For our first trip to Key West, we knew we wanted to stay somewhere smaller, preferably adults-only, and with breakfast included. The Mermaid and The Alligator perfectly fit the bill. Although the setup is similar to a B&B, this is actually a "boutique hotel" - that means that it's owned by a company, not people who live there overnight (but a property manager is present every day during the day, including weekends). There are 9 rooms, 6 in the main house (it's spacious, although calling it a "mansion" is a bit of a stretch) and 3 more in the cottage on the grounds. It's beautifully and lusciously landscaped. We stayed in the Royal Poinciana, on the second floor of the main house. It's a spacious room with a large private balcony, and it looked just like the website, with one exception - the bathroom pictured on their website NOT correct (see my photos). We loved the décor of the room, which included a beautiful bureau and secretary-type desk, plus the balcony features both a small table/chairs and two lounge chairs. We would have preferred to have a bit less stuff - e.g., the huge plant and large candle arrangements were pretty, but they got in the way. Overall, however, we loved the room. The bed and pillows were extremely comfortable (I rarely say that about hotels). We enjoyed having a ceiling fan as well as being able to set the AC to our preferred temperature. Although our bathroom was a little on the small side, there was a generous selection of products that were replenished every day when the room was made up - the daily servicing of the room was always excellent. Breakfast was served 8-10:30 am daily. There was a hot entrée item featured daily, I believe on the same rotating weekly schedule. The cook prepared meals fresh as each guest showed up. She always asked us if we were okay with what she was serving, including the fruit on the side, and she generously made minor changes (e.g., no cheese or meat, a side of pineapple instead of watermelon, etc.). We helped ourselves to coffee and sat outside at one of the patio tables, and the cook brough us our entrees when they were ready. Additional items available included bagels/toast, a pastry item (usually just one per day, such as banana bread), individual boxed cereals, yogurt, and fresh fruit (pre-chopped and pre-mixed, so no choice available there). We found the breakfasts to be excellent, and we were grateful we didn't have to worry about our first meal of the day. In addition to breakfast, there was a "Happy Hour" 4-5 pm daily. During this time, the property manager would set out 2 bottles of wine (red/white) for guests to stop by and enjoy if they chose; on some days there were grapes, cheese, and crackers as well. There were numerous free food and drink items available 24/7 in the kitchen, including coffee (Keurig) and tea, bottled water and soft drinks, infused water, iced tea, microwavable popcorn, and various individually packaged snacks such as chips, peanuts, and Oreos. As noted above, the grounds were beautiful and also spacious. There was a covered outdoor porch just outside the kitchen offering a couch, chairs, and a guest refrigerator. The "plunge" pool was 5 feet deep all around, not overly large but perfect for cooling off any time of day - we were told that the dawn to dusk rule was not enforced, although no using of the jets after 10 pm. There were plenty of lounge chairs and other places to sit. Both the outdoors and the shared main rooms inside the house felt very private - other than at breakfast, we barely encountered the other guests. There are no TVs in the rooms, which we were a little worried about (we enjoy relaxing with TV when on vacation), but there is a large TV in the living that we used a few times (although it was a little weird to do so during the day, as the living room also houses the property manger's desk). Both our after-hours check in process and our check-out process were smooth and simple. Last but not least, the hotel is in a great location, only 2 blocks from Duval (the main strip with shops/restaurants) and right in the center of the island, making it very easy to walk everywhere (which we did!). In summary, we greatly enjoyed our stay here - we would recommend M&A as an ideal location for couples who middle-aged (we are in our 50s, and most of the other guests were 40s-60s range) and who prefer a pretty, quiet, private location that's still centrally located in Key West.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.