There are ocean views, and then there are ocean views. Tiki Suites—two one-bedroom tiki huts planted in the Gulf off Key West, FL—offers the latter.
Named one of travel blog Live Like It’s the Weekend’s “41 Coolest Airbnbs in the U.S.”, the two thatched tiki huts are a mile out to sea, off Key West, and the only Florida destination on the list.
“This is a one-of-a-kind glamping adventure that blends the best of boating with the comfort and spaciousness of home,” says the outlet.
The two roughly 15 foot by 18 foot tiki huts—anchored about half a mile apart—can be booked separately on Airbnb and VRBO, and offer an up-close ocean experience unlike what you can normally get unless you’re on a boat.
Parked west of Fleming Key and north of Wisteria Island, the tiki huts offer hotel-like luxury, including AC and Wi-Fi, combined with the seclusion of being out at sea with no need for a yacht crew.
The original tiki hut was built in 2019 by Floridian Ryan Stone.
“He just designed it on a piece of paper and built it,” current owner and friend Danny Ledbetter tells Realtor.com®. “At first, everyone mocked him. ‘That’s not going to work,’ they said. The first one, he built on the water, with the thing rocking around. That was a pain.”
Stone had the last laugh when the sea-hut proved popular on Airbnb, then really took off during the COVID-19 pandemic as people sought to get away from it all—far away. So, in 2023, Stone built a second hut, called the Grand Tiki. This time, he built it in a boat yard.
It might come as a shock to many to know that it is perfectly legal to pick a spot in the ocean and build, so long as you follow the law.
“The ocean is free,” says Ledbetter, a boat captain who recently bought the Tiki Suites business from Stone. “So long as you’re outside city limits, and there are certain distances you have to be from the shoreline.”
There’s also a list of boating and Coast Guard requirements to adhere to. “You have to dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s,” Ledbetter says.
The area was chosen because it isn’t too deep—with depths ranging from 1-to-2 feet of water to about 8 feet. During low tide, the water sometimes gets so shallow that you can see seagrass. Waves don’t get too big and Ledbetter says the area is protected from storms.
This is Florida, so hurricanes are a reality. But the tiki huts—which can be moved via motors on the back—have withstood hundred mile an hour winds. (Don’t worry, you will get evacuated if need be.)
There are no pesky alligators around to ruin your vacation, but as for sharks, that’s another story.
“You know how you know if there are sharks in the water?” asks Ledbetter, setting up an old joke. “Taste a handful of water. If it tastes salty, then there are sharks.”
However, sharks in that area of the ocean are usually nurse sharks that are “like big puppies,” he says.
Sea hut glamping
Each hut comes with a king-sized bed, large flatscreen TV and Blu-ray player, a cooler to keep food cold (bring your own ice), and coffee maker (there are no cooking appliances or flames on either hut). Electricity is provided from a generator, though Ledbetter is considering going solar.
OK, how does the bathroom work? Both huts have flushable electric toilets, with the waste sucked into a holding tank before being hauled away by a service. The showers are full height and have a heater, so you’ll get about five minutes of hot water.
Should you want to escape your sea-hut for a while, there’s boat shuttle service to and from land several times a day.
Ledbetter advises that guests bring enough food and water for their stay. Most guests—there’s a two-person limit for each hut—only stay overnight.
Staying in the tiki huts
The slightly larger Grand Tiki—which has a sloped roof and comes with an underwater light—runs $600 per night; the original tiki suite runs $500.
Each sea-hut comes with life jackets, paddleboards, and snorkel gear. During peak season, the suites can book up fast. Currently, they have a 56% occupancy rate.
Texas transplant Ledbetter, who lives on an 82-foot houseboat off Key West, says the typical guests are “people that like to get away, be unplugged, and don’t want to get on those big cattle boats.”
“I have a lady out there by herself now,” he says. “She wanted to wake up on her birthday and look out over the water.”
