Hotel Coral Suites

The apartment facilities are outdated, the electrical equipment is noisy, the room hygiene is poor and there is an odor, and the Ctrip rating does not match the check-in experience.

I love how this old building has been lovingly cared for and the staff cannot be beaten. I consider it my home when I'm in Panama City. Excellent location for anywhere you want to go via Uber.

If everything worked it would be a 2.5 star hotel—but it doesn’t. It took 4-5 minutes to get hot water in the morning. My guess it that there is no circulation pump. Our room was in the front. Presumably, the boiler was in the back. Also, the valve was installed upside down (as was the escutcheon) so the water turns off at 4:00 on a clockface, and is hot at 3:00 backing off toward 1:00, and cold by 11:00. The AC was not working when we entered our room the first day. It had to be turned off and restarted. Thereafter, it was adequate. Then there was the safe. After putting important medications in it, we found that it would not open. The front desk sent someone up to open it, but he told us that without his boss present, he could not open it because he might be accused of theft. We went to bed without taking essential medications. The next morning, I inquired again, someone came up, opened the safe without his boss being present, reset the combination, had me set a new combination, and then started to leave. I tried the combination, and showed him that it did not work. Most of the conversation was in Spanish. Eventually, he concluded that the batteries might be bad. He replaced them, and thereafter the safe functioned normally. This was typical for all of the problems we had. They treat everything as user error, as if we are stupid. There were no paper towels or kitchen towel in the kitchenette. I bought paper towels at a nearby small market. On all days but one, there were no wash cloths. Also, I had to ask for "medium" towels which are face towels. Otherwise, the only towel is one bath towel for each person. There is no facial tissue, and the toilet paper is of low quality. There is no light over the bathroom sink, so good luck doing makeup. It was OK for shaving. The shower drain became slow by the 4th day. I don’t know why. All we did was shower, sometimes in lukewarm water. Speaking of the shower, there was a clothes line retractor but no receptacle on the opposite wall. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway because the installer stripped the screw on the retractor so it flopped around on the wall. It would have been unusable even with the receptacle. As soon as our friends ended their stay, we moved to the Panama Marriott Hotel - Albrook Mall. We found a $147 rate and were happy to pay it. I got bug bites in the room at the Coral Suites. Not at the Marriott. And on the final morning, there was a cockroach in the kitchen, even though we kept all food in the refrigerator. (Photo available). The Coral Suites had a few wire coat hangers. It's a small thing, but again, there was a supply of wooden hangers at the Marriott. I am not some spoiled Beverly Hills guy; I grew up in Pacoima, famous for the bikers in “Every Which Way But Loose,” Richie Valens, and California Senator Alex Padilla. But this place is beneath my standards. My recommendation is that you not stay in this part of El Cangrejo unless you are young and adventurous,

I had a room with a king bed and I enjoyed my stay here. The room is large and very comfortable. The ac worked well and there are a lot of channels to watch. Not all of the staff are fluent in english but that is common for Panama. My spanish was good enough most of the time for them to understand what I was trying to say.