W Panama — Hotel in Bella Vista

I am truly shocked by all the good reviews for this hotel. This hotel needs a huge overhaul - it seems like no one at the hotel actually cares about the guests at all and it is operated like a budget hotel! It is a huge management problem. I stayed for almost a month at the W Bangkok and the excellent experience there versus here at W Panama where we are currently staying is night and day. We are so incredibly disappointed with the W Panama and wish we had booked elsewhere - it’s even enough for us to question the W brand outside of Bangkok.

HOTEL DECOR & SERVICE From a hard product perspective, the design of the hotel looks almost like a Moxy or Citizen M. It has none of the cool factor or sophistication you’d expect from W - the decor feels haphazard and kitschy and not very well thought out.

It literally feels like the interior design budget ran out.

The entrance felt so cold and desolate with no one there to greet us or help with our bags. When we arrived at the check-in lobby a few floors up, it was like a ghost town with zero vibe. The valet at the front never helped us with our luggage - both at arrival and departure despite just standing around socializing. They also allow taxi guys in front of the hotel and inside of the hotel to ask you if you need a taxi when you walk out of the hotel. We actually had to get one of the taxi guys to flag down the valet to get our luggage from the back room for us because she was busy chatting socializing outside.

ROOMS Again, the room decor struck me as a larger Citizen M room.

From a soft product perspective, I was also so disappointed. There was no luggage rack when we arrived so we had to call concierge to bring some up otherwise our luggage would have been on the floor. There were no slippers and no toiletries that you’d expect from a W hotel. We were told we could only get one extra set of bottled water a day. It’s insane to me that a W hotel would ration water to its guests. Truly, W Panama feels like budget hotel.

The AC compressor/fan in room 2111 is so noisy and if you have the AC on, it squeaks the entire time. If you do not sleep with ear plugs, the noise is too loud and would be disruptive. We got them to fix it and after they fixed the noise we realized how much stronger the AC is.

We also asked for a nice view and all we have is a view into the neighbouring building. The windows are also incredibly dirty.

If you are sensitive to light when sleeping, note that the curtains are not blackout and the edges of the curtains are exposed so light streams in brightly.

GYM The gym is one redeeming factor. Lots of selection including a bench press.

With that said, no one was in the gym area/spa reception to offer any assistance should you need it. Again, the gym and spa area feels like a ghost town - did they slash the employee budget in addition to the interior design budget?

SUMMARY Do not book W Panama!! I would highly recommend you book elsewhere. If you’re at all familiar with the W brand, this is a huge disappointment from a design and service perspective. Frankly, W/Marriott needs to get rid of this location or else get a manager or team to fix everything up because this is not up to standards at all. The W Panama is bad enough and such a departure from the W brand that it feels like a scam. It absolutely gets a...

Worst experience ever. We booked the marvelous suite, 1701.. Meaning top notch, highest price.

When I called the hotel to reserve this room, they told me they didn’t have it available until next month. Coincidently, I went online and found it available for that same weekend so, naturally I booked it online.

We arrived at 2pm to the hotel and they said the suite wasn’t ready so we sat at the bar and waited for an hour. Went back and they said it still wasn’t ready. Went back to the bar another hour. At 4, I approached someone else who said that normally check in is at 3 so it’s not really a big issue that we have been waiting. I reminded him that it’s 4pm so either way, the room should have been ready by 3.

We get in the room and I had trouble connecting to the wifi. I called, they said are you spelling your last name right? Comical. So they sent someone up to “fix” the wifi which, really all he did was purchase the wifi and added it to the room, then told me he will have it removed from my bill.

I turn on the tv after a long day of traveling and it doesn’t work. They sent 3 different people to the room from 8pm until 11pm a total of 6 times. So I stayed in my travel clothes until they finally left at 11pm. I couldn’t shower because they kept coming in and out.

The next day, I asked for a car. They told me none were available but I could wait around so… Uber it was

On Monday I ordered room service at 11am, at 12:30pm my husband asked where is the food? I called, a lady said oh it didn’t arrive? Let me call you right back. At 12:45 when she never called back, I called again and asked what is going on. The gentleman that answered said “do you still want that food?” I said yes….. he said ok we will send it up complimentary. I asked what happened, he said kitchen never got the order. Wow. “Best suite” and whenever whatever has been the worst in Panama so far. I booked this because my husband usually books our travels but this I wanted to surprise him with. We have stayed at The W in Mexico City, both in Atlanta, ny, Miami, fll, all over the world, never have I experienced such poor attention to detail, bad service or lack there of.

There are many other places here. I will come back but won’t stay here and I don’t recommend anyone else staying here. $2000 in hotel accommodations for a weekend and they can’t get anything right. Not even something as simple as a tv to work, wifi to be complimentary to guests, a car service, or even just room service (standard in any hotel) for all guests, especially those paying for a Marvelous suite.

We are currently still in the hotel, it’s 1pm. That lady never called me back, no follow up. That food never came. Bet the car won’t be available either. But hey, the all glass room is...

As is the theme of the W chain, they like the avant-garde decor. However, there comes a time when the avant-garde becomes tired. That's no reason to dislike a hotel, of course, but when form trumps function it is a problem. The room was spacious and light. The TV wall was covered in smoked-glass mirrors adding to the feeling of spaciousness. The end wall was floor to ceiling windows affording views of the city...or would have if they hadn't put a bar(?)/cabinet in front of it.

The main reason people need hotels is to bathe and sleep while away from home and hotels should excel at that but the bath area of the room is more form with little attention to function. The 9 foot sheet of glass that is the door sticks out 6 inches from the wall creating a nice ledge by which to hit it and create an effective guillotine. The shower door also opens up next to this guillotine lever giving you another chance to slice something off. The not so new trend of white bedding... which I love...is used here and the bedding is soft and clean. The bed, however, must have been picked up at a rock quarry. This is a personal preference that I know is not shared by everyone but you should know before you stay. The walls I'd say were paper thin but I think paper would offer more sound buffering. We could hear the amorous [and other] sounds of the guests to our left and right and heel clacking from above. And what a joy it is to hear the flushing of toilets from the rooms around us, too. It was not a little terrifying to hear the door to the room next to us opening at 11 PM and thinking someone was trying to get into our room. This is another of the form over function flaws...from the outside they LOOK great and stylish. However, the noise of opening them is loudly transmitted to the neighboring room. There is ONE electrical outlet by the beds. ONE. There was a USB port in the bedside lamp and it was jacked up. You shouldn't use these anyway as they are security risks unless you have your device set up securely to only charge. The breakfast buffet has a good variety of offerings and they're doing their best to abide by Covid protocols. However, I've noticed that here and in Peru they take great pains to avoid surface transmission even though there is no scientific evidence to support the efficacy of such measures. (That said, surface transmission of others germs should be way down which is a good thing). In the bar, I sat down on the stylish couch only to fall backwards because the back cushion wasn't attached. One of the barmaids had to rush over to help me up. Again, all form no function. If you like to stay at a hotel that looks great (and it does!) but has low functionality this...