The Panama Hat Hostel — Hotel in Bella Vista

First off I went to this hostel because it said online they had hot water and I had a cold, got there and turned out to be they didn't have hot water. Secondly the Wi-Fi was absolutely terrible, I couldn't do any of my work online. The Wi-Fi only slightly works in the common area where the reception is, it doesn't work at all in the rooms, doesn't even reach. The free breakfast was terrible, eggs were over cooked and bread was stale.||We told reception we would be leaving because we weren't able to do any of our work due to the terrible quality of the Wi-Fi and the fact that there was no hot water. When we first got there we originally paid for two nights, we had to pay upfront which I found slightly strange as a majority of hostels in panama don't require you to pay until you leave.||We asked for our money back for the second night because we wouldn't be staying there that night because of all the reasons mentioned above. Suddenly the staff became extremely aggressive towards us after asking. Talking about us and insulting us in Spanish thinking we wouldn't understand them (I speak Spanish fluently). The manager or what I assumed was the manager told us they wouldn't give us our money back, and then suddenly she disappeared leaving only a Spanish speaking boy at reception who had been awake the whole night before.||||My friend went up to him again to explain that we had a legal right to ask for our money because it says on their website hot water and there wasn't any. My friend doesn't speak Spanish so the boy at reception grabbed a guest who speaks both Spanish and English to translate. He rang the so called boss because apparently he couldn't do anything. On the phone he told the boss we wanted all our money back because the internet wasn't working, which wasn't true we wanted our money back for the night that we wouldn't be staying due to promised facilities that weren't available. By this time I stepped in and kept telling him in Spanish to explain the situation properly because he wasn't explaining it as it was. He called three times each time not explaining the situation as it was. By the fourth time he gave me the phone which I thought was highly inappropriate. I explained to the woman on the phone the situation, she didn't talk the whole time and hung up on me while I was explaining what was actually going on. I told the boy I wasn't going to leave until he gave me our money back. He did not care at all about the situation or our frustrations and treated us terribly. Long story short I waited there two hours in a stare off with this boy until my friend came in and said let's just leave. We didn't get our money back and left leaving extremely frustrated with the way staff was treating us. As well the boss was there because we saw him come out the first time and then he disappeared out the back somewhere. ||Also we experienced racism from the staff because they assumed we were white gringos.||Absolutely dissapointed with the treatment...

We stayed for 3 nights on our arrival to Panama City.||To start with the good points, the place is spotless, it's well located in center of town, a 10 min cab ride to Casco Viejo (or just under hour walk). Breakfast area was decent and food was fine.||We had booked a private double room with ensuite and as we were shown the room we were told that there was no hot water in the the whole hostel and there wouldn't be any for the duration of our stay...not ideal when you've got off a long flight and specifically paid to have ensuite room for a shower. ||The next day the WiFi stopped working. When we informed the staff they simply shrugged and said yes there was a problem with it. It didn't work for the next 2 days. ||We felt the major downside of this place were the staff who were completely uninterested in helping us at all, whether it came to local things to do, or onward travel. They didn't even ask how our stay was as we checked out.||If this place was super cheap we wouldn't mind but think you could find much, much better spending a little more, or equal average accommodation spending a...

I think at one time the Panama Hat Hostel was a fun, kind of funky place to stay. Not so much now. Our room with a three piece ensuite was spacious and clean with a wardrobe, two easy chairs and table. The hostel kitchen, located in a covered area in the back yard, has an apartment size fridge, one pot, one table knife, and a couple of glasses. No utensils needed to prepare a meal let alone the utensils or dishes needed to enjoy a meal. The back yard we were told had a pool that was filled in, hence all the dirt. Also there is an empty broken hot tub in a raised wooded deck with a chair and umbrella table. The graphics on the walls surrounding the back yard are spectacular, too bad they can not be enjoyed. The, down the street, grocery store is terribly over priced. A ten / fifteen minute walk to a huge store, Riba Smith, has a great selection. Some of the staff were helpful (especially the young woman who was on the afternoon shift), the smallish complimentary breakfast was fresh and the hostel was clean. Rebranded as a hotel / B&B would be more appropriate based on the...