Marinn Place Financial District

“Enjoyed the Wonderful City of Panama City”

Hello All, My wife and I just came back from celebrating our 32nd Wedding Anniversary with a stop in Panama City before continuing to Curacao. We took advantage of the Copa Airlines Stopover program, which is as follows: "With Stopover, you can stop in Panama on your outbound or returning flight, … more

Hello All, My wife and I just came back from celebrating our 32nd Wedding Anniversary with a stop in Panama City before continuing to Curacao. We took advantage of the Copa Airlines Stopover program, which is as follows: "With Stopover, you can stop in Panama on your outbound or returning flight, at no additional airfare. This stop can last from 24 hours up to 6 nights / 7 days". So we flew from LAX to Panama City on November 7th and stayed until November 10th, staying at the Marinn Place Financial District. We checked in early for a $30 fee and were assigned to room 1504, which was a single king bed with a pull-out sofa bed. It was an average-sized hotel room, the bed was comfy, and being on the 15th floor gave us a fantastic view of the financial district. In addition, a morning breakfast buffet was available (the food and selection were ok), there is a rooftop swimming pool and some tables where you can eat by the pool if you so choose to. I would say that the location, cleanliness of the hotel, the cleaniless of the room and the overall location of the hotel would allow me to highly recommend staying at the Marinn Place Financial District. My wife and I really enjoy walking, so the Marinn Place location was perfect for us. On Saturday, we took an Uber from the hotel to the Panama Canal (Uber is very convenient and cost effective) arriving around 0945 (note that the ships seem to start transiting the canal around 1300hrs, we found out the hard way and had to hang around for a few hours but seeing the ships work their way through the canal was so worth it), so we watched the IMAX 3D movie about the Panama Canal which was narrated by Morgan Freeman (don't miss this, it is very informative), and were able to watch three huge ships (car carriers and oil tanker) and a tour boat transit the canal. Now, while we were sitting in the morning sun, waiting to watch the ships roll in, we noticed that there was a Red Hop On/Hop Off Bus in the parking lot. I was not aware that it was available in Panama City, so I bought tickets for the next day, Sunday. I do highly recommend using the Hop On/Off Bus because it takes you to 15 stops (2 are the same stops, so really 14) of the more popular tourist attractions in PC. If you will be in PC for multiple days, I would buy the two-day tickets, and if I had known about the Hop On/Off, I would have done two days. We stopped at Casjo Viejo/Antiguo (bus stops here twice and I highly recommend spending sometime here) and Amador Causeway (highly recommend both of these stops) but we wanted to get off at Downtown Amador and Mi Pueblito, but we just didn't have enough time because we had dinner reservations. For our dining, we had lunch on Friday at Concolon Panamanian Street Food Café (great food and amiance), had Korean Wings for dinner (ate on top of the hotel by the pool), Sat dinner was at Restaurante El Trapiche Dinner and Show (it was along 5 min walk from the hotel), pretty interesting cultural dance show, lunch on Sunday was at Sarboso (delicious) and for Sunday dinner, we ate at Cielo Rooftop which is adjacent to the POIN Building (highly recommend both) which we also visted.

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“Great but not perfect.”

The good: The room was comfortable. The space was a little above average, with a small divider between the beds which was a nice touch. The beds are comfortable if a little on the softer side. There was a safe, ironing board, iron and a blow dryer. The room was serviced daily with a high level of … more

The good: The room was comfortable. The space was a little above average, with a small divider between the beds which was a nice touch. The beds are comfortable if a little on the softer side. There was a safe, ironing board, iron and a blow dryer. The room was serviced daily with a high level of detail. Garbage was removed, beds made, towels and toiletries restocked. The shower worked perfectly. The minibar was very quiet and kept whatever was put in it cold. The television has a good amount of channels and actually works. The wi-fi is somewhat spotty though. Many times the service drops for a few minutes. The location is quite good, but that goes for all the other franchised hotels just a stone's throw away. The normal street noise is heard on the 11th floor. Metro, taxi and bus access are just a short walk away. The staff are all well above average. Extremely friendly and ready to make the experience worthwile. I'd give then 5 out of 5 stars working with what they have. The bad: No complementary coffee/ tea. At this price the room should, at least, have that. As with all these "modern" hotels lighting is extremely bad. A few lamps scattered throughout the room is totally not enough lighting. When will these chains acknowledge that? Why is there no disclosure of on-going construction? The lobby is a construction site and, while cordoned off, there are still heavy equipment and material movements. Check-in is on the 5th floor, with signs only in Spanish. The elevator system has to be the worst I've seen. The logic is fully screwed up. An elevator will be going down, someone calls it and it cancels the down floor! The cars also move to the requested floor, but take a full 15 seconds or more to actually open. Not very confidence inspiring. At times the lifts even wobble. Also, what's up with those tiny packs of shampoo and conditioner? Two people in the room and you expect us both to just use a drop? I know it's sadly becoming the standard, but at least leave some more packets. Yes, these can be requested, but it was just less stress to buy a small shampoo at the pharmacy next door. Breakfast is another matter. The selection is, possibly, the most limited I've ever seen. The main fare consisted of scrambled eggs, a toss-up between sausage and stripped chicken, arepas and pancakes served to you. Optional, and self serviced, are a selection of salad bases, breads, yougurt and some other baked goods. Coffee, tea and juices (mixed from powder) are available. The room with the actual food fills quickly. There is an overflow room down the hall. However, no drink station is there, so if you're a frequent drinks person you'll find yourself treking back and forth. Items run out quickly and, somehow, are not replenished in a timely manner. So it's either you start you meal and the make another rounds, or stand and wait. All in all not a bad experience by any stretch of the imagination. However, for what's offered the price should be less.

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