Aloft by Marriott Panama

There were live roaches in four different areas of our room, along with AC and bathroom drainage problems. Front desk manager Brenda Cleghorn knew about the issues during our stay. I’ve been a Marriott member for 21 years and have never stayed at a worse Marriott property. I’m loyal to the brand, but now I’m unsure about continuing. I’ve been trying to resolve this with Marriott Bonvoy USA for three weeks. After I complained to Bonvoy, the hotel said it hadn’t known about the problems. My wife took photos, and we documented everything in videos and pictures, including the people we spoke with. We sent the evidence to Bonvoy.program@marriott.com so they could see what happened. Aloft Panama still isn’t responding to us directly and says we shouldn’t receive compensation for what was a nightmare of a stay. We’re Ritz Carlton members with Platinum Elite status and aren’t looking for a handout. We went public only after the hotel denied problems we had clearly documented. We’ll update the review when Marriott decides what action to take.

I was frustrated by the shuttle mix-up and by how the main receptionist handled it. I was told to wait in the lobby for the 1 pm shuttle, but ten minutes later I was still there while the reception staff were busy. Someone eventually noticed me and pointed down toward the shuttle, but it had already left. Other passengers had somehow been told, though I was sitting right next to reception and nobody had informed me. When I tried to sort it out, the main receptionist said I should have gone to the shuttle and that he didn’t see any mistake on their side. The receptionist beside him would have been more honest: I’d been told to wait, and the main receptionist hadn’t been there the whole time as he claimed. He said I’d have to take a taxi or wait a few hours for the next shuttle. I was rushing to catch my flight, so I took a taxi and claimed the fare from the airline. I wasn’t satisfied with how the problem was handled. All the employees had been friendly to me otherwise, but I can’t stand someone refusing to accept their mistake. I wish they’d dealt with it better. I had to spend 30 minutes sorting it out at the airport, thanks! I stayed one night because a Copa Airlines flight was delayed. They arranged the stay well, and everything else went very well.

The staff were awesome, and the hotel is in a nice spot close to good restaurants and a grocery store. My room had a massive shower. There’s also a small pool. Really great hotel!

After 12 hours of travel, my friends were hoping to rest by 6:30 pm, but their room still wasn’t ready. They asked Ms Santos to help speed things up, but it didn’t help. They finally got a room close to 7 pm. That wasn’t what I expected from Marriott.