Hooked on Panama Lodge — Hotel in Limones

In the spirit of total transparency, let me first say that we visited the lodge with two goals: Relaxation and to take a close look at the lodge to determine if it was suitable for the rest of our partners to visit to possible purchase the property as it was listed for sal||||We stayed long enough and got a pretty good look at the overall lodge in terms of function, staff, facility, and rooms quality. Let me get the business part of our stay out of the way. Our first night went by quickly as we go to the lodge in the evening and crashed as we had been traveling in Panama for 3 1/2 weeks. The second night we had dinner with some other guests and two of the owners. During our conversation with one of the owners, I asked him how he learned Spanish as he was conversing with some of the kitchen staff in Spanish and to our overall astonishment and disbelief, he stated "I learned it as a kid talking to all the wetbacks in Texas.....the illegals who lived in the area where I grew up." Needless to say, that was the end of the business side of the trip, although, we never informed the owners of our interest to purchase as we wanted to visit as a regular couple on vacation and didn't want any special treatment. ||||Since the business was out of the way, we decided to simply enjoy our remaining vacation and relax. Regarding the rooms and overall lodge, first, let me list the positives:||the cook was excellent and the food was tasty.||the location is nice as it is on the ocean and our particular room had a good view and was spacious.||the cook and her helpers were very nice and accommodating and were the best part of the stay.||||Regarding the rooms and overall lodge, here are the areas that need to be addressed:||||we had 4 power outages; 3 at night and one in the morning.....that translates into cold showers, hot rooms and no internet access to communicate with family and take care of business. I have traveled in third world countries, developing countries, etc. and know that power outages, water stoppages, and many other things we take for granted are sometimes a challenge. However, as a hospitality business that include housing, food, fishing, etc. to not have a functional generator for these types of issues is inexcusable. The only generator was for the kitchen and even then, the internet was still off. Interesting that while all the rest of us had to sweat it our during the power outages as we didn't have A/C, the onsite owner conveniently slept in the lobby of the lodge where he kept cool with the only generator keeping the A/C on there. Maybe if he had stayed in his cottage and endured this madness, he would invest in a generator for the cottages.||we found 5 roaches in our room.....yes, 5! Now, I am aware that we are indeed in somewhat of a developed jungle, but an infestation of roaches is a bit much.||there were gecko poop droppings all over our bed, on the dresser, on the bathroom walls, and we had to request another set of towels and sheets. Also, the sheets were stained from the orange varnish from the wood inside the roof of the ceiling as our room leaked and judging by the orange stains on all the towels and sheets we received the few times we had our room cleaned, this seems to be a problem everywhere as the dinning hall leaded and they put a glass on the table to catch the rain. Our room looked like it had mold developing which caused me some concern. ||the window in the restroom facing outside was musty, dirty, had dead insects in the screen and spiderwebs all over it. ||||The bed was hard and not firm which made getting a good night's sleep difficult.||the toilet had a dirty ring and like it hadn't been cleaned for a long time.||there were small piles of dirt in the corners of the room that either built up over time or were forgotten when the room was being swept.||||Overall, the lodge has some potential but there are a lot of details that need immediate attention. I have stayed in some fantastic lodges throughout the US and in mountains communities, rain forests, etc. and was disappointed at what I saw at Hooked on Panama. Hopefully, they will invest in some upgrading and...

Had a recent 5-night/4-days Fishing stay at the Lodge, coming from the West Coast of the US. Over-nighted in Panama City, flew to David in the morning, and was transported to the lodge. The Lodge is about a two hour van ride from David, over a comfortable, scenic, newly paved road. ||The lodge consists of a main Eating/gathering/bar building, with individual bungalows lined up on either side. There is a central pool area, large grassy area behind, and close proximity to the ocean.||Rooms are approx 24' by 27', with two beds, bathroom/shower, closet area, dresser and nightstand, inside table and chairs, small refrigerator. There is a comfortable porch area with chairs and table in front of each unit (outside electrical plug in). A/C, cable and free WiFi provided.||All food and drinks were provided by the lodge, including bottled water. The food quality is excellent, and an alternate menu is available if requested. Lunch and all beverages were included on our fishing charter. ||Service is excellent, and staff all speak English. LAUNDRY SERVICE IS INCLUDED... (a great benefit if packing light). Daily maid service. Bathrooms are stocked with toiletries and hair dryer. The lodge Staff is extremely friendly and helpful, and the Charter Captains and deckhands are all first rate.||THIS IS MAINLY A FISHING LODGE, but facilities are very comfortable and relaxing. The closest small town is about 30 minutes away, and the closest reasonably sized town is over an hour away. Bring everything you need, but the Lodge owner and staff will try to help if any...

I went overnight and my experience was: NEVER COMEBACK. Mr. Mike (owner) and Ricardo are very nice and polite, the hotel is clean and quiet but Mr. Mike WIFE's is RUDE, fight over hotel pool floats, fought over the pool chairs yelling at me she purchased it, she told my niece not to take mangoes from the ground (which were everywhere since was the mangoes season) the food price she gave me was very high ( spaghetti plate $17.95, fish finger 45$) I am not sure why she gave me those crazy prices but obviously I ate somewhere else. Also, she talked with her friend about some customers and make fun of the them in English believing they didn't speak English, this ladies where local and had surgery, something very common in Panama. She was very mouth open, un-polite, arrogant, embittered with some children's. I told her she should take some customer services classes specially being an owner, first time ever an owner fight over some pool floats and mangoes, and made comments loud about customers. This lady should learn a little bit more about Panamanian law because soon she may be deported with no return tickets if any Panamanian apply the law to her, NO FOREING is allow to be racist or make fun of a Panamanian under any condition: religion, color, etc. ( just in case you don't know) if the Panamanian complain to the authorities the FOREING will be deported next day even if you have business out there. Mr. Mike should send her to a customer services...