Casa Loma — Hotel in Panama City Beach

This is a cheap hotel and they provide ample and appropriate service for its price. You could do much worse. Pros: Clean basic rooms that look new. Clean, dry sheets. Quiet, firm, and non-sagging beds. Ample towels and toiletries. Clean kitchenette/fridge. No weird smells. The a/c pumped cold air. It was a fine place to return to and sleep in after a day at the beach. The outdoor grounds were well kept and the pool was heated and was in very very good condition. This is a complete god send if you happen to book when the ocean is too cold or too rough to swim in. This place is the only econo-hotel I've been to that has a handicapped chair lift for the pool. Very nice beach. We make a habit to bring two buckets for the beach. One for shells, and one for trash that we try to fill before we go. Took a while to fill the trash bucket, and 90% was water bottle caps. We found zero glass, or anything gross/dangerous. I would feel safe and confident to let a little kid run barefoot on that beach. The kitchenette rooms have all the basic things you need to make a decent breakfast including a coffee pot and toaster oven. I brought some basic cookware, but only needed my spatula to cook hash-browns, pancakes (although the batter was stirred in a pot), and omelettes during our stay. I have never done a hotel with a kitchenette, and having a home-cooked meal and watching the ocean in the morning sun was superior experience to a sad, stale continental breakfast that are offered at hotels that share similar price tags or spending 10+ bucks a head for a ho-hum waffle/pancake house experience. As an added bonus, the hotel is also located very close to a Walmart which helped stocked the kitchen. Cons: There is essentially no wifi in this hotel. The only place we had access to it was sitting next to the front door with fingers crossed. When it did work it was spotty at best. Expect to use your own data if you stay here. The TVs are essentially locked. They run on Roku, but there is physically no way to access Netflix or any of the other built in/internet dependent services. You cannot add closed captioning or change the settings in anyway. Most of the channels look like they are passing through cheese cloth, and none have channel information. The bathrooms are very small, and have no tub. It is just a shower in desperate need of replacement, and a industrial toilet that flushes at 30 dB. I stayed with my partner and after the first flush, it was agreed that if we used the toilet at night, we would only flush for number 2 until morning, as that is how comically loud the toilets were. The makers of the toilet must have also crafted the sink as it fired a deafening stream of water when turned on. Unlike the toilet, the sink had no door/wall barrier to muffle the sound as it is apart of the room itself. If you had 4 people in the room (particularly little kids) getting up and using it at night, I don't know how anyone in the party would sleep soundly, tbh. The a/c in the room had a flaw: if it is cold outside, the metal casing makes the unit think it was colder in the room that it actually was which made it turn off. I'm cold natured, but I woke up sweaty in the night because of this. I doubt this would effect a summer visit, and it worked great as long as the sun was up. We had to turn the a/c off to enjoy the balcony. If we didn't it was too loud to talk over and pumped hot air on us. You must use stairs to access all the amenities for this hotel. The rooms that don't require stair access have a 2 inch door lip, and we only noticed two rooms with a ramp to make it over the large lip. That doesn't mean the hotel doesn't offer some kind of ramp services (didn't ask as I didn't need it for this trip) but be aware. It was not without it's issues, but for what they offered and for the price tag, I would highly consider...

First of all, the view is amazing. Hotel is old, but that’s not a deal breaker. If I wanted to stay at a glitzy 5 star hotel, I would’ve booked one so as I continue with my review please keep in mind, I was aware I booked an older hotel that was being remodeled. What I was not prepared for was the rudeness from the front desk. I have never been talked to so rudely in my life. Day of check in we were offered a room on the first or second floor, I mistakenly chose the first floor. Before choosing I asked if there was a view of the gulf or if it was just a view of the pool. There was a couple inch step up from the floor to get in the room, as someone who is clumsy and pregnant, this did not work for me. I immediately returned to the front desk without touching anything in the room and asked to be switched to the other room that was offered due to this step up and no view. Within two minutes, the room was taken. No issue. So a room on the fourth floor was offered, being pregnant I climbed the steps. I was taken aback about how I was spoken to, as if I was unable to comprehend the fact I’d have to walk up stairs, when stairs were not mentioned. But, I figured due to COVID-19 they may have had extra cleaning to do and I apologized if I caused any inconvenience. Upon entering my room on the fourth floor, the new floors looked wonderful! However that was the only “new” in the room. The shower didn’t hold much water pressure and ran cold or hot, no in between. There was sand on the floor as if the room hadn’t be vacuumed, but we are at the beach. No complaints were made by me for this issue, again it’s an older hotel. However, on our second day, upon returning from the beach at around 5pm, room service had not come to our room for towels/trash. I called the front desk, who told me the house keeper left for the day I should take my do not disturb sign off my door, (before she knew the room number) I didn’t have one on the door. I told her my room number and said there was no sign on the door. Front desk instructed me to gather all dirty towels and bring downstairs to exchange. I complied, and asked about cleaning and trash. Front desk told me due to Covid-19, rooms were not being cleaned and only towels and trash were being taken. About five minutes later, housekeeping was at my door to give more towels and a trash bag, they had no clue we had exchanged towels or anything. The next two days were brutal, the room was musty smelling, and each day we had to argue and almost fight for towels. We took our trash and set it out the room and our towels in hopes of new being in their place but the old were just taken away. We rented beach chairs in front of the property, and while the hotel is not directly affiliated with the chair rentals, the boys who sit on the beach to rent them have a walkie talkie where they communicate with the front desk. An issue arose with our beach chairs and I asked the front desk if the young boy could be contacted and was told she could not contact him for something so insignificant. I hung up the phone and was done at this point as it was my last day. Upon checking out when asked my room number, I was told oh, and not have a nice day, safe drive. Nothing. No people skills whatsoever. Casa Loma itself was a nice place, worth the money paid, however the service was not up to par and management should consider hiring individuals who actually enjoy their jobs. If you don’t want to work with the public, you should seek employment elsewhere. It is because of two front desk workers I will never return to a hotel and will tell everyone I know not to stay there,...

Just left last Friday, and definitely recommend Casa Loma. Being a single traveler with 3 teenagers my #1 concern was our safety at the hotel. I felt very safe at Casa Loma. The place was well lit where it needed to be and someone was always on staff. Security in the parking lot daily & nightly(which you don’t find at all hotels) One night we came home late and had to park in the overflow lot. I felt very safe doing so, the lot is basically on property and not across the main street. We rented a suite (3 beds & full kitchen) and was very pleased. The website pic did not do it justice. It was nice & clean, no bugs, & comfy beds. It looked as though the room had recently been renovated compared to the online pics. The kitchen equipped with everything you need to make a meal. We had two balconies and the view from both were gorgeous. We wanted an upper level however they were already given out so we were given the lowest level and took the suite furtherest from the pool. It was perfect, the view did not disappoint from the lower level. Actually, i think i’ll always request a lower level from now on. Very convenient for packing in/out all your beach gear. The lady’s in the office were awesome, they checked us in and out quickly and efficiently. We arrived early and was told we could enjoy the pool and beach access until check in. I had seen an online complaint that staff did not make beds etc.. daily. It is written in the room that cleaning staff would not clean the room during your stay (covid policy) but would take trash and exchange towels. They were available daily 8-4 on each floor. All staff was polite and friendly. Large heated pool, plenty big for many families. Loved the landscaping around the back of the hotel. Also there’s an area with two grills and tables. Beach was beautiful, Panama did not disappoint. The water was gorgeous and we were blessed with clear skies and yellow flags all week. Chairs and umbrellas were available daily for rent. We loved the fact Casa Loma sits quietly away from all the high rises on a pretty much private beach. It’s away from all the hustle & bustle, yet conveniently located. Across the street is a gas station, awesome pizza, & small bar. Golf cart rentals and shopping within walking distance and Pier Park only a 5 minute car ride (traffic depending)! Needless to say, we enjoyed our stay!! I’m already daydreaming about our next vacation!! PCB & Casa Loma we thank you. We appreciate your hospitality and we will see you in 2022,...