Victoria Hotel and Suites Panama

Overall experience at the hotel was fine. No complaints about the staff or the hotel conditions themselves. The staff let us check-in early which was great! They do serve breakfast everyday which was good. My only disappointment is that there were very few options for people with special diets and there aren't any labels to tell you what the food is made with. It's only a problem if you have to watch out for certain things. We're vegan and I had to ask the servers daily if certain options had any dairy or eggs in them. For example one morning I almost served myself hojaldres since the description said "fried bread." Bread doesn't typically have eggs and milk so I was about to serve myself a piece but something told me to ask and lo and behold it was made with those things. It wouldn't have been good had I eaten it and ended up with an allergic reaction since I have a dairy allergy. An allergy disclaimer would have been nice. I know that it's hard to cater to all diets but It would have been nice to offer breakfast items that were dairy and egg free for people who are allergic to these things or just avoid them for health reasons. Pancakes and french toast are easily veganized and everyone can have them. Luckily, there were three vegan/vegetarian spots very close to the area that we could go to if breakfast at the hotel wasn't enough to keep us full. In any case, the hotel is in a great location, very close to the metro and buses which made it very easy to get around.

The Hotel Victoria (Clarion) in Panama was nice and the staff was friendly and helpful. The hotel was clean and comfortable.You had to use your card key for the room, elevator, and lights, but the key didn't work all of the time. Hotel Victoria (Clarion) was my second hotel because the first one that I reserved through Travelocity, two months in advance, didn't record my reservation. That was the Wyndham. I had read earlier by one reviewer that they encountered the same situation. Fortunately, I found out when I tried to confirm with the Wyndham just before I left home. Travelocity worked hard to get me a reservation at Hotel Victoria. I like to workout when I out of town. I was told that the pool at Hotel Victoria was under construction and would be open a day before my departure. The pool never opened while I was there and the hotel had the entire facility closed, not just the pool. The neighborhood is not conducive to running so if you want to workout, make sure that the facility will be available and don't take the staff's work for when it will be open if it's under construction. The hotel location is good, near a big supermarket, lots of shops, banks, Avenue Balboa, and great restaurants. Taxis are always ready at the hotel. I would return to this hotel IF I know in advance that I could use the facilities.

This hotel is a nice enough. Not great or bad. It is a solid 3 1/2 star hotel. If you are expecting more you will be dissappointed. The check in/out was great!! Very nice and courteous staff. Room is a large, functional box on the spartan side of things. Some of the grout lines in the shower floor could use a good scrubbing with bleach. Two towels, lije I said, spartan. Cant talk about the view because we were on the first floor. Had to keep the curtains closed much of the time because there is a roof, where people could be walking and looking into the room, right outside the window. Breakfast buffett is ok The general area is going down since the Veneto closed. Manolos, a restaurant at the corner, seems to be hanging on. It has been there for several decades and is a cool place for a Panamanian style meal.... be sure to get a milk shake if you go!!!

Since the moment I arrived to the hotel, I felt a bit disappointed, since I'm used to see other Clarion hotels worldwide, and this one seemed to be a bit worn out. Then I had trouble checking in because there was some sort of mixup between Expedia and the hotel. I had to call Expedia to sort things out. Then the next day, I requested ice to be delivered to the room, and had to do so 3 times, only to be told that it was self served and had to go get it on a floor above mine. Third time's a charm, and on the third day, my mom had some leftovers from lunch that she wanted to have for dinner. I went downstairs to the lobby and asked if there would be a microwave available for me to heat the leftovers, and they bluntly said there was none available. Finding that response unacceptable, I turned around and headed to the restaurant upstairs and asked the waiters if they could help me out with my request which they gladly did. Besides those unpleasant moments, the hotel has a great location and the breakfasts served were great.

The Hotel was very nice for a great price. The room was large, clean, and comfortable. The AC worked well and kept us cool after a long day out in the city. When I asked for a hand towel from the housekeeper, she followed through and delivered one promptly. Two different days for a short time each we had no cold water, but we expect that happens sometimes in Panama. And for a quiet room, we had asked for a one not facing the street which the front desk kindly gave us, but maintenance was drilling or grinding something outside our wall for a couple of days during the day. Fortunately, we were gone part of the time. The breakfast was okay. We had invited a business guest for breakfast one morning and the cost for the extra breakfast was a little expensive ($15). But we will still consider booking again when in the city.