Dreams Playa Bonita Panama — Hotel in Veracruz

Ugh, what a nightmare this place was... all the pictures on their websites show nice, clean and modern rooms, but once you get there you quickly realize those are all either taken 30 years ago when they built this hotel or have been Photoshopped, as the actual rooms are old, rundown, falling apart, cheap looking, with things just NOT working properly left, right and center.

Front doors are busted as if they had been broken into dozens of times, floors are really old and it shows, and mostly ruined due to condensation over the years.

Storage cabinets look like they picked them up off the curb after someone threw them out.

Lights and lamps in units don't work at all (good luck getting anyone from the hotel staff to actually look into any of that or, God forbid, move you to another, better room... as there are none - they're all equally rundown).

And A/C has to be run constantly at 21-22C in order to avoid the condensation in the room ruining all your clothes, all your exposed electronics, etc. And even then, even with almost sub-zero A/C running all day (and VERY loud) everything in the room will end up being damp anyway - your pillows, bed sheets, bed cover, all your clothes you left out, even electronics.

When it comes to food, well, breakfast brunch is the best part (standard eggs, bacon, sliced meats, cheeses, tons of baked goods, sweets and fruits). Lunch is mediocre at best, as none of the meat they make is tasty at all - the literally overcook everything. And when it comes to dinner, stay away from their Italian restaurant as they don't seem to have chefs in this place but just amateur, local cooks who are I guess trying to emulate some of your favorite Italian recipes... and failing at it miserably. I mean, who uses ketchup in lasagna instead of tomato sauce (making it super sweet)?! Or onions on bruschetta? And their pasta is overcooked and hard as a rock. French restaurant had the best dinners, with seafood one being second.

Their lunch buffet is mediocre at best as well, as all the meats are overcooked and not that tasty because of that.

Outside of that, the pools are ok if all you want to do is lounge in the sun and drink with other lazy and fat Americans who seem to frequent this place. Nothing special, and if anything rundown and in need of repairs (you can clearly see the damage to them).

Hotel might be on the beach but you won't be able to use any of it as the ocean is just filthy and you can't swim in it, and the beach is just rocky and nasty. You can walk down the sandy part here and there to get your toes wet, but that's as far as you can go, really.

Oh, and those little microscopic bugs they have come out at 6pm, yeah, not worth it at all. We all had dozens of bites each day, literally looked like we got attacked by bed bugs or something. And none of the sprays or the wet wipes they provide in the room for that helped at all.

I think the nicest part of the hotel is the front lobby. Everything from there on, phew, it looks like they completely forgot about it all. They try and wow you from the moment you walk in, but that initial positive impression quickly fades once you get to your room. And then they have the gall to actually upsell you on repeat visits and other services, when all you really want is the nightmare to be over and to get the hell out of there.

And once we were actually checked out, you'd think the hotel staff would at least offer you some sort of a ride to the city or airport or wherever you're going? Nah, they completely ignore and ghost you as soon as you check out. Won't provide you with any of the free water they provided you during your stay, because God forbid they waste an extra dollar or two on you now.

Again, I can't believe they charge $400+ per night for this rundown experience... for the food and the pool it might be worth maybe $100-120/night, but anything more than that - go someplace else where you'll enjoy more modern and less stressful accommodation and have a better bang for your buck. Because this isn't it....

First of all - great destination and the surrounding area is beautiful. Nicely accessible from the airport, and a short Uber into the city. That's about all that's good for this resort, though.

From the moment we arrived, I was unimpressed with the service. We arrived early in the morning and were the only people in the lobby. No greeting from the employees sitting down on the steps at the entrance, and no real acknowledgement from any staff when we walked in. The check in process was slow, and the greeting from the staff was unenergetic. We arrived too early to check into our rooms. We were given a voucher for a coffee and two food items from the coffee bar. Walked over to the coffee bar, and no greeting from the staff member, no menu to be found, and it felt like it took standing around a while before we were even acknowledged though we were the only people there.

We made it out to the preferred club pool. The pool really doesn't have much seating, and no access to a shaded area. There's not much space for a respite from the sun. We were the first people at the pool bar when it opened at 10 AM on day 1 and it took us almost 20 minutes to get our first drinks - we just wanted a couple beers. The bar was obviously not stocked and ready to go. We went back to the pool and eventually the drinks were brought over to us. Slow service would be a theme at this resort - at the buffets, we would be able to get maybe one round of drinks while eating, and frequently not get checked on throughout our meals. At the bars, employees were frequently just conversating with each other, and not moving with any pace to get drinks out. It would frequently be a 5-10 minute trip to get a drink. On top of that, the food was mediocre at best - flavorless breaded chicken at the Italian restaurant, generally unseasoned foods, the few local bites they had at the buffets were pretty good, though those items were few and far between.

We finally got to our rooms. My bed sheets had a giant stain in the middle of them. My sheets got changed and the new pillow case had a big red stain on it. My toilet was dirty, the toilet seat looked ancient and was breaking, the bathroom wall paint was peeling off, the refrigerator was set to the warmest setting and the beer in the fridge was barely colder than room temperature. I paid for the upgrade to preferred club and did not have any extra snacks or liquors in my room on day 1. I was never stocked extras until Day 3 of my stay. Preferred club was definitely not worth it, once I did get "extras" in my room, it was a fun size bag of M&Ms, a snack pack of Pringles, and 3 shooters of liquor - not worth the $25/Day I was charged. In addition, preferred club gave me access to a pool they didn't even check credentials at and an additional upstairs bar space that we didn't even get table service at on our first visit.

Worst of all, nearly my entire travel group came down with Norovirus a few days into our trip. We spoke with other people at the resort who had been through similar things, and even a woman who missed 4 days of her trip and had been in contact with the manager about her experience. It certainly seemed as though management was aware of the issue of a stomach virus going around from the conversations we had with other guests. However, as I watched employees throughout the week, I never saw employees with sanitizer bottles or any other cleaning materials in food service areas, I never saw serving utensils being traded out or food chafers being cleaned throughout our stay. Food didn't seem to be held at proper temperatures, and overall, I was appalled by what seemed like an overall lack of food safety from staff, especially given the knowledge of a virus going around the facility.

Overall, I would rate my stay at Dreams Playa Bonita Panama as the single worst travel experience I have dealt with. Poor service and speed of service, lacking cleanliness, outdated hotel, minimal entertainment features, and minimal interactions from staff. Spend your money...

WARNING: AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

UPDATE: They made an attempt to rectify the situation, but let me tell you, there is no way to make it right here. I cannot fathom how their Google score is above 4.0.

To be fair, the Director of Sales did go above and beyond in his efforts to address our concerns. However, he is just one of very few employees who actually seem to care.

Our room was unbelievably hot, causing us to sweat profusely. Despite their assurances of fixing the issue, there was absolutely no improvement.

In desperation, we requested a room change, and they did upgrade us to a Junior Suite, which was undoubtedly a nicer room.

While the room itself appeared spacious and appealing, it was shockingly filthy. It won't let me attach photos here, but the walls have splatters of stuff, dark hand prints, one wall had streaks of filth, all in different areas. If the walls are this obviously disgustingly unclean, one can only imagine what other hidden horrors exist.

Furthermore, there is a supposedly luxurious large tub with jets. However, the tub proved useless as, after filling it with a mere four inches of water, the temperature abruptly turned cold.

The food here is far from satisfactory, especially considering this is a Dreams resort. I did hear positive things about the Italian restaurant, and to my relief, it lived up to its reputation. Everything we ordered there was enjoyable—until the dreadful moment I discovered a piece of aluminum in my mouth. Waitress said "oh, I'll talk to the chef" and I said we were just going to leave and she walked off without an apology.

I had more to say, but hit the character limit. There is so many smaller details that are overlooked everywhere you look.

In conclusion, I strongly urge you to steer clear of this resort. Based on my extensive resort experiences, this one fails to meet even the most basic expectations.

ORIGINAL: Review of my first six hours at this property!

Upon arrival at the resort, there was nobody at the front desk to greet us, which was quite disappointing.

We had to carry our own luggage up the stairs at the front entrance, despite my father having broken ribs. It was an inconvenience I haven't experienced at a resort before.

We had to specifically ask someone for guidance on how to check in, as nobody provided any instructions proactively. They simply instructed us to leave our bags unattended by the front door, which made us feel uneasy about the security of our belongings.

When we reached our rooms, we found that our room wasn't cooling off properly.

To add to our discomfort, the elevator was out of order, forcing us to climb the stairs.

We waited for our bags, being the only guests with pending luggage, for about 30 minutes before we had to call and inquire about them. The delay was unacceptable.

During our exploration of the property, we stumbled upon a bar that had a shortage of mixers. Despite requesting different options, we were repeatedly told that they were out of stock. The lack of variety was disappointing.

For dinner at the seafood restaurant, we were asked to wait despite around 7 empty tables being available but not clean during a slow time. We waited for approximately 15 minutes for them to clean the tables, which seemed excessive.

We ordered four civeches for our table, but the waiter brought only three and informed us that they had run out. This happened at 8:30PM, which was 2 hours before they closed.

To my surprise, at 1:20 AM, someone knocked on my door to deliver room service which woke me up, but it was for the wrong room. No apology or explanation was given, which was highly unprofessional.

Overall, our experience at the resort was marred by numerous disappointments and inconveniences. The lack of staff at the front desk, the poor room conditions, broken amenities, delayed luggage delivery, limited bar supplies, and subpar service at the restaurant all contributed to a negative experience. We hope no one else has to...