Today the founder of Historic Key West Inns, Julia Fondriest, congratulated Barbara Graziano as our employee of the year. Barbara is a Guest Service Agent for both Albury Court and Budget Key West. She was named employee of the month earlier this year and just yesterday she was selected by the management team for the 2008 honor. Barbara has provided excellent service to our guests over the year and has often gone above-and-beyond to make sure that all who stay with us have a wonderful experience in our hotels. Thank you so much to her and congratulations! Barbara and her husband Rich lived in Bermuda for many years and relocated to Key West in 2003. They have both been working for us since 2004 and doing a great job!

Albury Court and Budget Key West are two of the six beautiful properties included in the Historic Key West Inns hotel group. All of our boutique hotels are renovated historic buildings which are well-located in the historic Old Town section of the island. We have made sure that they provide comfortable and elegant accomodations, as well as, the real flavor of Key West.

Julia Fondriest waiting near the Albury Court waterfall to congratulate Barbara

Barbara is happy about the news

Here is one of the front gardens of Albury Court

Barbara and Anna at the Albury Court reservation desk

Come enjoy the pool at Chelsea House

With the news on the economy these days we know that everyone is reassessing whether they can still take their hard-earned vacations this year. We think they can. We’re not waiting for the government to step in, there aren’t any bailouts coming for us so instead we’ve initiated our own stimulus package to make your trip to Key West affordable and just what the doctor ordered! At all of the hotels we have reduced or eliminated minimum stays and rolled-back rates up to 35%. And at Budget Key West we’ve taken them back even lower. We want to make sure that money is not the reason why you would forgo your Key West vacation this year. We hope you’ll come down to see us and relax in our rooms, swim in our sparkling pools, rejuvenate in the nightlife and just celebrate the American way in our beautiful island city. Key West has never been a better value and we’re here to play our part in your personal economic recovery plan!

Our beautiful tree at Chelsea House

Some of the gardens at Chelsea House

Key Lime Inn for the holidays

Key West is a really wonderful place to be during the holidays. During Christmas week there is live music at many of the bars, restaurants and outdoor cafes. Many of our local churches have special holiday chorales as well. At our Lighthouse Court pool bar, we have holiday drink specials featuring Rum-spiked Egg Nog and Key Lime Margharitas. When you are ready to dance there is a dance area on the pool deck and sound system playing XM tunes. All guests in any of our other Historic Key West Inns hotels are invited to go over and enjoy the fun.  Below we have collected a few of our favorite things to do and hope you come to enjoy them with us this holiday season. Click on the links to see what’s happening from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve.  

Nutcracker Ballet                         November 27 – December 07

Tchaikovsky’s ballet is being performed at the Tennessee William’s Theatre on Stock Island. For further information contact 305-295-7676.

Pirates in Paradise 2008            November 29 – December 07

This festival celebrates the rich maritime history of Key West complete with tall-ships, pirate attacks and sunset sails. This festival takes place at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. Bring your pirate costumes and revel in the  buccaneer adventures. For more info call 305-296-9694.

Key West Fishing Tournament    Ends November 30th.

Contact Doris Harris at 1-800-970-9056 for more info.

Historic Key West Inns Tour      December 05 – Dec 06 & December 12 – Dec 13th.

This is the 7th year for the tour which can be done either by walking or on a conch train. For further info contact 305-295-1334.

Key West Holiday Parade             December 06

Local leaders, churches and civic clubs take part in this festive parade which travels down Duval Street in the historic district. The wonderful floats and several marching bands travel down Truman Avenue past our Key Lime Inn and Chelsea House before heading down to Duval. Guests have prime viewing from the sidewalks in front of our hotels. Find out other info by calling 305-809-3700.

Keys Chorale Holiday Concert           December 12 – December 13 

Beautiful holiday music, under the direction of Dean Walters, once again fills the halls of the Tennessee Williams Theatre this year. The program will feature the ‘Ceremony of Carols’ by Benjamin Britten and holiday music accompanied by George Bedell.  Further info can be found at 305-295-7676.

Key West Lighted Boat Parade            December 13th  

Deck the hulls with festively decorated boats as they cruise through Key West Bight and Harbor. This magical movement of color through the waters is a wonderful tribute to our maritime history. For more info call 305-292-3302.  

“Regrets Only” at the Waterfront Playhouse      December 17th – January 10th

This play, along with many others presented this season, is a great way to spend an evening. For other info just call 305-294-5015.

Midnight Christmas Mass At St. Mary’s Church        December 24th

This historic Catholic parish is across the street from our Key Lime Inn and the wonderous sounds of the Mass can be heard from the open doors. For more info please call 305-294-1018. 

Holiday House Tour            December 26th and 27th

Go back in time and take a tour through five lovely, private Key West homes and gardens. Admission is from 5 – 8 pm and further info can be gotten from 305-294-9501.

Happy holidays from The White House, in Key West that is!!     December 01 – January 31

When you visit the Harry Truman White House during the holidays you will see Presidential Christmas cards and other communications from his time spent at this Presidential retreat. There is also a lot of history here that any politico will enjoy. More info can be found at 305-294-9911.

New Years Eve, Key West Style             December 31st

Only in Key West at the stroke of midnight will you find both a pirate wench descending from the mast of a tall ship and a 6 ft., red-sequined, high-heel shoe, appropriately sized to hold a 6 ft. tall drag queen named ‘Sushi’, descending from the porch of a bar. CNN is here evey year for Sushi’s descent and you could join in the street party fun as well.    

So come and join us here at Historic Key West Inns as we offer our special holiday prices through New Year’s Day. We’ve initiated an exciting stimulus package with new lower rates to promote holiday bookings and encourage you to chuck the cold weather and make your reservations with us now. The weather is great, the pools are ready for you to take a dip and it’s truly a beautiful time of year to be here. We’ll see you soon and Happy Holidays!

Our Key Lime Inn recently received both a lobby remodel and new exterior window shutters. The Key Lime Inn is a collection of 12 cottages and a historic mansion all on one property connected on an acre of tropical landscaping. We’re one of the few historic hotels in Key West that has a center parking area near the cottages for guests, but it was not always that way. Here is some interesting history. The Maloney House, which is part of this historic Inn, is one of the oldest houses in Key West, built in 1854 by Walter Maloney. He was a Mayor of Key West and he, his family and descendants lived here on the property until they sold it to a former circus performer, Joe Zorsky, who built some cottages on the property in the 1930′s and 40′s, making it into a place for guest accommodations for the first time.  He called it the Cactus Terrace Motor Court and it was innovative because you could pull your car right up next to your cottage. In the early 1970′s he added a “pool cabana” which now has 12 guestrooms in it. In 1998 we bought the property, then known as Key Lime Village, and made extensive upgrades and renovations while making sure that the property remained structurally the same since the 1930′s. We added the Reception Building in 1998 but budgets were tight and we had to keep the architecture simple in order to reopen the hotel as quickly as possible. This year we enlarged the lobby and added the characteristic Key West green shutters to the exterior of the building. We’ll see you here when you arrive!

Here is an old postcard from the 1960's of the Cactus Terrace Motor Court now our Key Lime Inn.

This is our new reception building at Key Lime Inn sporting it's new green shutters.

Our new lobby at Key Lime Inn with plenty of space to welcome guests.

Here we are on Truman Avenue. Look for us across the street from St. Mary's Church.

Waiting for the March at the Chelsea House

One of our favorite events of the week of Fantasy Fest is the Masquerade March which happened on Friday. The March is a walking parade for anyone who wants to join, either in costume or not. The parade starts at the cemetery and takes two different routes to Duval Street. Luckily, we have hotels on both routes! The southern route goes past Chelsea House and the northern one goes past the Merlin Guesthouse. At both hotels we set up a bar that served our coveted rum punch. At Chelsea House, Andy made his version with a British twist and at Merlin Guesthouse Abby made hers with Jamaican spices. We tell them both “theirs is best”.   We also hired D.J.’s to get everyone dancing. Our guests joined in the fun too and joined the parade as it continued down to Duval.  Some Chelsea House guests cooled off in the pool after the parade.  We were very impressed with their concern for their costumes….. noting the neat piles of clothing left by the pool steps.

Here comes the March at Chelsea House	Entrance of the Merlin Guesthouse
Fun-loving creature couple at Merlin Guesthouse	Dancing at Merlin Guesthouse at the outdoor bar
Abby's Jamaican rum punch is going fast at Merlin Guesthouse	Aggy dancing while serving rum punch at Chelsea House
Amelia the piratetress at Chelsea House	A flamingo and bellydancer at the Merlin Guesthouse
A 'political pair' at Merlin Guesthouse	Having fun posing for pics at the Merlin Guesthouse