Boquete Hotels

Isla Verde: DON'T STAY HERE! THERE'S A THIEF HERE!

Although this is a very nice hotel, there is something extremely "fishy" going on there! My family and I were in Panama for two weeks because I'm applying for my Pensionado Visa. We had brought a lot of cash with us to open a bank account and to pay 6 months of rent in advance on the house we intend to occupy when we return in December ($4,000.00 to be exact). We arrived on Sunday, the 18th of July, and Sabine, the manager (she's also the owner's daughter), quickly checked us in and seemed very professional and efficient. We were pleased when we saw our accommodations, and as we were just settling in, Sabine came to our door and asked if we wanted to rent the "hidden" safe in our room (it's located in the closet!). She said for a $40.00 deposit, she would give us the ONLY key, but we'd better not lose it or she'd have to keep our deposit to "buy a new safe." (In fact, the literature they leave in the room says the same thing.) Of course, I quickly agreed since I wanted to keep our money in a "secure" location. Sabine went to the office and quickly returned with what she once again referred to as the "only key," took my $40.00, and handed me the key. As soon as she left, I placed the $4,000.00 into the safe and locked it. I put the key in my pocket and it remained with me as I my family and I went to lunch and dinner and explored the town. We soon discovered that very few restaurants in Boquete take credit cards, so on Monday morning, BEFORE THE MAID HAD EVEN COME INTO OUR ROOM TO CLEAN, I opened the safe and discovered that $500.00 was missing! Since I knew the safe had been locked, and I supposedly had the "only" key, and no one else had been in the room (as far as I knew) I convinced myself that the money had actually been stolen in David or Coronado, the two cities where we had stayed the previous two nights while we were on the way to Boquete, and that I must have miscounted the night before. With no way to know for sure what had happened, I simply "wrote off" the loss and tried to get on with my vacation. I removed another $500.00 from the safe (leaving $3000.00), which I used during the next four days to buy food and some soccer balls and other items for the children at Casa Esperanza, a local school for underprivileged children which we visited. (Our intention is to open a much needed orphanage in or around Boquete, and the people at Casa Esperanza are eager to help because they know the need first-hand. The money that was stolen from us was actually stolen from the orphans we intend to help!!) Because of the loss we'd suffered, I opened the safe EVERY MORNING and counted the remaining money; I never removed any more money for our use. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I found the $3,000.00 just as I'd left it. On Friday, however, I found only $2,500.00!!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I even had my wife double check, but sure enough, ANOTHER $500.00 was missing!! I sent one of my boys to the office to get Sabine. She followed my son back to the room and my wife and I told her what had happened. She was very non-concerned (to say the least), and her only offer was to "move the master key to another location (in her house)! " When I said: "Are you telling me there's another key?," she responded sarcastically "Of course! We must keep a key in case a client loses theirs so we can open the safe to remove the screws in the back in order to replace the safe." I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I told Sabine in no uncertain terms that if I had known there was another key, I NEVER would have used the "safe," ESPECIALLY if I knew she kept the master room key WITH the master safe key together in her home, unsecured, because her home is always filled with her friends, friends of her friends, and the like. (I could hear them "partying" all the time at night while I sat in the gazebo behind her house checking my e-mail on my laptop since the signal doesn't go far enough to reach the rooms.) My wife and I filed a formal police report, and when the police came to question Sabine, she refused to translate for them so I could understand what was being said. In addition, she claimed that because she had two dogs in her house, a thief could not have gotten in, but she failed to mention all the above people who she INVITES into her house! (I never claimed anyone "broke into" my room - there was NO EVIDENCE of any lock being tampered with; to the contrary, this was an obvious "inside job," that could only have been perpetrated by someone with access to both keys!) I don't expect that I will ever see that $1,000.00 ever again, but the least I can do is warn other unsuspecting travelers to NOT STAY AT THE ISLE VERDE as long as it is being managed by Sabine, because either she, or one of her friends, or one of her staff is a THIEF, and Sabine doesn't seem to give a damn! BEWARE, and HEED my WARNING, or you WILL be sorry, especially if you use the so-called "safe" in the room!!!! By the way, when I asked Sabine (when she insisted it had to be an unknown "outside" thief who had robbed me) what would be the reason for a thief to take only some of the money rather that all of it, she quickly answered "perhaps the thief thought if he only took SOME of your money, you wouldn't notice." WHO thinks like that? What kind of a thief would CARE whether or not I "noticed?" Only someone who is cunningly clever, I'd say! Think about it: they take some of your money the first day so you'll doubt yourself and think you miscounted or lost it before you got there or whatever, and then they take more money the day before you leave (that you won't notice is missing until the day you do leave), so that you won't have time to file a police report! Cleverly cunning, indeed!!! AVOID THE ISLE VERDE!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Unique Quality: There's a "safe" in each room that is NOT a safe place to put your valuables!