Key West hotel under $200/night? Advice please
 

Message: On short notice I'm trying to plan a five or six night winter break getaway to Key West for our family of four (2 kids, ages 17 and 12). Dates, sometime around 12/26 through 1/2.

This will be our first time in Key West. Looking for a nice, reasonably priced hotel near Duval. Any advice?

That time period being busy it will be hard to find something close to Duval for that price. I would check with the Sheraton Suites or the Best Western Key Ambassador. Both are across from the beach and there is a shuttle that runs to Duval. Or you can try priceline for something in Old Town. Check betterbidding.com or biddingfortravel for tips on how to bid.

Try the Southernmost. It is on lower Duval and is usually pretty reasonable. The Key Lime Inn is also just over $100 and looks good for the price. Another option is renting a full condo. I stayed at One Duval Place last year and I believe it was only $1200 for a two bedroom with 1 1/2 baths. Full kitchen, plenty of room, rooftop pool. Just search on One Duval Place.

Ed, good advice but are those prices you are quoting for the week of Christmas and New Years?

When I was researching our trip last year I came across two inexpensive but centrally-located options. I don't know if they qualify as "nice"; when we visited I didn't check either one out. My impression is that the holiday week can be VERY expensive. The two places are:
Jabour's www.kwcamp.com; see the 2-bdrm mobile home.
Artist House Villas wwww.artisthousekeywest.com.
Both have kitchens; if you weren't looking for that I imagine you could get something cheaper.

We stayed at the Artist house a few years ago (the guest house, not the villas--they have both) and thought it was a very nice B&B--really enjoyed it. Central location, nice rooms, reasonable rates.

For the time of year you are going, it's going to be extremely expensive & extremely hard to find decent accommodations. Try Priceline. Good Luck.