Hotel Casa Magnolia Inn Panama — Hotel in San Felipe

Staff handled situation really poorly. Checked in and paid with card - guy says I can pay for towel with card, too just won’t get $2 refund if not paid with cash.

Later in evening there’s a girl and she tells me flat out only cash. I explain what the guy earlier said and she just says no. No helpfulness to me at all. No problem solving ability or initiative to find out. I ask if a manager is in. She is and I talk to her. Same attitude. I have to direct her to check with the guy since she as well shows zero helpfulness like no I am not heading out to look for an atm.

She admits it’s the staff’s mistake because they don’t accept card payment for towel yet even then does not offer me free towel if the guy earlier told me wrongly. Just looks at me and says cash only. It’s like they can’t think outside the box and try to be helpful or understand why that would be annoying to the guest after all that had occurred. Very dictatorship like NO CASH NO TOWEL. Omg be a human how about and think about the situation and how that affected your GUEST! Zero patience for deadbeat employees 😬

They do not care about people at all and waste your time and make you have to repeat yourself 20 times plus get hassled over payment for $5 towel even when they made the mistake themselves. She makes me wait while they get in touch with the staff earlier she almost acted like she’s in a policing role it was so egotistical and rude finally hears back from the guy earlier then says exactly what I already said to them that I can pay with card just not get $2 refund. No apology to me just acts like nothing happened despite wasting so much of my time and making me go through unnecessary hassle!

God, I can’t stand incompetent people much less those who have zero care for people - like I just want to get the towel and head upstairs not argue with you while I’m in Panama on a layover about payment that THEY did not even have correct information on. Clearly zero customer service skills.

Honestly they should have given towel for free but after wasting 1/2 hr of my time and stressing me out for no reason with their attitude I still pay the $5 with card I would have done had they not been so daft and wasted everyone’s time and energy not to mention having to get this off my chest here in this review.

ZERO stars for the two female employees in the evening of Dec 29 and also the male staff in the afternoon who clearly does not communicate to the others...

The Casa Magnolia Inn is located in the center of Casco Viejo and a very good option with value consideration. It is partly a youth hostel and partly a renovated hotel. We stayed in rooms that were part of the renovated hotel. They were small but very nice.||The location is excellent for wandering around the quaint and interesting Casco Viejo. For us it was much preferable to stay in this part of Panama city rather than downtown - which is "all business". ||Casco Viejo is a World Heritage site and it is, reportedly, being entirely renovated to meet its World Heritage status. But, this is a "work in progress". So, there are dilapidated buildings right across narrow streets from buildings that have been nicely renovated. This is true for the Magnolia Inn. So, don't come here expecting that it is all about glamour. It isn't. It is all about history and a view to the past. ||The people running the hotel were excellent overall. We were checking out of the hotel in late morning but checking in to the hotel used by our tour later that day. The Magnolia people were very accommodating to storing our luggage and then even allowing us to use the showers (we didn't need them) and the lounge which were parts of the hostel accommodations. This made our transition very easy. We wandered Casco Viejo in the late morning and early afternoon, then took an Uber to or new hotel to begin the tour part of our adventure. ||The individual at the front desk did make one mistake: recommending Cafe Baloo as a place for breakfast. It was absolutely the worst! Service was incredibly slow, food was poor quality, the milk for the coffee was curdled and the food was not even what we ordered! This happened on our first morning arrival in Panama and we were trying not to be "ugly Americans" by raising a fuss. However, do not ever go to Cafe Baloo in Casco Viejo! ||Otherwise, we would certainly use the Magnolia Inn again. There are fancier hotels if you want to pay for them. But, this was a very good value...

The Casa Magnolia Inn is located in the center of Casco Viejo and a very good option with value consideration. It is partly a youth hostel and partly a renovated hotel. We stayed in rooms that were part of the renovated hotel. They were small but very nice.||The location is excellent for wandering around the quaint and interesting Casco Viejo. For us it was much preferable to stay in this part of Panama city rather than downtown - which is "all business". ||Casco Viejo is a World Heritage site and it is, reportedly, being entirely renovated to meet its World Heritage status. But, this is a "work in progress". So, there are dilapidated buildings right across narrow streets from buildings that have been nicely renovated. This is true for the Magnolia Inn. So, don't come here expecting that it is all about glamour. It isn't. It is all about history and a view to the past. ||The people running the hotel were excellent overall. We were checking out of the hotel in late morning but checking in to the hotel used by our tour later that day. The Magnolia people were very accommodating to storing our luggage and then even allowing us to use the showers (we didn't need them) and the lounge which were parts of the hostel accommodations. This made our transition very easy. We wandered Casco Viejo in the late morning and early afternoon, then took an Uber to or new hotel to begin the tour part of our adventure. ||The individual at the front desk did make one mistake: recommending Cafe Baloo as a place for breakfast. It was absolutely the worst! Service was incredibly slow, food was poor quality, the milk for the coffee was curdled and the food was not even what we ordered! This happened on our first morning arrival in Panama and we were trying not to be "ugly Americans" by raising a fuss. However, do not ever go to Cafe Baloo in Casco Viejo! ||Otherwise, we would certainly use the Magnolia Inn again. There are fancier hotels if you want to pay for them. But, this was a very good value...