Although we only stayed here one night, prior to boarding our ship for our Caribbean cruise, it was certainly a luxury one night stay. The room was spectacularly situated, on the 20th floor, with a balcony overlooking the water and infinity pool area. Elevators were a little slow, because this is a hotel with over 50 stories. The room had very nice toiletries and amenities, and had a generous amount of space around the king size bed.fairly soundproof room, too. Breakfast buffet was very good, and we ate alfresco, both for breakfast, and at Masi, the restaurant in the hotel, which was very good for our alfresco dinner.

The JW Marriot in Panama definitely has nice curb appeal. The rooms were nice enough and the staff was friendly. The breakfast buffet was also nice.

PROS:
-The breakfast buffet was great with quite a bit of choices if you do not have food allergies. I do have Celiac disease which makes me allergic to Gluten which made eating a little difficult. I was able to have the omelet bar and they always had some sort of potato. If you are sensitive to cross contamination, I would be certain to ask the hotel prior to booking about how they guard/protect against this. I would also recommend paying ahead for this as you got a discount for paying ahead. I think typically the breakfast is around $25 but with the discount/prepaying it was about $17.
-The pool area is great with very pretty views. It does seem like one of the places you need to get to early if you are interested in getting a seat— they fill up quickly.
-The location also was great. There is a grocery store (Super 99) that is about a 5 minute walk. Prices here seem very reasonable. I would recommend purchasing alcohol at this grocery store as the alcohol at the hotel is pretty pricey (I.e., glass of Prosecco is $15, glass of wine $17). We found a bottle of vodka for $7 at the grocery store, white claw per can was $1.20). There also is a very small fridge in the hotel room which was convenient as well.
-The rooftop bar in the casino (Panaviera) was incredible. I would definitely recommend getting a cocktail and see the views of the city from this spot.
-The staff also went above and beyond to ensure that my mother had a happy 60th birthday. They made sure to have a cake and card in her room prior to her arrival -- something that we all really appreciated.

CONS:
Complaints I have about this hotel stem predominately from the elevator system. This hotel is very big (upwards of 66 floors) so waiting for an elevator makes a little sense. However, I found myself waiting at LEAST 5-10 minutes each time I needed to use the elevator. Even simply going down a few floors took an incredibly long time. I asked staff multiple times where the stairs were as I have no issue walking, however each time I was told there are not stairs available for guests unless it is an emergency (I.e., fire in the building).

Additionally, if there are more than 5 people in the elevator it is “overloaded” so people have to get out and wait for the next one. There are 4 elevators in the building to get up to the hotel rooms, however it seemed like only 2 worked throughout my 5 day stay. People started getting frustrated waiting so they would cut the “line” and go into an elevator before people who had been waiting much longer—there is no system/ staff members there to guide guests to the available elevator in the most fair way which led to chaos and irritation.

Architecturally impressive hotel with modern amenities, adjoined with the Ocean Club in a bustling area of Panama City. Very close to many attractions. Close walk to nice supermarket and some restaurants, although very cheap Ubers make that an easy option as well. Great views, would suggest facing north to get water and city view (only get water view in the other direction, both classified as partial ocean view since there are tall buildings bordering both sides of the hotel). Room service was outstanding.