Hotel Punta Franca

Wanted to eat somewhere new ‘on the way’ from playa venao to Panama City. The restaurant we initially read about was closed so we kept driving and found this stunning spot. A beautiful hotel and restaurant high on a bluff with 270 degree water views. Chef Jose was lovely and food was excellent! We will come back to this amazing find. (Dirt road to get here was rough though!)

I booked this hotel just outside of Pedasi and found a great experience. There are some shortcomings, such as the access road, no fridge, no coffee pot or kettle in the room. But a great restaurant on site, albeit very limited in menu. Breakfast is included every day, The chef José is amazing and we always feel we get a great meal. They have two pools, which they need to clean better, but are great anyways. The hotel is located approximately 30 meters above the ocean but there is walk way or road that accesses the beach. The walk to the beach is not far and the Pacific Ocean has a tide swing of 2.3 meters, locals are fishing successfully in the surf at low tide, with a Rapala and two treble hooks, no bait. Everyone says no license is required and the hotel would more than likely cook the fish for you and everyone else if it is big enough. Very relaxed, it is Panama. Not a lot of English spoken, but they are awesome people. Weather very consistent, sunny and hot with a strong breeze every day +30C day and +26C nights, rooms are air conditioned. Beautiful property, currently doing some reno's but awesome anyways.

It is rare I review a property prior to leaving. However, this one deserves special mention. I made a short notice booking, so the staff did not have me in their notebook. No problem it was short notice. No one spoke English, again no problem because it is Panama and I should speak Spanish. Using a translation program and a few words in Spanish I was able to communicate that I had a reservation. They called someone (presumably the owner/manager) who apparently also did not know anything about my reservation. I downloaded a copy of my reservation. They read it to the person on the phone then assured me it was okay. Then I waited over 15 minutes while they looked for the room key. A total of three different people looked in the office and elsewhere. I counted about 12 other rooms that were available (keys hanging on the rack) but they had me wait while they searched for a particular one. Eventually they returned with the lost key. Room was clean, acceptable size, nice view. However, it was dated and poorly maintained. Bathroom amenities consisted of two bars of soap. No shampoo, no conditioner, no shower gel. No hair dryer, or other amenities. First issue was the toilet did not flush. I fixed it myself. Bathroom fixtures are old so issues are to be expected, but they should make sure the toilet flushes before the guest arrives. Next issue: Air conditioning does not work. I took two trips in the rain to the bar (only place I could find staff) to deal with this issue, because they would not believe me that the remote was working. I took the remote so they could see it was working. However, they insisted on changing the batteries to the remote and sending me back to the room to test it. Like I told them this did not fix the issue so someone came to to the room and managed to get the unit to work (somewhat - we could turn it on and off, but thermostat would not control unit properly.) Last issue (so far) is no hot water. I got about 90 seconds of hot water in the shower. Tried in the evening and in the morning - same result. Went to discuss the issue with staff, but no one available to speak with at 6:00 am. On the plus side of things the location is beautiful, the food was okay and in my room the internet/WiFi worked. Overall it was an extremely disappointing stay. They are not charging hostel rates but I feel like I am staying at a hostel. I could stay another day, but will not. I do not recommend this property.