A timeless retreat in Panama City's heart

Clean Wonderful atmosphere historic but modern amenities Perfect location for exploring Casco Viejo Staff are cheerful and multitasking Our 2nd visit. Oasis of calm. Rooms very quiet, spacious Check-in and out efficient Breakfast buffet is huge, fresh fruit, food for many nationalities but has Panamá station. Background music in restaurants and lobby too loud and competing with conversation No large tour groups here

We had high hopes for this hotel based on stays in other Unbound Collection hotels. We booked a 4 night stay for my wife and I to celebrate a birthday. We tried to reach out to the concierge prior to our arrival to help us arrange a driver and get some restaurant recommendations. We never heard back even when we followed up via several contact methods. The hotel is VERY pretty and well designed! And it is perfectly located to explore the old town neighborhood. Our first room was in the American Wing. It was nicely sized and decorated but as soon as we walked in we experienced a very strong cigarette smell. As we had travelled a long way we decided to just head to dinner and hope that the smell would go away with time. Unfortunately, when we returned it had not. So we requested someone from the front desk to help us resolve this. When someone arrived they agreed the smoke smell was strong so they moved us to a room just next door. We entered and since we didn't smelling the smoke and it now being late we moved in. Unfortunately, the next morning we discovered that there was now a VERY strong sewer smell in the bathroom AND almost no hot water in the shower. This sounds like we maybe are being picky but for $500 per night we felt should be able to have hot water and not smell like the an outhouse. Over the next two days we went back and forth to the front desk at least 5-6 times trying to find a solution. It seems like this was an issue they have encountered before. They tried to put an odor neutralizer down the drain and had maintenance out as well but the small never went away. For two days this went on and while on the third day the hot water started to flow from the shower the smell never went away. It was only after repeated and very patient complaints that on our last day they offered to move us again to the French Wing. They said the room is in the same category but would be a little smaller. It was maybe 1/3 the size of the other rooms we had and barely big enough for two people. But at least the smell was gone. But why downgrade our room? To cap things off on our last night we got a call from the front desk at 11:45 PM asking if they could come up with an amenity. We were already in bed but said ok. They said they'd be up in 5 minutes. At MIDNIGHT they arrived with a small plate of chocolates and a bottle of wine. While we appreciate this small gesture there was no time to drink this wine as we were checking out the next morning so ended up just leaving it for housekeeping. They also refused to allow us to a late check out. So in the end, we were very disappointed with the customers service and issues with the rooms were just too many. We were impressed with the hotel space and location. The employees were mostly friendly but their responsiveness was very poor and there seemed to be little involvement of supervisors or managers in the day to day running of the hotel like we would have expected for a hotel at this price point. They made no effort to offer us any discounts or even free breakfast for what we want through and again at this price point we expected much more effort to make sure our stay was a positive one. There are several other hotels near by that offer a similar level of comfort and so we probably won't return due to the issues we encountered here. Panama City itself was wonderful and we especially enjoyed the food, drink and tour of the canal. But sadly we cannot recommend the Hotel La Compania.