Best Western Plus Panama Zen Hotel — Hotel in Bella Vista

Very disappointing. We arrived early and the bellhop was nice enough to put our bags in a room while we waited until we could check in. Once it was time, the bellhop brought us our bags and while he was doing this, he drop our unopened bottle of wine. This did not bother us, what bothered us was there was no apology or compensation of any kind. The second issue was the pool. I went up for a swim with my family and we were asked to leave because it was raining( fair enough). We left the pool and asked the staff for pool towels as there were none. After waiting 15 minutes, we asked the staff again. They told us it would be 5 minutes. After waiting another 10 minutes we just decided to leave, soaking wet. After this, one night when we were coming back to the hotel there was a note on our door saying that there would be a wedding from 3pm onwards the next day in the pool/lounge area. (We were never told there would be a wedding during our stay and for 6 people we had no where to go, also the hotel rooftop pool was the main reason why we booked). The next day came and we wanted to go for a swim ( approx 11 am) and the entire wedding party was already there drinking and taking up the entire place! After all of this we decided to tell the front desk our concerns and how upsetting it is that we spent a lot of money on not only terrible service but lack of information. After this, they offered us “complementary room service”.. so we decided to call once we were in our rooms and ordered a decent amount of food for 6 people. They asked how we would like to pay. We told them it was complementary and they told us ONLY A FRUIT PLATE WOULD BE COMPLEMENTARY. The worst part of all of this is that we didn’t even speak to a manger. Although, the front staff were very kind and sympathetic, it was clear they had no authority to make decisions on behave of the hotel. The manager never once got in contact with us regarding these issues. Save yourself money and book at any of the other CHEAPER and NICER hotels around the area!!! Ohh.. and the...

The Best Western Zen was a little surprise of a gem hotel in a lovely more residential neighborhood of El Cangrejo, Panama City. It is a smaller, more intimate hotel off the main Via Argentina road which runs through this lovely neighborhood. For the price-point, the hotel is perfect. Rooms are clean and beds are comfortable. They even gave us the most lovely robes and slippers to use, which hit the spot after getting caught in the rain. The hotel staff were all so nice and accommodating and spoke some English. The included breakfast was full of variety and great quality. The view from the top of the hotel is a hot spot where the pool and a restaurant/bar is a fabulous place to gather during the day or night. I would stay here again for all the above reasons. An amendment: I liked this hotel so much, I returned six months later and had equally a lovely stay. A compliment to the lovely staff here; Issis at the front desk, the bartender at the rooftop restaurant and everyone else. All served with a smile and always helpful when you ask for directions, an extra item for the room or your “welcome drink,” which is an added touch for the price. The hotel is getting busy with large travel groups now and I hope the staff can handle the crowds. Or just hire more fabulous folks. I mention because when I checked in, a large group from Peru was arriving and only one person behind the desk to take in all their passports and get them room keys. A suggestion when this happens again; let the solo person check in before you process the group. And have an extra person staffed when large groups are expected. Otherwise, I still...

The rooms and the roof top bar are fantastic. We spent there 3 nights, first one single night and later one two other nights. The first layover was great and would have been rated with 5*. We looked forward to our second stay but got disappointed. There was an iron in the room but no ironing board (actually after having spent many nights in the jungle we needed to jazz up our outfits). We called the front desk and asked for an ironing board (that was actually the hint in the cabinet....'if you need an ironing board, pls call the front desk'). The lady at the front desk was not able to understand what I'm asking for. I needed to take a picture of the hint in the cabinet, moved all the way down to the front desk to show her, what I was asking for. Her answer: 'Awww.....you need a table!' Yep. Call it how you want it will still be an ironing board. Another issue, we already drunk a coffee at our room that day and we asked at the front desk to provide some more coffee pads that we can have a coffee after getting up next morning........bummer.....not possible. Anyhow, next morning we tipped the room service and left our room. Don't believe they filled up the missing coffee. Even at the very beautiful roof top pool......no pool towels. Only after we have been moving all the 15 levels down to the front desk asking for pool towels they filled the rack at the pool with towels. That the very beautiful roof top bar was closed not to mention but excused by the pandamic. But is the pandamic an excusion for all those...