Firstly, most of what is said in the other reviews is correct: De Real Macaw is a nice place to stay. But note how most reviewers are actually enthralled with Caye Caulker more than anything else. Frankly, one could sleep on the street in a corner of this town and retain a smile, and ALL the people on the island are helpful, kind and interesting, noit just Jessie and Jeff. The question is, therefore, are the $75 you will spend per night on a Macaw room worth it, when you can stay at several other, comparable places for half that, or a sixth of that if you don't mind sharing a bathroom.

Truth is, De Real Macaw FORGOT TO ORGANIZE OUR AIRPORT TRANSFER and once someone has happily taken your money, I can't think of anything worse! We'd arranged the transfer in advance, via email, and reconfirmed the day before our departure. Jeff assured me he'd take care of it. He did not. So we were stranded at De Real Macaw at 6:30 am, with only a half-hour to get to the airport, in the rain, with no telephone to call for help becasue the office was still closed. I ended up walking through the rain until I found someone with a cell phone to call the taxi company. This affected our Caye Caulker stay negatively and leads me to point out a few more things about De Real Macaw that need attention, so that you can make an informed decision before making your reservation:

1) The aircon units are too small to be effective and very loud.
2) The hot water isn't hot by any stretch of the imagination. This can be really bothersome if the weather turns.
3) The fridge will be set to the lowest setting when you arrive, so there won't be any ice and your milk will spoil unless you turn it up.
4) If the cats in the construction lot next door are feeling amorous, they will keeep you up all night.
5) The bathroom window had come off its hinges and banged all night once the wind picked up.
6) No one ever checked up on us or bothered to ask us how we were enjoying our stay or whether there was anything we needed or wanted to talk about. This is a basic courtesy in the hospitailty industry and doesn't cost anything. We felt aignored, frankly, once our credit card had been swiped.

The point is, this bad review could have been easily avoided. In fact, if only the airport transfer had been taken care of, as promised, I'd never have bothered writing this. De Real Macaw seems to have come to that point in an establishment's history when the owners are resting on their laurels, not maintaining the property more than is absolutely necessary, and think it's fine to sit on their veranda all day smoking cigarettes, ignoring their guests who are paying inflated prices. There are many other places on Caulker that are just as nice as De Real MacFlaw for much less money. Why pay the relatively high price of $75 per night if you're not going to get your money's worth and the folks charging half that will treat you twice as good? If you do decide to really Macaw, I recommned arranging your own airport transfer. But yes, the island is awesome and the people are all wonderful and despite the above flaws, we had an unforgettable time.

We just returned from Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye. We stayed first at De Real Macaw and had such a great time. Everything about the hotel was great- the staff were so friendly and helpful with booking any type of day trip or suggesting things to do. The whole island is very small and lives at the best pace.

The whole island is ideal for people who want to have a slow time in a fantastic location. We travled over to Ambergris caye, and wished we'd stayed here the whole time- it was such a great pace with very friendly folks.

The location of the hotel was ideal for exploring town and having easy access to our room as well. The room itself was nice and was cleaned daily. The only thing I would recommend is booking an upstairs room as we did get lots of noise from our above neighbors. Each room has an adirondeck chair and a hammock- there are also lounge chairs and extra hammocks in
the courtyard.

We adored this spot and would recommend it to folks traveling there- the other guests were like minded travelers- other honeymooners, families with kids, single people, couples- and all seemed to be having a great time and were very excited to share stories, or to give you quiet space to hang out. If you are headed to Caye Caulker, I would recommend you stay here!

I stayed here and had a fabulous time. After travelling in Mexico where the standard of accomodation was not quite so high I was so happy to get to De Real Macaw. No it is not a 5* hotel but it's clean, boasts a selection of room types, friendly service and is really good value for money (we stayed 7 nights and got the 8th for free). The island is very beautiful and untouched in many ways and this adds to its charms. One day seems to roll into the next and although the nightlife is pretty non-existent, sitting on the hotel porch with some One Barrel rum and coke and a few friends is the perfect way to spend an evening! Plus if you just fancy chilling out and staying in your room one night the rooms have cable TV!

Awesome room. We stayed in the sea view, front room with two beds and AC. It felt so good to relax on the front porch and watch the folks walk down the main street. Room was always clean and staff was awesome. Flat out best place to stay in Caye Caulker. We almost stayed for a whole other week.