ONDA - Boquete — Hotel in Bajo Boquete

The location of Selina Boquete is undoubtedly beautiful, but that’s about the only positive thing I can say about this place.

The staff, while behaving correctly, lack professionalism and kindness. Not once was I greeted with a smile, making it clear that either the staff hate their jobs or the manager has a preference for hiring people with bad attitudes.

We booked two nights, reserving three cylinders for my mom, my brother, and myself. From a month before our arrival, their responsiveness on WhatsApp was incredibly slow and unclear, whether I wrote in English or Spanish.

There is a significant issue with dampness and mold smells in the rooms, especially in the cylinders. The internal design of these cylinders is horrendous, making you dizzy with no flat surfaces to place your belongings.

We requested to move to private rooms due to the unbearable dampness. While they accommodated my mom to a regular room, when I also requested a move, they obliged, but only for one night. This meant we had to move three times during our short visit.

To my amazement, they are fully aware of this problem. The concrete walls of the cylinders absorb rainwater and fail to block humidity. Why on earth do they rent them out?

The following day, I waited to hear if they could offer us a family room, which they did. However, they then had the audacity to ask for more money since the current price of the room was higher than what we paid for the cylinders booked in advance. They didn’t seem to grasp the absurdity of their request, considering the cylinders were priced higher than the family room on the day of our visit.

Throughout the entire conversation, there was not a single apology (as expected, no kindness) or any offer of compensation.

We felt like second-hand guests. In the reception, they advertised an overnight laundry service for $10. However, when we wanted to use it, we were told that a big group was coming that night, and they couldn’t accept laundry from other guests.

Additionally, when asking about yoga lessons, we were told that the yoga teacher had left town, so there were no yoga lessons on either of the days we stayed.

I’d warmly recommend renting a room next door and coming to enjoy the beautiful place only...

This was a wonderful hotel. My favorite from several hotels I stayed in during my week in Panama. First of all, let me just say I’ve never stayed at a hotel with a river running through it. Whew! Love that! The whole hotel has a very outdoorsy jungle exploratory feel! Perfect Instagram aesthetic. It seems to be designed just for IG lol. They are building these individual barrel like housing for one that are cute (communal bathrooms). I didn’t stay in one of these. I just saw them as part of the hotel property. But all of the design elements for the hotel were spot on. The only thing that kind of struck me as really weird was that they have these swinging benches I think two of them but one of them you couldn’t really swing on because it was directly in front of rocks. Couldn’t figure that out, but whatever. I should also mention that this is probably not the best hotel for seniors because there is a lot of uneven pathways so there’s a high risk of falling and hurting yourself. The staff was very friendly. And the food was good. I had breakfast there many mornings and I enjoyed the burrito. There was a coworking space and a yoga space that I didn’t get the opportunity to use. From what I understand all the rooms were not the same however, I can tell you what was In mine. I had a mini refrigerator and also a hairdryer. No phone in the room to call front desk but I think room phones are going out of style. They also had a fan, which was important because it did sometimes get hot. But the room also had an interesting Indigenous native jungle like aesthetic. Oh and I loved their door security - it was a doorknob with a digital face and the keys were wrist bands! Omg, loved that. Can’t loose my key! They also have a laundry on the premises. I also like the fact that they had some type of bungalow accommodations, but I wasn’t in it so I can’t tell you much about it. Oh, and I should mention there is hot water here - not for long - but you can catch about 15 minutes of hot water! I do recommend having your own body wash because I couldn’t seem to get any lather out of the one they provided. And be advised there are no washcloths. You will get a towel and a hand towel, but no washcloth! Nonetheless, I would come...

I loved staying at the Sociatel in Boquete! Beautiful property with the river running through and lots of (sheltered) outdoor space. Not many guests seem to spend time in those spaces though so it wasn't as easy to meet other travellers at the hostel. The dorms were good with comfortable bedding. The dorm's ensuite bathroom was above average hostel standards I'd say and I appreciated the small detail to have hooks to hang stuff (which is often missing in hostels) and it was great to have the alternative option of the outdoor bathrooms and showers (these don't seem to get cleaned as regularly though). First hot shower for me in Panama. Every staff member I interacted with here was amazing and went above and beyond, was genuinely friendly, very helpful and patiently helped with tour and transport bookings. (Only thing that seemed odd was that they charged $35 for the shuttle booking to Bocas, whereas I learned from other people on the same shuttle that they would have paid only $25 where they booked). Altogether very grateful for my stay here and Boquete was a lovely...