The "Queen of the Florida Keys", Cheeca Lodge & Spa has been an exclusive hideaway for celebrities, business leaders and U.S. Presidents for over 70 years. Set on 27 private oceanfront acres in Islamorada, Cheeca has been constructed with a porte-cochere entrance, traditional Florida Keys architecture and spirited tradition of “barefoot elegance” -- a term coined at Cheeca. Along with a coffee bar and top-shelf lobby bar, Cheeca boasts three distinctive restaurants: Atlantic’s Edge, Cheeca’s flagship restaurant offering a seasonal fine-dining menu of fresh local seafood, prime steaks and organic local produce, Nikai Sushi Bar and Restaurant offering the Florida Keys’ freshest sushi, Asian-inspired fare and a unique selection of Japanese sake and wine; and family-friendly Mia Cucina restaurant transporting Naples, Italy into the heart of Islamorada serving up made to order artisan pizzas, pastas and salads.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Business
Green
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Location
81801 Overseas Highway, Islamorada, FL 33036-3631
Cheeca Lodge & Spa
7,339 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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Cheeca Lodge & Spa is often celebrated for its scenic location and the plethora of water activities available, which guests find appealing. However, some travelers feel that the hotel's value doesn't match its high cost, pointing out issues with maintenance and the need for refurbishment in rooms.
While the atmosphere is generally regarded as picturesque with tropical charm and live music, opinions on service and cleanliness vary, with some guests experiencing inconsistencies. Despite the mixed reviews, the resort's inviting ambiance and prime setting continue to draw visitors.
Location
Picturesque
Atmosphere
Inviting
Rooms
Dated
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Abundant
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Overall experience was good, but several things you need to know... $61.66 per day resort fee. A $200 per day hold is placed on your credit card to cover charges to your room while onsite or at related properties.
The onsite restaurant Atlantic’s Edge was delicious, however overpriced. The drinks onsite are extremely overpriced. Consider bringing your own and drinking in your room. There are local restaurants that are much more decently priced for the portions, and way better priced with better drinks.
Consider visiting the nearby breweries and distillery.
There is not a beach where you can directly enter the water, there is a rocky retaining wall to climb over and the bottom is gravel with sea grass. Beautiful su rise views though.
The overall vibe is luxury resort, but when you look a bit closer, you see the deficiencies.
Housekeeping and Maintenance need to have an outside independent review.
Not worth the price we paid.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bill Coteron, Innkeeper at Cheeca Lodge & Spa
Responded 1 Dec 2024
Thank you for staying with us and for your valuable feedback. We take great pride in our value offerings with the resort fee, the inclusions are numerous starting with complimentary valet and self-parking, unlimited golf, tennis, kayaks, bicycles, beach cabanas, 24-hour shuttle service to surrounding eateries and attractions, fishing rods and bait for the kids, just name a few. The hold is an industry practice specially at resorts. We hope you provide us another chance to host in the future. The Guest Services team!
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This was a return visit that I was looking forward to. On the last visit, I stayed in an Oceanfront room which was great. However, the Oceanfront rooms were super expensive so this time, I booked the Lagoon view and overall it was not a good experience due to the noise level from water pumps resulting in a poor night's sleep. I did ask for a quiet room when making the reservation online. On exploring further, there is a pump/water filtration system almost directly under the room which runs 24/7. There seems to be one under every room at least in the blocks that I looked at the following morning. Given that this must be a known noise issue for these rooms, the hotel should do something about it. At $400 plus taxes for a room, I would have expected a better night's sleep. If you can afford the (2x) higher prices for the Oceanfront room, then go for it.
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Date of stay: January 2025
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Noisy lagoon view rooms - see photos.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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My family of four stayed in a lagoon view suite which was a great fit for us. It included a small kitchen so we were able to have breakfast in the unit each morning. The units are very worn out. Paneling falling off doors, a shower that while clean had such terrible looking grout you first thought it was dirty. The bed was extremely soft. I am in my 40s and am still trying to work out the back pain days later. The configuration of the room worked for our family as there were compartmentalized rooms a sink room, a toilet room and then another room with shower, sink and (enormous) bathtub.
The pros of the resort are the amenities like kayaks, stand up paddle boards and the complimentary shrimp bait to use while fishing on the very long dock. The bait and fishing were probably the highlights for my teenagers who love to fish. The location of the resort is good and walkable to coffee shops, restaurants and a small grocery across the street.
The entire staff at Cheeca seems very tired and indifferent. They are not in the hospitality business. No one smiled. No one did anything with any joy. I felt like I was bothering them to ask a question.
The resort could be really great and it definitely serves its purpose but it has much work to do.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: August 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bill Coteron, Innkeeper at Cheeca Lodge & Spa
Responded 6 Sept 2024
Thank you for staying with us and for your valuable feedback. We are committed to delivering consistent friendly service and I'm disappointed to learn that our staff was not up to par. We will share your comments at our next staff meeting for their awareness. We hope you provide us with another opportunity to host you in the future.
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Do not stay here if you want to wait 2 hours for any meal you order or better yet you can’t even get room service! They don’t answer the phone! Housekeeping barged into our room while our toddler was napping without even knocking and maintenance knocked on our door at 8pm when we told them to not come that our kids were sleeping they came anyway and woke up our kids. This place was absolute trash. Would never recommend
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: August 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bill Coteron, Innkeeper at Cheeca Lodge & Spa
Responded 21 Sept 2024
Our sincere apologies for not meeting your expectations nor our standards. We have shared your review with our teams in order to promote consistency with our service deliverables. We hope you allows us to hist you in the future to showcase Cheeca in a different light.
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Book with caution, double check the room before arrival. Management will be of zero value - they need significant training in customer relations.
Walls in the golf / resort view are paper thin. Must book in the lodge or premier section if you actually want to not hear other hotel guests whisper, turn on the sink, flush the toiler, or open/close the door. If you want to move to a room where you do not hear all this, manager on duty will then seek to charge you the difference per night to at the current rate as of that moment (compared to room being minorly more expensive at the time of booking) - upwards of $250/night plus resort fee and taxes.
Don't worry about booking a room with a view at this hotel, very few have glimpses of the ocean. The only real reason to book an "ocean view" is to ensure that you do not end up in an older section of the hotel.
The only thing this hotel has going for it is the restaurant - staff and food were terrific.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: August 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We had really enjoyed a stay at the Cheeca Lodge years ago as me returned recently for a few nights.
Overall, this is another resort ruined by over expansion and cheap private equity owners.
There are now so many different (and mostly overly expensive) options for rooms that it is difficult to book anything treasonable in a good location on the property.
Pros:
Nice location with a very nice pier with a central location in the keys.
A short walk to the entertaining Lorelei Restaurant which has better food than restaurants on the property in a fun setting.
Nice grounds, though mostly now filled with more buildings.
Cons:
Oceanside bungalow rooms are overpriced and mostly lack a good view of the ocean. Beach is limited and access to the rest of the beach is now restricted to condo owners.
Resort is understaffed with inexperienced and poorly trained employees.
Our room was never cleaned and when we pointed this out, the staff acknowledged that they were understaffed, but didn’t seem to care much. No cleaning provided even after we pointed it out.
Checkin process was disorganized with a long line waiting for one employee to check in at 3PM checkin time,
Poor cable feed via satellite that did not work consistently.
No early options for breakfast. Fortunately. the Trading Post across the street is open 24 hours a day.
For a smaller, better resort, try the Grassy Flats Resort down the road in Marathon, which is family owned and very well run. We really enjoyed our time there and it was a much better value than the Cheeca Lodge.
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Date of stay: November 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bill Coteron, Innkeeper at Cheeca Lodge & Spa
Responded 25 Nov 2023
Thank you for staying with us and for your candid feedback, the comments will be shared with our leadership team.
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The grounds are stunning, the views are incredible however they miss the mark when it comes to the small things. I believe for $700/night I shouldn’t have a family of gnats living in my shower nor should I have a roach in my locker after my $880 couples massage. When handed a towel from the lady at the pool and I ask for another bc that one appears dirty I shouldn’t be combated with it’s likely from the rain. Additionally, we had can lights hanging out of the ceiling in our room, broken hinges on a cabinet not allowing it to close, missing ironing board, and dirty (likely stained) grout in the shower. While my husband and I will return to Islamorada, Cheeca Resort and Spa will not be where we are retuning.
I’d suggest to management that complimentary coffee in the lobby along with water stations such as those found in the spa would be a nice touch. Maybe custom hand soap in the resort lobby as well- definitely not what you currently have which smells like bad tequila. It’s the small details and attention to details that will bring people back.
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Date of stay: December 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bill Coteron, Innkeeper at Cheeca Lodge & Spa
Responded 22 Dec 2024
Thank you for staying with us and for your candid comments, we certainly appreciate your feedback and apologize for not meeting your expectations nor our standards, we take great pride in our systems for the upkeep of our physical plant but apparently failed. We do hope you provide us another opportunity to host you in the future so we can showcase Cheeca in a better light. The Cheeca Team!
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We have been visiting Islamorada for fourteen years. The hotel we normally stay at was fully booked so we decided to stay at Cheeca Lodge this trip. This hotel has three pools (one of which is adult only), beach access, kayaks, bikes, a spa and tennis courts. The adult pool is behind the spa and does not get the ocean breeze which is something to think about. Towels are available at the pools and every pool has a bar. We stayed in a Lagoon View room. The Lagoon is man made and very pretty. The room is good size but the bathroom is very dated (I am not sure if this is the case with all of the Lagoon rooms). The shower offers a rain shower which is really nice but is very small and there are no grab bars. There is a huge tub in the bathroom with a door that opens to the bedroom. These rooms have screened in porches with a small table and chairs. There is a magnifying mirror in the bathroom along with shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. There is also a small refrigerator in the room, a very small closet, safe but no desk. Cheeca Lodge’s web site says they offer complimentary valet parking but I was told that we were not eligible for that with the room we had. The parking spaces for the Lagoon View rooms are extremely small. We had lunch two days at the Atlantic Restaurant which is lovely. My husband had a burger one day and the Cuban Panini (you could easily split this), I had Fish tacos and a Grouper Sandwich - everything was excellent the service was fantastic. The only issue we had is one day housekeeping never came to clean our room even though I stopped by the front desk at 12:30 p.m. and told them. Not the end of the world but I don’t think that should happen at a hotel where you are paying the rates Cheeca Lodge charges. We had a wonderful time.
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Date of stay: October 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed in an Oceanfront double queen room. At the time we stayed it was over $900/ night not including taxes and fees. At this price point, I expect exceptional service. The pros: Our room had a beautiful view and very comfortable beds. The room was very spacious with a large couch and double sinks. There was a little soaking tub on the balcony and large shower with glass windows so you can stare at the ocean. The resort itself is gorgeous. It has lush landscaping with beautiful views.
The cons are the service. Valet parking took awhile every time we left. The cleaning staff left their cleaning rags in our room. Our room had a small hole in the ceiling and stains on the shower (not a huge deal, but at that price point should not be). The pool staff did not open the umbrellas. The pool staff also had us write down how many towels we took - (I expect this at a cheaper hotel, but a high end resort?). No service at your pool chair until about 11:15 and then, you had to really search and flag someone down to order. When the food did come it was in a bag with takeout containers. Again, all of this is not a huge deal, but when I’ve stayed at high end resorts before with a high price tag, the service was impeccable.
Would I stay again? Maybe because it is so beautiful and the beds were so comfortable. They need to either lower their prices or train their staff better to provide better service.
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Date of stay: November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bill Coteron, Innkeeper at Cheeca Lodge & Spa
Responded 25 Nov 2023
Thank you for staying with us and for valuable feedback, the candid comments have been shared with Leadership and our protocols have been reviewed to ensure we are at our best all of the time and not some of the time. We look forward to welcoming you back to Cheeca Lodge in the near future.
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My husband and I have traveled to many places in our 30+ years together. The Cheeca Lodge and Spa is very well maintained for its age and location! The staff was friendly and helpful, our room was spacious and clean with a very comfortable bed. Pools were very active (lots of families during our stay) so the adult pool was a nice option. Fitness center was a bit small but good equipment and weights. We enjoyed the spa, which also provided great service. The resort does charge a premium price for everything! For the location of the resort, service, and our ocean view room (gorgeous sunrises) I understand, but we did not feel the food or drinks warranted premium prices. With the ease of getting a bike and the resort shuttle we ventured off the resort to local restaurants, coffee shops, and bars for most of our meals. Overall it was a perfect experience for us,
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: January 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bill Coteron, Innkeeper at Cheeca Lodge & Spa
Responded 22 Jan 2024
Thank you very much for staying with us and for your wonderful comments, including the valuable feedback on our food and beverage value we are constantly searching for ways to improve. We look forward to welcoming you back to Cheeca.
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Worthing, United Kingdom65 contributions6 helpful votes
All I can say is, our room was a fantastic size with 2 queen size beds, balcony , bath and shower .
I wouldn’t be hung up on the size when choosing to stay at Cheeca it’s all fabulous regardless !
There are more places to choose from in the Islamorada area.
PRICE RANGE
RM 1,929 - RM 4,438 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
cheeca hotel islamorada, cheeca resort islamorada, cheeca lodge and spa, cheeca lodge florida, cheeca lodge islamorada, cheeca lodge spa
LOCATION
United StatesFloridaFlorida KeysIslamorada
NUMBER OF ROOMS
214
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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