Stayed here for 1 night in January, 2021

Negatives

1. I had arrived here at 0800 am for a early check in request in an almost empty hotel. They told me, they can only check me at 2 pm ( 1 hour earlier than check in time of 3 pm). The hotel was absolutely at empty capacity ; almost no one was staying there as there was curfew in the whole country. Despite that, they told me rooms were not ready. So, I requested to pay extra to which they immediately agreed and said "Rooms are ready"!! They charged me 75% of full night charges ( over and above the 1 night charges for my actual stay) to allow me to check-in at 0800 instead of 1500.

2. There was no restaurant open in the hotel/ no room service at the hotel as informed by the front desk and as sighted. Basically, if you stay here, you are on your own, with zero service from the hotel. All you get is a room and nothing else here.

3. When I arrived at my room, I found I had to pay extra 30 usd for the basic internet ( not the high speed one). The hotel staff had the audacity to tell me "free internet" is not included as part of the room tariff in year 2021!! Come on - senior manager - of Hilton hotel - if you are reading this, do you really believe this trick will work in 2021 to make up for your lost business due to COVID?

Positives

1. The gym was extremely huge with 100’s of machines and really fantastic. I really enjoyed using it. One of the better gyms I have seen in any hotel.
2. The building where the hotel is located has a private coffee shop (good service), which thankfully was still open to have a coffee when one wakes up.
3. The room was comfortable with working internet and hot shower and lot of space in the room.

Overall, I do not recommend this hotel, because of the negatives. I recommend that before arriving at any hotel in Panama, to call up the hotel and inquire about early check in and if restaurant services are open, at the hotel.

I will try other hotel in my next stay at Panama.

Hope you found my review helpful? In case you did, please do click on “Found the review helpful”.

First of all this Hilton is a good choice but lacks in my opinion in some service things. I know that Hilton’s in North- and Centralamerica are different in these terms from other Hilton’s in Europe or Asia. You might just recognize the difference when you’re used to other. But you’ll read later what I mean.

I had originally booked the Hilton Garden Inn but they canceled my reservation 10 days before arrival and told me that are not reopening yet. No alternative offered, nothing. So I asked the Hilton if they offer rescue rates what they did. Still double the price I would have paid but that was worth it!

The hotel is quite new, facing the ocean front of Balboa Avenue. If you want to use public transport, the bus system operates frequently with stops just in front. The metro station is around 800meters away from the hotel. When you arrive at the hotel, you need to take the elevators from the ground floor to the seconds ground floor where the checkin is located. There is no signage but someone told me who recognized that I struggle a bit.

At checkin I was told that my room was upgraded because of being a Diamond members with Hilton. And I need to say that this upgrade was awesome. I hoped for a suite but this was even better. On each floor there is one room standing a bit forward from the others and having windows into three directions. A great view and I enjoyed sitting on the sofa with a beer and watching the ships waiting for the Panama Canal crossing.
Further I was informed about the COVID restrictions with night curfew and amended services in the hotel. Then I was handed two bottle of water and received information that the executive lounge is closed. Even at this point, I only receive the water at checkin in this part of the world. Other Hilton’s always place it in the room with a nice welcome amenity.

Room service, I was informed at checkin that the room will be cleaned only on request. I do understand these rules but if I stay 5 nights, why do you only supply one small bottle of Shampoo and one soap? Of course I need to request then to get more and at this time automatically request the room to be done as well.

Breakfast was not offered in the restaurant as it was closed, rather then a small coffee. There were five small tables and you were able to choose from the different items. Either then eat it at the table or take it to your room. The choice was pretty much ok and I didn’t get tired of the different choices.

The gym was large with good devices and the pool had a good size. There were a lot of lounge chairs at the pool. The pool itself is more for cooling down then swimming because on one side are the stairs and on the other there isn’t really a wall to push back and turn directions.

What bothers me the most was the Executive Lounge closure. I was told at checkin about it and I asked if there is any replacement service. I was told no there isn’t. I then told them that other hotels keep either the lounge open with served items, move the lounge to a smaller area, or allow people to choose from the bar, or offer a free minibar. I just stayed the night before in Istanbul and they brought your drinks up to the room. The lady at checkin said that she would need to ask her manager but I never got a response on that. And this is the reason why the hotel doesn’t get the full five points. In my opinion, this could be done differently.

Overall, I liked the stay and the hotel. Would stay here again.

Unfortunately, the Restaurant 5to5 doesn't have its own tripadvisor so I shall put my review here. I'm very disappointed that the Hilton would allow a place with such terrible service in their hotel. Our waitress was very rude, it was obvious as soon as we arrived that there was too little staff for so many costumers but that is not our fault. Yes, the place was full but it took way longer than it should've for our order to be taken. Once we sat down it took around half an our for a waitress to pass by our area but she didn't even acknowledge us when we called, passed by around 3 times (not even a glance to let us know she would come when she could) before actually coming to our table. Without a greeting, with a rude tone told us that if we didn't know what to order she would leave, we did already know and ordered. I ordered an entraña and my boyfriend asked for a corvina. I understand it took time before arriving what was very upsetting is that my steak came COLD. The waitress served it and left, not even giving us silverware! My boyfriend had to go look for some. The fish was good (the only pleasant thing about the night) but completely unacceptable that my food came cold but I wasn't planning on waiting another hour for the waitress to pass by and then however long it would take to get my steak back. We ate, got the check and left. Will definitely not be going back, and sadly won't be expecting quality restaurants from the Hilton anymore.