Hotel LA ISLA — Hotel in Saboga

The beach was quite nice. There were no rocks going into the water. Hotel is located right by the airport so you are very close to planes and helicopters taking off....small planes but still. The Spanish hotel staff had a nice attitude, but in 95% of cases were useless. The property is VERY old. Its a big facility that needs an emended amount of upkeep and repairs. The wooden walk ways around the hotel were closed off as they were not safe to walk on. The pool was a disaster they "just filled it with precious lake water" , with a garden hose swimming in it, it had a tone of algae and looked so bad. Our entire stay a maintenance worked spent putting buckets of chemicals to no avail. The rooms were horrible....had no furniture, just two beds made out out of cement.....The bathrooms were disgusting, dirty and filled the room with the smell of sewer. It was unbearable. The AC worked but only on a full setting at a very cold temperature...there was no was to control the AC remote didn't work. The food was awful... best tasting item on the breakfast menu was toast with jam. The restaurant at the beach instantly sold you on a mixed platter...which was bad,2 small lobster tails and 3 pieces of fish. They never told you the price...If you were a few people they would charge you for this platter $40/person. Service, while friendly, was extremely slow. Also the awful prison cell rooms cost $150/night....yeah like the waldorf Astoria. Everything on the island is expensive, average $20 mains and $15 drinks. It was insane....Im sorry to say but the service was a bad, owners are crooks, kitchen was terrible, and the facility was decrepit. I do feel bad that these poor people are trying to make a living on an island that is just in terrible shape, broken roads, abandoned buildings...just sad. The best thing Contadora has going for it is the ocean. If you have to go there for an event (we went for a wedding) I would stay...

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. || It takes a lot for me to write a bad review. I myself am in customer service. But these people are AWFUL. There are plenty of other places to stay in Contadora, so do not waste your time here. I only booked here bc a friend was getting married. It took much effort just to Get a reservation in the first place. Nobody ever answered my emails, I made multiple phone calls and numerous WhatsApp messages. Finally I did reserve, but then was unable to go, so I cancelled Two Weeks in Advance. They still charged me, so I called back (again, repeatedly) they told me they did not have my cancellation, even tho I showed them my call log where I spoke to them. After much hassle, she said she would return a partial payment. Fine. (Also I could have gotten voucher) after she said I would be reimbursed, I sent my information, and then they never answered me again. They hung up on me over the phone and would not answer my WhatsApp or emails. Since I live in Panama, I would have take the voucher...but now am left with nothing but a more than $300 bill and nothing to show for it. On top of it all, I had many friends who attended the wedding and told me the whole event was unorganized, service was slow when available at all, and they had to pay staff from outside the hotel to come in and assist bc La Isla staff could not do their jobs properly. There way better options in Contadora, this place is a...

Wouldn’t go back.

The beach at the hotel is beautiful, but the rest of the experience was substandard. It felt like a $150/night hostel instead of a hotel. Needs significant maintenance, and also the pool was not open during our stay.

The room literally only has a bed. There’s no fridge, water, coffee, or anything else provided. The shower gel and shampoo was cheap.

The restaurant at the hotel beach is expensive and the quality of the food is not worth it. We had burgers for $18 a burger, and at that price you would expect a gourmet burger, not camp food. We went to a few other restaurants on the island that were half the price and much better.

The bar at the beach also blasts their own music from early morning, so while you’re having breakfast you have to listen to whatever the staff there want to listen to, instead of listening to the waves of the oceans and birds etc (which is generally why you would travel to an island for). I asked the staff to turn it off, and they refused even while we were the only guests having breakfast — was quite shocked.

My advice, stay at Mar Y Oro which is much better for both the service and the rooms, and actually a...