Stay Report: Hilton Garden Inn Panama (December 2014/January 2015)

Stay Report: Hilton Garden Inn Panama City
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I was looking for a place in Panama City that was close to many attractions and was walking distance to public transportation.  I had initially booked another Hilton property within the same neighborhood, but then I found the Hilton Garden Inn and it was significantly less expensive so I thought I would try it out – they say you get what you pay for and in this case, it is true.  The Hilton Garden Inn is a good budget option within Panama; however, if I was to do it over again I would pay the extra money to be in more comfortable setting.  Overall, the hotel provided a comfortable bed and a decent night stay but the customer service was lacking and the room needed to be updated.

The airport is located about 30-45 minutes away from the city so I had coordinated with the hotel to arrange for pick-up.  Everything was confirmed a month prior to arrival but when I arrived into Panama City, there was no pick-up.  After several calls to the hotel, and waiting for about 1 hour, I finally arranged transport with the hotel.  When I got to the hotel, I mentioned the ordeal to the night manager who said she would relay the information to the day manager the next day to respond.  The next day, I followed-up with the day manager the next who had not been told what was going on but also said she would investigate and get back to me.  I waited another 3 days but nothing so I then followed-up with an email to Hilton Corporate; it was only then that a response was received.  This was the lack of customer service that was experienced in the hotel.

The outside of the hotel and the lobby look very modern and updated.  The hotel itself is a tall but narrow building.  The hotel is located near the financial center within walking distance are a metro station, many restaurants, supermarkets, and other shops; it is a very convenient location.  When you enter the hotel, on the left hand side is a sitting area which contained couches, seats, as well as newspapers while on the right hand side is the restaurant.

Behind the sitting area is the check-in desk.  Check-in was decent, they were not overly friendly but not overly unkind, and I collected my room key.  Behind the check-in counter was the business center which contained three computers as well as a printer.  Further down the hallway were the elevators to the guest rooms.  In between the business center and the elevators was a hallway that led you to the first floor restrooms as well as an on-site washer and dryer (byob soap and powder); this amenity was a nice addition.  Security was another amenity that was nicely appreciated as you needed your key to access everything – the business center, the elevators, the gym, as well as the rooftop.

photo courtesy of Hilton Garden Inn

While the lobby and the first floor seemed updated and modern, the rooms did not feel modern.  As you entered the room, on the right was the closet which contained a safe as well as ironing board.  On the left hand side was the bathroom – the bathroom fixtures had been updated so that was a nice touch.  The bad thing about the bathroom was the inconsistent hot water – sometimes it would be extremely hot and nice while others time the water was barely lukewarm.  The bathroom contained a tub, a toilet, and a sink as well as Hilton toiletries. 

On the other side of the bathroom was the bedroom which contained two double beds as well as a night stand in between.  The beds had been updated with the newest Hilton beds, in which you can adjust the firmness of your bed.  The beds were comfortable and spacious.  Between the bed and the window were a couch and a lamp.  Across from the bed was a chest with 3 drawers on the bottom as well as TV on top.  Next to that was a desk.  Besides the bed, the rest of the furnishings in the room did not seem to be updated and looked a bit worn out.  Overall the room looked dated but provided enough space and comfortable beds.

Facilities at the hotel included complimentary wifi, which was free and strong, as well as fitness center and rooftop Jacuzzi on the rooftop.  The fitness center was medium size and had enough decent equipment with treadmills, weights, and other machines.  It was a pleasant to have a decent size fitness center.  Next to the fitness center was a small rooftop lounge that housed a 2-3 person whirlpool/Jacuzzi as well as some chairs to sit and lounge; the view from the rooftop was really nice.  The rooftop amenities were really nice, but it was a small rooftop and there were a lot of facilities put into a small area; in my opinion, it would have been better to focus on one or two items instead of trying to have everything on the rooftop. 

Overall, the hotel provided a decent night sleep with nice amenities at a low price.  The customer service could’ve been a lot better but I guess you get what you pay for in terms of customer service and overall feel of the hotel.

Trip Report: Copa Airlines - New Orleans to San Jose via Panama (October 2017)

Trip Report: Copa Airlines 
New Orleans to San Jose via Panama

comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I have flown Copa Airlines before, once in 2010 and then again in 2014; however, the airline recently started direct international service from New Orleans to Panama.  As a way to support the service from my hometown, as well as try Copa's product again, I booked Copa from New Orleans (MSY) to San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) via Panama (PTY).  The service started in 2015 and runs 4 times a week.  The flight departs Panama at 6:30p and arrive into New Orleans at 10:30p with the return flight departing the next morning at 6:00a and arriving into Panama at 9:30a.  The flight is timed to maximize connections in Panama for onward travel.

Copa Airlines is based in Panama and has a fleet of Embraer as well as Boeing 737- 700

and 800's.  The flight time from New Orleans to Panama is 3hrs while the return is 3hrs and 30min.  When the flight for commenced, Copa was using their Boeing 737-700 for the flight but the flight has been downgraded to the Embraer 190.  My previous experience with Copa was mixed - nice amenities but inconsistent.  I also flew Copa when they were going from a transition, and have now identified who they are and what product they want to serve. 

Copa is full-service airline that provides complimentary meals on all flights, free 2-pieces of checked luggage, free seat assignment, and is a member of Star Alliance.  The only thing Copa does not offer is in flight entertainment - this is changing as their Boeing 737-800s now have seatback PTVs, but these are only being operated on long-haul flights.  You can book flights on Copa's website and you can also call the call center to book a flight.  It is not easy to manage your booking on the website, but you can select a seat and request special meals by calling.  Copa does have an app which I only found useful to store my information and access mobile boarding passes.  24-hours prior to departure, I was able to check-in and obtain my boarding pass.  You can change your seat assignment when you check-in, but you can only do this if you are using a laptop/desktop - you cannot modify your seats at check-in through the app.  

I had checked-in online, received my mobile boarding pass, and went to the airport to drop off my luggage.  The check-in line was very long, but the Copa representatives were very good and quick in assisting all passengers.  A Copa representative came through and asked those passengers who had checked-in online to bypass the line and be served first - this made check-in got a lot faster.  I received my luggage tag, went through security, and waited to board.  Copa likes to start boarding their planes about 1 hour in advance - for each of my flights the boarding started one hour prior to the flight.  We boarded by group numbers, and even though all passengers were on board, the plane door did not close until the posted boarding time (so I am not sure why the plane is boarded so early).  Boarding was done by group numbers and was quick and efficient.

The operating aircraft was an Embraer 190 with a 2-2 seat configuration.  The seat pitch was very good with lots of legroom, even in standard economy.  The seats were generally comfortable as well.  There were no PTVs either behind the seat nor any drop down screens; and Copa does not offer neither complimentary wifi nor any entertainment.  Boarding happened quickly, and though we were all seated, the boarding doors did not close until the stated departure time.  Manual safety demonstrations were done, and then it was a quick taxi to takeoff.  The flight was about 90% full, and even on the return the flight was about 90% full.  About 20 minutes after we reached cruising altitude, the attendants came down the alley with the service carts.  

Complimentary drinks, juice, tea, and coffee were served along with a complimentary meal.  Although not a huge size, the meal was decent enough to fill you up and contained a salad, bread, dressing, dessert, and the main meal.  Breakfast is served on the outbound while dinner is served on the return.  You could order as many drinks as you wanted, but the serving size was small.  The only negative of the service was that for the 3hr+ flight, this was the only time drinks were served.  It would've been better had copy come around with drinks again or even just with water.  Once the meal and drinks had been served, and meal trays cleared, the flight was uneventful.  It is left up to the passenger to pass the time as they see fit.

We landed in Panama early, all of our flights seemed to land early, but it took a while to taxi to the gate and wait for an open gate (this seemed to happen a lot in Panama - Copa's growth seems to have outpaced the capacity of Tocumen).  I originally had about 1.5 hour layover, but given the delay in taxing and the given how early Copa likes to board, I went directly to my gate (even though Tocumen is not that big and you can access food really easily).  My next flight was to San Jose, Costa Rica and this was operated by a new Boeing 737-700 with mood lighting and PTV's on each seat.  The PTVs had a decent selection of movies and TV shows, not great but decent enough to keep you occupied for at least 3-4 hours.  The flight time to San Jose was only 1hour, so due to the short duration the meal and drinks service commenced as soon as we reached cruising altitude.  On the return flight, the service was the same but the operating aircraft was different - this time it was an Embraer 190.

Overall, Copa is a decent airline.  They provide discount tickets which includes a complimentary meal, two free checked bags, free seat selection, a nice seat, and a comfortable experience.  They are not into a lot of frills and extra amenities, but have consistently provided a good service at low prices.

A Trip Report: Copa Airlines, Orlando to Panama (January 2015)

A Trip Report: Copa Airlines, Orlando to Panama City
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I have flown Copa Airlines twice – once in 2010 and again more recently in December 2014.  In between there have been some differences between the flights but the basic concept remains: Copa charges a lot less than its competitors so for a lower price you get a lower quality product. The question is – is the lower quality product worth it, especially on long-haul vs short-haul?  Hopefully my review will help you with that.

The two times I booked my flights it was never through the Copa website; it was always through a third-party website (orbitz or expedia).  That is because either their website never worked all the time, sometimes I would get ‘system down’ messages, while other times the airline did not match with their alliance partners on their website.  After I had booked my travel on another site, I always went to Copa to ensure my information was correct and there I could change my seats and add my FF#’s but again sometimes the site worked and sometimes it did not.

The first time I flew Copa was in December 2010 from Washington, D.C. to Buenos Aires via Panama City and all segments were flown by Copa.  The first segment, from IAD to PTY, was a 5-hour flight on an older Boeing 737 (looked like a Continental Airlines hand-me-down).  A meal was served but there was no in-flight entertainment so while it was a not a great flight, it was decent for a short-haul.  The second flight was a much longer 8-hour flight from PTY to EZE flown again on an older plane that did not have a lot of leg room, a meal served, and no in-flight entertainment.  I was not overly impressed with the planes, the seat quality (which were poor), the meal quality, nor with the in-flight service.  Nothing was bad, but nothing was good either but could I really complain?  Copa beat out their competitors in terms of price by at least $200 so for a lower price how much can you expect?!  A decent plane with decent service and a low price is what Copa offered and delivered on that.  The only bad thing was that I could not earn any FF miles – Copa was a mileage earner with Continental and at that time Continental was part of SkyTeam but Copa itself was not part of SkyTeam so you could not earn miles on any SkyTeam member.

Things were a bit the same but a little different when I flew Copa again in December 2014 from Houston to Panama City via Orlando.  Copa does not fly directly to Houston, which to me is strange because they have a large Latin-American population, but I guess the Houston to PTY route was reserved for Continental and now for United.  The route that was most cost-efficient, again by at least $150 compared to their competitors, was IAH to MCO via United connecting to Copa to fly MCO to PTY.  As Copa is now a member of Star Alliance, they can partner with Star Alliance members for easy connections as well as mileage accrual. 

From IAH to MCO, I flew on a new United Boeing 737 with updated seats and interior lighting; there were no IFE’s but the plane was decent.  From MCO to PTY, I flew on a new Copa Boeing 737 that had new seats, interior Boeing lighting, as well as personal IFE (free to use).  The odd thing was the United and Copa plane were the exact same plane with the only difference that Copa had installed IFE’s (they are in the process of installing them so some planes have them and some do not).  This 3-hour Copa flight was a lot better than the flight I took in 2010 mainly because of the seat quality – the new seats were more comfortable and definitely more bearable to sit on.  The addition of the IFE was a nice touch – the IFE was not very extensive but was sufficient for a 3-5 hour flight as it had about 10 TV show episodes as well as about 4 movies (updated movies as well).  The airline passed out free headphones to all passengers so that they could use the IFE.  The also had a USB port to help with charging electronic devices.  A light meal service was provided and again the in-flight service was decent with a definite improvement in the quality of service from 4 years prior.

The return was the complete opposite as from PTY to MCO it was an older Copa plane that did not have any IFE or other entertainment in the plane.  A light meal was served and service was decent once in the air (we sat in the plane on the ground for about 2 hours before we took off; the captain made the announcement only after an hour of waiting).  Even though it was an older plane, the seats were comfortable enough for the 3 hour flight.  From MCO to IAH, I flew on an updated United plane with updated seats and IFE (that you had to pay for).  The seat pitch was rather tight so the 1hr 40min flight felt longer (and the service was on the lower side of average with the flight attendants barely caring). 

Overall, there is a definite marked improvement of Copa Airlines from 2010 to 2014.  The product is being updated and, more importantly, the service is being updated to a better quality.  The hub of Copa is Tocumen International Airport which is located about 30 minutes outside of the city center – and this has also had an upgrade within the last 4 years with better services for the passengers (more improvements are still needed).  The improvements are welcomed but overall the planes, the seat comfort, and the service are great for short-haul but I am not sure they are good or comfortable for anything long-haul.  With Copa, you get a basic service for a basic price.