Hotel on the cay is a substandard hotel. The best part of my stay was the beach and blueberry pancakes at the local restaurant on the island. The sheets were hard and irritating to my skin. The bathroom had crumbling tile behind the toilet. The air conditioner was broken and released an extremely foul odor during the night which would wake me from my sleep. I would stay there again if there were no other place available that was appealing.
P.S. The fountain was dirty every day I stayed which was 6 whole days.

there is NOTHING I can recommend about this hotel. The rooms are completely run down (at least 25% of the doors to the rooms were open with some sort of construction in progress), there is NO hot water (morning or night) Our sliding glass door was broken (one side of the frame was actually caved-in) The beach is disgusting (full trash cans, broken beach chairs and motor boats littering the water right off the beach) There are fake ponds at the entrance -- one of which is totally drained and the other was murky with only a few inches of water in it. The mattresses are lumpy/mushy and the linens scratchy. We were not even able to use credit cards since their card authorizer was broken...don't even think about using the advertised internet access. We left as soon as we woke up the next morning....would have left immediately if we weren't so tired after travelling.

We spent a very enjoyable week at HOTC. We have a friend who has a time share at the hotel and we were to use his unit for a week. We did not get that exact unit due to a scheduling mixup and were place in a similar unit. Neither the rooms or the grounds are kept up very well, I think due to the time share sales. Management has no incentive to do much maintenance as a result. Our room had a number of things wrong with it but it was livable. Matthew went out of his way to fix everything we complained about (we let the little stuff go). The maid kept it very clean so no problem with that. The location is terrific, though. The boat that transports you into town is very reliable and the drivers very nice and friendly. Since it is the slow season there was only one boat running but there was never more than a minute wait. The beach is superb and the snorkeling at the north end of the island was as good as anywhere on St. Croix, including Buck's Island preserve. The restaurant is a separate operation and the food isn't much to write home about but we limited our meals there to one lunch and one breakfast. It was only open one night for dinner. On Tuesday they have a barbecue and floor show which we unfortunately missed.

There is a lot to do on this small island. We took the half day snorkeling cruise to Buck's Island and felt it was a must and worth the money. August is a slow time of year so a lot of the businesses were closed, including some of the restaurants. We rented a car for a couple of days and drove to several of the other interesting spots. This greatly enhanced the experience. It takes about five minutes to get used to driving on the left and wasn't a problem although we were a little worried about it. The Crucians (as the locals refer to themselves) are extremely friendly and go out of their way to make you comfortable. If you do make a bobble in driving they are eager to give you the right of way (and get a little irked if you don't take it). They are spending a lot of money in Frederiksted to bring in cruise ships. Both Christiansted and Frederiksted were smaller than I had envisioned. There are half a dozen really good restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. At one restaurant that is a little further the hostess advised us to take a taxi back as it was dark and she thought it would be safer. We walked around most of the downtown area at night and felt completely safe even though there weren't many people about at this time of year.

All in all our stay was quite enjoyable. The hotel definitely isn't the Ritz but taken with the proper attitude it worked for us. St. Croix is a nice, friendly small island that is good for about a week or so of touring. Be forewarned, though, the weather in August is hot and muggy.

I think the other reviewers who rated this property must have been on drugs! This place doesn't even warrant a one star rating! NO ONE should book it based on their website (TOTALLY MISLEADING) or the other reviewers. I checked in on August 26, 2006 at 5 pm and checked out at 5:30 pm on that same day.

Once upon a time, HOTC was a beautiful, exclusive property. That was before it was sold to a time share company. The rooms are clean, but the towels are soo old that you can see through them, the platewear provided is all chipped, the furniture and other furnishings are 30 years old and the place is not maintained one iota. Gone are the water sports equipment. You'd be lucky if the staff acknowledges your existence. And who can blame them -= they are probably paid less than minimum wage.

If you mention the hotel to any one on the island, the look on their face says it all -- a look of sadness conveying the neglect and deterioration of a once beautiful resort.

DON'T RUIN YOUR VACATION!!!!!!!!!!