Located near the myriad corporate offices of Panama City’s Santa Maria and Costa del Este areas, the Santa Maria, a Luxury Collection Hotel & Golf Resort is ideally situated to cater to the scores of business travelers who make their way through the country known as the “Crossroads of the World.”
But the developers of the 182-room property, which held its grand opening celebration last month, envision guests doing more than holding breakout sessions amid its 18,000 square feet of meetings and event space or enjoying a few rounds at the Nicklaus Design 18-hole, par-72 golf course.
Indeed, Bristol Hospitality Group is billing the property, the sixth Central/South American property under Marriott’s Luxury Collection and the first in Panama, as an “urban oasis” as well as a “destination authority” hotel. Last month, as a hosted guest of the Santa Maria, I experienced what both of those terms meant.
This was my third visit to Panama City, and I was immediately struck by one major difference: the short ride from the airport. In a city where morning “rush hour” is a gross understatement of the daily, hours-long gridlock that appears to kick off sometime before 7, the Santa Maria’s location about 7 miles east of downtown means it’s located away from the worst of it, and a mere 15 minutes or so from Tocumen Airport. So in less than a quarter-hour we were pulling up to the Santa Maria development, where the hotel is adjacent to residential towers, the golf course and not much else. I was starting to understand the “urban oasis” aspect of the hotel.
The lobby, meanwhile, offered a few hints at the “destination authority” aspect. No nondescript check-in area, the tribal masks and handwoven baskets on display and wood accents made of indigenous timbers dredged from nearby Gatun Lake immediately offered a sense of place.