The cautious optimist in each of us – is delighted with special treatment coming from excellent staff members at whatever hospitality location we chose as our destination. Being met at the airport is nice; having your questions clearly answered as they occur is delightful. However the most advantageous information may be provided with your complimentary welcome cocktails; such as setting up drivers who speak your language, and free local phone use during your visit.
If the really important options you’re seeking are introductions to the Panamanian professionals who can help get what you need done efficiently, you may need to search a little harder. Connections such as helping to make your banking relationships easier to start up, providing introductions to realtors who will have your best interests at heart and tour planning professional who graciously and honorably fill your needs , then some of the innkeepers in Panama are doing a more wonderful job of welcoming you to Panama, than others.
The most ancient form of marketing for any business is word of mouth. One individual who has an excellent business exchange, shares that news with his neighbor, who chooses to do business with that company also. In the hospitality industry now…most organizations have become so large, their employees are no longer in touch with their clients needs and don’t have the connections in their own circle to provide contacts for potential business connections, so that ball is dropped. That isn’t the case with innkeepers who manage one special niche market…as owners and operators for bed and breakfast lodging in Panama City, Panama. Let’s introduce you to a few of the bed and breakfast entrepreneurs located in and around the city.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Four Points by Sheraton
Marbela & 53rd Street, At the World Trade Center
Four Points Sheraton Panama has European décor and is located conveniently in Marbella, one of the trendier spots in Panama City. The rooms are comfortable, the facilities for business trips supportive. It is within walking distance of restaurants and the MultiPlaza Shopping Center.
“Wireless internet access is available in the lobby and bar area. Kind of a pain to have to run downstairs every time you want to warm up your laptop, but it beats paying $14 per day for access,” said one travel commentator. Some of the amenities offered: 24-hour room service; business center/services, including a conference room, concierge desk; fitness facility; outdoor pool; whirlpool/hot tub laundry service, tennis court; wheelchair accessibility and free parking.
Some find the location, in the new high-rise part of town, a bit stark and there are some traveler reviews that focus on lack of cleanliness, but it is relatively convenient to the Tocumen (PTY) Airport and Casco Viejo for a mid level cost of $190 a night, with a breakfast buffet included in some plans.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Bristol Hotel
Area Bancaria, Bella Vista
Located at the heart of the city, the Bristol Hotel is posh, five-star hotel that provides close access to the city’s business and entertainment districts. Fortunately, the food in the Bristol Hotel’s restaurant, the Barandas’ is usually excellent, because you’ll have to ‘dress’ to eat here. The restaurant’s focus is so elite, guests who are wearing shorts may not eat in their dining room, not even for lunch in this theoretically tropical destination.
Do ask when you make your meal reservations, to be sure they are NOT having an event in their meeting rooms; since there’s no acoustical separation between the restaurant and the Grand Colonial meeting room…with its capacity for entertaining 300 people. From personal experience, eating in the restaurant during an event is auditory torture, no matter how good the meal.
Business travelers can access the hotel’s 24-hour business center or avail themselves of spacious meeting rooms. Surprisingly the hotel even supplies personalized introductory cards for clients with their name and their hotel room’s direct phone number. All rooms come equipped with basic amenities including: high speed internet access for wired and wireless computers, fax, voice mail, cable TV, CD and DVD players.
The Bristol Hotel staff surprises many of their guests with their exceptional efforts to provide excellent services, therefore, it is considered one of Panama City’s finest hotels, even though it offers only 56 rooms at an average of $290 per night. The other section of the building is called Bristol Residences and is available for longer term luxury rentals.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Casco Viejo, Calle 4 Ave A, Panama City
Antique furniture and Panamanian artwork set the tone for this bed & breakfast lodging option. This lovely 3 bedroom, 3 and a half bath property in the Casco Viejo, reflects the careful restoration of the property and give it a feel of going back in time to another epoch of Panama’s history. Amenities include a fully equipped kitchen, maid service, dining room, living room with balcony, and a rooftop deck with a great view that’s ideal for entertaining. Rooms may be rented separately or together. Single bedroom and bath lodging is available from $162 per night with breakfast.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Los Cuatro Tulipanes
Avenida Central – Between Calle 3 and Calle 4
Casco Antiguo, San Felipe, Panama City
Los Cuatro Tulipanes are boutique apartments in Casco Antiguo, dedicated to perfecting the travel experience through innovation of the highest standards of hospitality. From elegant interior design to highly-personalized 24-hour customer service, Los Cuatro Tulipanes represents a true home away from home for those who know and appreciate the best. Wow…sounds good, eh?
There are six residences available for rental in Los Cuatro Tuipanes, one of Casco Viejo’s finest models of restoration. From the bright tropical wall tones in the entryway, to the spectacular courtyard areas with century old exposed stone walls, each residence is the lovely example of reborn beauty. These six apartments offer: free cable internet, fully equipped kitchen, unlimited local calls and a cell phone to use while you’re a visitor, TV’s equipped with DirecTV and daily maid service; rates start at $165/night to $195/night, based on season, availability and attitudes of the members in the party.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Panama is one of Latin America’s fastest growing tourism destinations. Amazingly, Panama has gained a reliable renown as: one of the world’s leading intersection of latitude and longitude for those who wish to experience amazing eco tourism objectives, new targets for a variety of sports enthusiasts and becoming a first class retirement destination, with as many alternatives for retirement living, as there are people, it seems.
The first thing you see in Panama City’s skyline is the contrast between the old ‘Panama Viejo’ established in 1519; ‘Casco Viejo’, founded in 1673; and then the new Panama City; represented by a well developed high rise skyline with the addendum of over 250 high rise projects, being built simultaneously.
If you chose to visit a historical site, Casco Viejo can take you way back in time with its narrow streets, fish market and its great colonial architecture. The Panamanian Presidential Palace is located here, away from the noisy hustle and bustle of the busiest international banking district in Latin America. You’ll love peaking at the white cranes strolling around the pond in the President’s garden compound.
It was here the city of Panama was founded in the seventeenth century, and meandering around the neighborhood is definitely like a trip back in time. One block is renovated to the nines and the next looks like a bomb went off… or rather a round of canon balls hit a few hundred years ago.
So some of your neighbors won’t be trying to borrow your Grey’s Poupon…do remember to be realistically cautious, this is a neighborhood in recovery…and its life signs are strong. Since we’re talking about Casco Viejo…let’s consider some of the few lodging alternatives available or close by.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Lonely Planet Panama is a guidebook well worth its weight, beginning with unparalleled photographs of tropical flora and fauna in some of Panama’s sixteen national parks and offering solid travel advice for Panamanian visitors throughout.
Travelers who value planning will find historic highlights, health bulletins, guides for travel with children, where to find internet access, and guides to planning wide variety of trips through Panama. Adventurers, who plan for moments rather than days, will find phone and fax numbers for last minute reservations on flights to the shore of the Caribbean for a weekend’s scuba diving or a mountain trip to kayak in class-five rapids.
Even more important as you actually venture into a foreign venue, are Lonely Planet’s well constructed maps and solid recommendations for clean hotels and good food, in Panama’s renowned destinations. The editors offer their favorites in both lodging and meals for each region, giving insights that can be very significant in a country in which food-borne and mosquito-borne illnesses do exist.
The amount of relevant data included by Lonely Planet Panama’s well-traveled team is extensive. The travel guide chooses regional destinations in each of the provinces, and then discusses local lodging and restaurant alternatives that are offered. The options for each area are categorized as: budget, mid-range and top end; which simplifies deciding where you want to go, by highlighting the differences in amenities that your dollar buys.
One chapter of the Lonely Planet Panamanian travel guide is advice by a physician, on vaccinations recommended before traveling in Panama. The doctor included a variety of health care information, even a contents checklist for a good tropical first aid kit.
Surprisingly, the cultural diversity that Panama offers has had few proponents in travel literature. The Lonely Planet editors have provided the latest information about trips to see the celebrated 940 bird species and 125 animal species found nowhere else in the world and have offered special destinations for ornithologists and biologists.
The Lonely Planet policy of accepting and incorporating helpful hints, useful advice and meaningful anecdotes from fellow travelers, have enriched and grounded this edition, whether it’s stories of how to swim in a riptide, or hints about where the horseback riding is really good.
You can hike through cloud forests and swim in two oceans, climb mountains, or even be a delighted conservationist and delight in the four species of sea turtle nesting on this country’s unmatched seashore, and Lonely Planet Panama will help you travel wisely. Check it out.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Calle 49 El Cangrejo Panama City AP Panama
Panamanian Phone: (507) 213- 2222 Fax: (507) 213 – 3057
www.lashascas.com E-mail: ventas@lashuacas,com
Decorated in charming old style Panama, Best Western Las Huacas Hotel and Suites offers a comfortable stay to its guests. Best Western Las Huacas is a three-star hotel that offers moderately-priced rooms equipped with 24-hour room service, a kitchenette, and radio.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
Extended stay lodging is a narrow niche of the hospitality market in Panama – but is one that can be advantageous to you, if you’re planning to stay in an area of Panama for more than a few nights.
Let’s review the lodging choices for extended stays in Panama City, Panama since it’s the point of entry to Panama, Central America for most tourists. Then we’ll travel the country and review long term lodging in some of the more popular destinations.
Long term accommodations include hotel suites with kitchenettes, furnished apartment rentals, home trading or staying in a bed and breakfast; in addition to the many median lodging options available in hotels with meals provided by restaurants and room service.
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
The Hotel Punta Galeon is very compact. Its 48 rooms were built almost at treetop level on a rocky point of land, with a series of wraparound terraces that provide dazzling sea views. Yet, be aware, the Punta Galeon’s beach is very public. Not only do the planes fly overhead to land at the island airport, but this is also where the island’s ferry docks, picking up passengers right off the shore.
“The rooms at the Punta Galeon are small, simple and whitewashed, with built-in beds and bedside tables and cozy balconies attached. The bathrooms showers are attractive and clean, and the water takes only minutes (rather than days) to warm up. This is a hotel best suited to adults; since there are good places to read, and not many places to run around,” travelers have recorded.
The two restaurants at the Punta Galeon are à la carte, one outside for lunch, and one indoors and open only in the evenings. A lunch costs about $20 for sandwiches, salads, and such, while dinner, which could include sea bass, as well as lobster and shrimp, could run as high as $50 to $60 per person, including wine. Lodging at Hotel Punta Galeon for a couple will range from $85 – $130 per night, plus the 10% tourist tax.
Hotel Punta Galeon, (507) 214-3719, fax (507) 214-3721
Email us at The Panama Club
+507-836-6542 / 43 (Panama) | 1-(305)-503-9957 (USA)
