Palmar Beach Lodge

Loved my stay here. Beautiful location right on the beach, the dorm was spacious and beds so comfy with double ensuite. Activities held every night and the staff/ volunteers were so friendly. Would definitely recommend!

Not sure where to start! First, there is construction work in the hotel and it makes the experience terrible. From 9am to 6pm, very loud noise at the bar and on the beach so impossible to relax or read a book without hearing jackhammer and saw cuts. Even if they offered a 30% discount for construction noise, this is totally unbearable if you’re looking to relax. Second, we faced a very poor service. Among the employees, hardly any gave us a smile during our stay. Reception is ok but at the restaurant, the experience is terrible (we had breakfast, lunches and dinners). Staff look like they are punished or forced to work. After 2 weeks in Panama, we had never seen that. There is a total problem of management. Finally, we couldn’t find beach chairs as they were all used (some with just a towel on it and nobody came back). We asked some help to the person at the beach bar who told us he would help us and finally didn’t do anything. Chairs were used mostly by afternoon visitors outside of the hotel. The worst thing is that the hotel asked for feedback after the first night. We had the elegance to share our experience to avoid writing anything bad on tripadvisor. While they asked for feedback on whatsapp and we gave them, we didn’t receive any apologies or any words from them until we were leaving the hotel at the last minute when they offered us a 30% discount on our extras. At the end of the day, you should totally avoid this hotel. This is one of the worst service I’ve ever received anywhere. Don’t waste your money. This is a mix of backpackers (dorms) and hotel, but the service is not even close to an average backpackers place.

Absolutely avoid this place during the construction, the property is surrounded on all sides by noisy work all day long and the 30% discount rate is not worth it. I'm giving the hotel 2 stars because the location is unique and the food was good, although I agree with other reviews that didn't find the staff to be very profession. But what I found especially outrageous that I was charged an extra fee to pay for the hotel stay by credit card which is not at all explained on the website. Like I am supposed to go to an ATM somewhere in Panama and take out US$1,100 and carry it around or otherwise incur a 5% fee? That is ridiculous and outrageous. Every hotel in the world accepts credit cards and doesn't gauge a customer, particularly on a remote island with no other infrastructure for paying by credit card and that is absolutely not explained anywhere in the booking process. Revolting behavior that ruined my regard of this property.