Albrook Inn
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About
See why so many travellers make Albrook Inn their small hotel of choice when visiting Panama City. Providing an ideal mix of value, comfort and convenience, it offers a family-friendly setting with an array of amenities designed for travellers like you.
Nearby landmarks such as Plaza Bolivar (2.1 mi) and Cinta Costera (2.1 mi) make Albrook Inn a great place to stay when visiting Panama City.
Albrook Hotel offers guests an array of room amenities including a flat screen TV, a kitchenette, and air conditioning, and getting online is possible, as free wifi is available.
The small hotel offers 24 hour front desk, a concierge, and room service, to make your visit even more pleasant. The property also features a pool and free breakfast. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking.
While in Panama City be sure to experience local ribs favourites at Hard Rock Cafe Panama, Caliope, or La Posta.
If you’re looking for something to do, Panama City Panama Temple (1.0 mi) and Corozal American Cemetery and Memorial (1.0 mi) are a nice way to spend some time, and they are all within walking distance of Albrook Hotel.
At Albrook Inn, your comfort and satisfaction come first, and they look forward to welcoming you to Panama City.
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Albrook is a great area of town and is in the heart of the canal zone. I love all of the homes (once U.S. officers houses).
The front staff speaks a little bit of English, which is helpful. We didn't eat at the restuarant, but I did buy a can of coke for $1.50 which seemed a little expensive for Panama.
I enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend it to someone needing and inexpensive, clean place to sleep.
The hotel is in a nice quite residential area which was partly the reason we booked to stay here along with its proximity to the domestic airport as we though although there won’t be a lot to do in the evening at least we will get a decent night’s sleep.
Things started to go badly when we arrived at the domestic airport when the cab that the Albrook Inn we had booked did not arrive. This was not too much of a big deal as we just took another cab to the hotel. On arriving at the hotel all looked good as the hotel is in nice landscaped gardens and it seemed like it would be a very pleasant place to stay.
On check in as soon as we said our names instead of being greeted with a hello the lady at the front desk barked at us “You are the ones who made a mistake!!” And trust a sheet of paper in our faces which meant nothing to us but apparently it was all our fault the taxi was not there for us. May be we did make a mistake I’m not sure as I couldn’t really understand what the point was she was trying to make but I don’t feel this is a great way to greet customers.
After being told of for a bit longer we were given the keys to our room which was very clean and ok value for the price and with a nice attached bathroom so no complaints about the actual room. Unfortunately the room was opposite the laundry area of the hotel which was very noisy and was kept running until about 1.00am this is not a great way to spend an evening when you have been travelling all day and need to get up at 5.00am the next morning to catch a flight.
Also having arrived at the hotel at 9.00pm we were hoping to at least be able to buy some snacks and drinks at the hotel to see us through to the morning but nothing at all was available, the receptionist told us the water was ok to drink in the room – it turns out that would normally be the case in Panama but due to the recent floods it is not advisable. We did have a walk for a good mile around the hotel looking for shops or a restaurant but were unable to find anything.
The following morning we had a fairly decent breakfast at the hotel which was included in the room rate. After this my girlfriend asked reception if she could access her bag that we had left in storage to collect on our stay booked for the next week, the receptionist responded by rolling her eyes and saying “Do you have to”.
It’s a shame that a couple of things really gave us a negative impression of this hotel – the telling off and the eye rolling & the water incident were all from the same member of staff and the noise from the laundry which could be solved easily as this could be a really great budget hotel. But due to these things we cancelled our next visit. Prior to this we had stayed in L’Estencia which was much nicer but full on this occasion – hence the stay at The Aldbrook.
I recommend this small hotel to anyone staying in the city. It is close to Albrook Mall and Albrook Airport.
I love this place!
The room smelled so STRONG of perfume likely from the floor wash solution which left the floors greasy. The bathroom sink wasn't cleaned properly and the shower had filth from the previous tenants. the old upholstered chair had a huge oil stain on the seat, and the white bed sheets had lots of stains.
Just horrible. Just terrible I paid !!!!!!70.00!!!!!!!!!
On our third two-night stay, on Feb. 16 we arrived before check-in time, left our luggage at the front desk to retrieve later, and asked for a quiet room for the next two nights. We returned later, hot and sweaty, covered with sunscreen and insect repellent, and my wife had food poisoning. We were put in Room 101, which was far too warm. I knew how to operate the A/C remote because during second stay a staff member had instructed me on its use. I used the remote to dial the temperature down from 28°C to 23°C (82°F to 73°F). The A/C unit shut off, and I could not get it to restart. The temperature outside was about 90°F, and the room was stifling. I asked for assistance at the front desk. One of the owners/managers offered to drive my wife to a doctor. An employee visited the room and tried but failed to get the A/C to work. Back at the front desk I asked if we could move to a room with working A/C, and we were moved to an upstairs room with working A/C but no hot water. We badly needed showers or at least hot water. Back at the front desk I asked for assistance. An employee attempted to repair the water system for a little while and then emerged from the bathroom and – here's where the real problem arose – said he would return soon. He NEVER returned! After about an hour I asked an employee where the maintenance man was. I was told to just wait. So I did, until 10:30 p.m., at which time I phoned the front desk. The clerk, a person new to me, said everyone had gone home for the night and that he could do nothing and had no one he could call. I asked if we could use a bathroom somewhere to at least wash up with hot water. He said no and told me that no other guest room was available either. It was very late and we were in a country foreign to us, with no idea of where to find another hotel, so we spent a terrible, sleepless night, all dirty, sticky, and smelly.
Early the next morning I at the front desk I explained, to yet another front desk clerk new to me, what we had been through. I got no promise of repairs, so I asked for a room with both working A/C and hot water, as the hotel advertises. She said we could move again, this time to a larger room -- as if size was relevant, which it wasn't because we intended only to sleep there. I checked to see if the room had working A/C and hot water, which it did, so once again we lugged our suitcases down the stairs, walked to another building, and lugged them up a flight of stairs, this time with assistance from a polite young man. We showered and then left for the day. When we returned I told a different front desk clerk that our present room was quite satisfactory but that we had been very disappointed at the hotel's indifference the previous evening in making us move twice and then making us stay in a room with no hot water. I said that I'd intended to ask for a night's refund but instead I might suggest that the Albrook Inn provide a complimentary dinner for us that night. The clerk said she'd see what she could do. She called one of the owner/managers, who she said told her to call a second owner/manager. I stopped at the desk periodically until we were starving, at which time she told me that no manager would be available to discuss the matter until Monday (three days from then, and we were flying home the next morning). I told her that this was unacceptable and that when I returned home I would be pursuinga refund of the cost of the terrible night, which I did by asking our credit card company, CITI, to stop payment of the $77.
CITI sent a copy of my letter to the Albrook Inn. What follows below is my response to their incredibly insensitive and nearly fact-free response.
<Upon arrival the guest requested a better rate, as the receptionist was not authorized to offer it, he began to look for inconveniences to complain and to be given the discount.>
False. Cost was not a concern of mine. Reservations and rates everywhere during our tour had been established long in advance of our arrival. If I mentioned negotiating a lower rate, it was in jest. We'd just spent two nights at the far more luxurious and expensive Crowne Plaza Hotel and would have preferred to stay there but our tour operator had booked our two post-tour nights back at the Albrook Inn. The Inn seems to want you to think that I intentionally searched for a room with a broken A/C unit and/or no hot water so I could get a discount, which is ludicrous, especially as my wife was ill and we both wanted just to get clean and get some sleep. During the past year we've visited 10 countries on three continents and stayed in many hotels, lodges, inns, and even thatched-roof huts (in Guyana); we've had no problems with any of the accommodations anywhere. I own an international nature tour company and lead tours, 93 of them so far to Trinidad & Tobago alone, to which I've taken more than 2,000 participants, and I've had no problems with any hotel facilities. I was in Panama to familiarize myself with the country and its birds and looking for reliable accommodations to which I could start bringing tour groups. You'd better believe I won't be putting my guests at the Albrook Inn!
<The air conditioning in his room did not cool because he started to control…>
As mentioned above, on our second stay a staff member had shown me how to operate the remote control on the A/C unit. When I did so in this room, the unit shut down. I've used remotes to control similar A/C units in many hotels without a problem. This one failed. I can't explain why, but I seriously doubt that I broke the A/C unit by using the remote.
<…and that same night he was changed from room 101 to 122…>
True. We moved from a room on the first floor to one on the second floor, but the latter room lacked hot water, something we immediately asked to be fixed.
<…then reported the hot water and you happened to a Jr. Suite for the same rate and we did not receive no other incidence.>
I reported the lack of hot water to the front desk immediately, but we were not offered the option of moving to the Jr. Suite until the next day. Instead, as described above, an employee came and then left, saying he'd return soon, but he never did. He simply abandoned us, leaving us without hot water or access to hot water. And so we waited into the night. And we never did get hot water in that room.
<Any complaints that the client has about the room must be resolved during their stay.>
I did everything possible to alert them to the faults immediately. It was the hotel, not I, that failed to respond in a timely fashion. When guests lacks hot water, moving them to another room the next morning is too little too late. When it became clear that the water problem could not be resolved, the hotel should have either sent a more competent repair person or offered to relocate us to a different hotel. Perhaps the maintenance employee left the property without telling anyone in charge, but if so I can't be held responsible for his actions.
<In the case of hotels once received the service no returns are made.>
I think the Albrook Inn is saying that because we spent the wretched night waiting for the maintenance employee to return instead of leaving the property, they are not responsible for refunding the cost of our stay that night. I strongly disagree. Half a dozen members of their staff knew we were having problems.
<If the lord was not satisfied he could retire the next day and he did not.>
What does this mean? We had to catch an international flight early the next day, so it would have been impossible for us to retire (=return?) then. I offered a reasonable resolution to the hotel the day after the terrible night, but no manager was available to discuss it. Again, that was the fault of the hotel, not me.
<We could never rent a room without the air conditioning not working, and by quality policies any other service should be resolved immediately; if it were the case of not having more rooms available we would automatically transfer the customer to another hotel.>
We would have gladly welcomed an offer from the Albrook Inn to move us to a different room or another hotel after we had already moved once and then alerted them to the fact that we had no hot water in the second room, but they never made us such an offer; instead, we spent the night dirty, greasy, and waiting in vain for the maintenance man's promised return.
<We agree to return one nights of lodging IF THE CLIENT HAS RETIRED FROM THE HOTEL. The inconvenience or fault was compensated under another room of a higher category and the client AGREE TO ACCEPT>
I did not agree to anything except to move to yet another room for our final night. I had made reservations for two nights, had stayed for one very unpleasant one of them, and would be staying for one more night, hopefully a decent one. I think the hotel is saying that they would have refunded the second night's cost if we had left before the second night, which is only to be expected, as we would not have stayed a second night! But I had already checked in for two nights, and it wasn't my fault that they had two "non-working" rooms and had to put us into a larger room to fulfill their obligation. The size or class of the new room was completely irrelevant – we just wanted a bed, A/C, and hot water. We did not need a stove, microwave, dining table, etc., and had no use for them. We would even have agreed to move to a smaller room if it had had working A/C and hot water. So the fact that they provided us with a room, regardless of class, on the second night wasn't any sort of compensation– it was what they had contracted for when we made the reservations. The fact that it was an upgrade was their choice and resulted simply from their lack of available rooms. Analogy: You buy two sandwiches. One of them is spoiled. The store wraps the other sandwich in fancy packing and charges you the same price for both sandwiches, telling you they're doing you a favor by not charging you extra for the fancy packing, which you neither wanted nor can eat.
In summary, I ask only for a refund of the cost of the one terrible night's lodging during which we had no hot water and were otherwise greatly inconvenienced. The Albrook Inn states (see "Rooms & Suites") that "All the rooms and suits (sic) include: air conditioner, hot water…," but on Feb. 16, our room did not; thus we paid for goods and services that the Albrook Inn did not deliver…
[My credit card company, CITI, replied as follows: "We are unable to assist you with your dispute because you used these services with the knowledge they were not what you originally agreed upon. Please contact the merchant if you wish to pursue this matter further. We now consider this investigation complete." NO, I did NOT use these services with the knowledge, etc., but I'm done with this and just hope that this review will help others to avoid an experience like this.
Pros: good AC, clean room, nice breakfast
Cons: staff very noisy early in the morning, plumbing very noisy, no shops/restaurants nearby so no way to get food once restaurant closes.
"Rooms on 1st floor are bigger. Ask for a quiet room, as far as possible from the generator."Read full review
"We got room 120 and then found out it was on the second floor, no elevator so we had to haul our heavy luggage upstairs."Read full review
"Request a room in the front of the hotel, my room was by the kitchen and was very dark and a bit noisy"Read full review
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