nothing very bad to say about the place, nor anything very good. it was okay for the price. only complaint about the room was that the windows wouldn't secure very well at all. the staff didn't consider that a problem because we were on a street and on the second floor, but we didn't feel good about that anyway, to the point where we blocked the doors so that anyone entering in the night would have made a lot of noise and awakened us. the high point: breakfast. good selection, good quality, all you can eat, and fresh!

We spent our first and last nights in Panama in this hotel, the room was cheap and clean enough, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend the whole 9 days there. This is not the type of hotel you hang out by the pool, it's a good cheap home base if you plan on spending most of your time exploring the city. Some pluses were an excellent AC unit, free internet access, free breakfast and a 24 hour diner downstairs. Some minuses, the place is a little run down and nothing of interest within walking distance. The front desk was helpful arranging transportation to Colon and spoke enough English. One final tip, get the seafood soup in the diner, it is awesome.

We arrived in Panama with no reservations and no Spanish. Picked Roma from a tourist guide at the airport because it was a median priced room. Far away from the airport, it was an expensive cab ride. Front desk spoke limited English, weasked for the room rate advertised in the guide. The room we got was no bigger than a closet and had no windows at all. The next day we "upgraded" to a slightly more expensive room, which for $10 more was actually quite nice, had big windows and even an mini-fridge. We have seen more than one review indicating this same situation, so we can only conclude this is the hotel's policy. Roma does have a fairly nice 24 hour cafe on the main floor, and a pool on the roof. If you are looking for a cheap, clean no-frills place to stay, go across Calle 33 from the Roma and stay at the "backpacker hotel" Vista Mar for $25 a night. We were at Vista Mar for a month and found it to be quite satisfactory for the price.