Hampton by Hilton Panama — Hotel in Bella Vista

Let me preface that I had a free room with points here for two nights, so it’s hard to complain about anything for free. In addition, I picked this hotel because of its proximity to our Avis car drop off which was a 1/2 block away. And it was on our tail-end of our trip so we could regroup before we flew back. All that being said, the hotel was perfect for us. Plus, all the standard Hampton Inn comforts of their cozy beds, which I do love. And a super friendly and over-accommodating staff. Christian Flores who checked us in was so lovely and he went beyond the call of duty when he also placed a phone call for me in a panic when my Spanish couldn’t interrupt a situation. Seriously, he is what every hotel wants in a staff member. Hilton is lucky to have him. We were also greeted by the friendliest cleaning person in Panama when we arrived who was down the hall cleaning other rooms. Her smile and enthusiasm for her job was over the top amazing. And we left her a lovely tip. The hotel seemed to attract lots of tourists with kids, which is not my jam. The free breakfast buffet was packed every day but it did not appeal to us after fabulous meals all over the country. (The eggs were runny and the fruit not as fresh as our other hotels with free breakfasts, so we skipped breakfast entirely.). But it was busy, so this is clearly a picky point of view. Our room was totally fine, except someone forgot to re-install a fire alarm, which was ripped out of the ceiling. I didn’t plan to start a fire, but it certainly makes me feel a tad more secure to see an actual fire alarm. View from our room was lovely. And we checked out the pool before we left but were too busy to enjoy it. Plus it was full of screaming kids, so not relaxing even if we did have time. Free parking for our rental car, which was great. And we loved the local photo scenes around the place that make Panama so unique. Shower was also nice and big. Plus lots of Sink counter space and desk counter space, which is always a bonus. But because this hotel is clearly a tourist location for families, they had private vendors in the lobby selling “tourist packages” to the canal and other locations. These vendors were aggressive and annoying. Feels like a Times Square hustler. My suggestion is to get rid of these vendors. It cheapens the hotel which is an international brand. This part of El Cangrejo is a little more busy and not as residential as well. Again, it served our purpose & the price was right. And if you are a Hilton Rewards member, it will feel familiar and you can get or exchange points...

Great staff, very friendly, warm, welcoming and helpful. Thank you :)||However, I’m surprised this hotel retains the Hilton Brand.  ||Yes, it clearly is  Hilton, but so many things are just below the standard that seems reasonable for a Hilton. And I've stayed at a lot in the last 20 years !||During my stay I had to change rooms the first night because the Air Conditioning was noisy, the sound of a toy rollercoaster 🎢 (!).  The new room had AC with a faulty IR receiver, that clearly had been repaired many times in the past. At least once daily I had to call maintenance.  The Male toilets in the pool area where closed all the time I was at the Hotel so you had to return to the room. At one end the pool, the  step was missing so you couldn’t exit at that end of the pool.  I’m sure other niggles existed around the hotel too.  Whilst each of these items isn’t significant, overall it gave the feeling that the building just isn’t being maintained to an acceptable level.  If these corners are visible, what’s happening in the background !||Sadly the Breakfast was appalling.  No fruit, except bananas every day. No vegetables/sides, nothing. Each day would be one hot dish of bland scrambled eggs and a second hot dish such as sliced hot dogs in tomato sauce.  There was white bread you could toast, no brown or rolls, nothing.  There was cornflakes and Cheerios, no granola, no oats , nothing but.   I mean I have never known a hotel where you can’t select from a few items and make something edible and healthy. ||The strangest thing is, despite these things I didn’t have a bad stay here. It was ok ! The room was large and clean, the bed comfy and the bathroom was fine. If you’re ok with these failings than actually it’s not a bad place to stay.    The location is fine, not the best spot in Panama but minutes from everything and many mid priced restaurants locally. ||In essence It felt like it needed to be returned to normal Hilton standards to make a reasonable hotel.  If Hilton has inspectors, I’m sure they would fail...

I stayed in Panama from 11/28/20-12/11/20 at this hotel. As soon as we stepped on our floor there was a horrible smell that you had to hold your breath. I promise you the first couple of nights I ran to my room that's how bad it was. To make things worse a smell like sewage came from the bathroom and after a day or so of that we asked to be changed to another room. We booked this room on booking.com and it said that it came with microwave, refrigerator etc. We had to ask for a refrigerator and a plunger because the bathroom came getting stopped up. Housekeeping was every two days, breakfast was in a baggie because of "Covid". Ok, I get it everything is about Covid, but give me a break, everyday they passed out a banana, a granola bar, a bottled water and a bottled juice without fail after a few days of that I didn't even bother. There was so many other varieties they could have included in their breakfast but it really boils down to laziness and being cheap. Then the cards to enter the floor and your room did not work and you had to have staff take you on your floor and into your room, this lasted for at least 5 days that I remembered. The front desk was less than helpful and acted like we were talking Chinese when we complained. The only good thing that brings some hope to this hotel is their housekeeping staff, although I cleaned my own room most of the time, they were very helpful, super kind and gracious and I usually don't speak on tips, but just to show you how much I appreciated them, I tipped three different ladies for their assistance on the 5th floor where we were at in the beginning and on the 9th floor. My closing words are this, don't let the name fool you or their entrance, that appears to...