An Oasis in Busy Saigon

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Category: Feedback

Published: Thursday, 14 May 2015 07:19

05th of April 2015

This hotel is a gem...as others have said again and again in the reviews, it's mostly because of the staff and their superior level of service. They were warm, friendly, and willing to help with everything and anything. We enjoyed speaking with them and appreciated the helpfulness and touch of good humor that they brought to every interaction we had. Are there less expensive hotels in Saigon? Yes. Are there hotels with more amenities? Also yes. But to us, this one was the perfect mix of comfort, uniqueness, fabulous location, great service and decent value for the money. A few specific notes to keep in mind:

- As others have indicated, there's no elevator / lift, so be prepared for some stair climbing. We stayed here twice during our trip and were on the 6th floor the second time. It was definitely a climb, and it's also worth noting that it's quite a bit warmer / stuffier up there. I second the recommendation to request a lower floor if these are issues for you.

- In general, we found the room to be spacious and very comfortable, and the bathroom the same. However, if you're expecting everything to be perfectly perfect (like no dripping on the floor every time you take a shower) this is probably not the hotel for you.

- One of our few (very minor) disappointments was that the laundry service was much more expensive than other hotels we stayed, so we didn't end up using it (even though we would have liked to after a muddy trek into the jungle).

- As others may have noted deep in these reviews, one of the best banh mi places in the city is about 4 doors down, and one of our favorite meals in Saigon was to pick up two sandwiches and eat them late at night on our balcony. Yum!

- One of the nicest gestures was that the staff offered us shower facilities right before our long-haul flight so that we could freshen up between our long day wandering the city and getting on a 13-hour flight.

- Re: airport pick-up and drop-off service through the hotel, we used both and recommend them, although at $20 the pick-up service comes at quite a bit of a premium (drop-off is $12, so still a little bit too expensive, but not quite as bad). If you're coming into Vietnam after a very long flight, I think it's worth the $20 not to have to worry about getting a sketchy cab, but if you have your wits about you and can navigate the pre-pay counters in the international terminal, you may want to skip the mark-up.

- Breakfast is good and extremely plentiful, though not out of this world. We tried a number of different things, and found that our favorite breakfast option was pho, which was delivered by a vendor outside of the hotel and was surprisingly delicious!

In short (which this review is not): if you're looking for a comfortable, well-located hotel with charm and personality, where you know you're in very good hands, this is a great choice. We'd come back in a heartbeat.

Autumn Arnold - U.S.A