everything is $300+ per night!!! I am a solo traveler so I contacted Eldemire and Turtle Nest and they are booked up. Sunset House and Harbour View have asked me to contact them closer to Feb as they only take advance reservations for longer stays.

Is there not a cheaper room anywhere on the island? I can't believe the prices!! This is like the Bora Bora of the Caribbean... except without any budget options!

I wish you had done a little research on Grand Cayman before booking nonrefundable air tickets (it's known as being an expensive island, and you are going during the highest of high seasons), but since you've already committed, I think you may be able to find a hotel room for around $200 if it's not a weekend. If a weekend, then I do think $300 is probably the best you'll do for a hotel. The Holiday Inn and Grand Caymanian are among the cheaper hotel options.

But there may very well be some rentals on the island. Check on AirBnB. If you are willing to take a private room in an owner-occupied condo, you might very well find something for around $100. Just make sure you are booking a room on Grand Cayman and not one of the sister islands, which tend to come up in searches.

Well... if I gotta go, I gotta go. So that wouldn't have made a difference. I was just surprised since I wasn't expecting the sticker shock prices I don't think anywhere in the world including Bora Bora or some such chi chi location have I failed to find anything < $100 if I booked in advance. So that is a non-issue for me. I will say that one time many moons ago I landed up on St. Barth for the night and couldn't find anything reasonable since I was traveling alone, so I just napped in my car. Probably the only island in the Caribbean where it was then safe enough to do... then, as in more than 5 years ago... now I may not risk it even on St. Barth.

Thanks - yes in fact there were some "cheaper" options ~ $180 still available even at this late stage, but that was still too much for me. So you're absolutely right, AirBnB did the job. Very reasonable and when I was searching actually found one less than $40 (yes you read that right) but that's couch surfing and a bit extreme even for me. So anyways, never had done AirBnB before but will keep that option open in future.