The location was great as it was right on Hai Ba Trung. The neighborhood is very walkable and there are tons of cute cafes, shops, etc. The staff was so kind, helpful and sweet! Minh, Long, Elliot and everyone else were so wonderful! The following points are why I would give it 3 stars:
-rooms are a decent size but we've stayed at other 4-5 stars (Vinpearl for example) and they're way nicer and bigger
-shampoo but no conditioner
-no lotion
-free water bottles but sodas in mini fridge are extra charge
-air conditioning only goes to 16C
-hallways are very humid and hot
-breakfast hotels are lacking compared to other hotels in Saigon. Same food every day and not a wide selection of Vietnamese food that we are used to from other hotels. Only options were beef or chicken pho. I wish were was vinamilk or Vietnamese iced coffee (all other hotels in VN I've been to serve these two basic items). Not even plain congee to eat with salted duck egg like the other hotels.
-hotel was stingy with staff. The same poor employee serving the pho bar was also the same person needing to bus the tables so I would feel bad they were overworked.
-no turn down service
-no snacks
-flip flops in rooms are re-used (not new for guests). I'm all for sustainability but they weren't even cleaned between guests. I washed them myself in the shower to use.
-very walkable neighborhood and close to Tan Dinh church and market.
-no concierge. Sometimes they had 1 bellman and 1 receptionist and they did multiple roles. So when there's a rush of guests, the poor receptionist had to do everything for everyone.
The police randomly came to do their checks or whatever which I thought was incredibly rude because it was around 11pm. We were a room full of women and they'd demand that the hotel staff walk them to each room to check our passports. The hotel already did their jobs and took note of our passports upon arrival. This is not the hotel's fault. It's the cops that do that and that's wrong. It's rude to the guests and not every guest is present in their room at that time. The hotel staff apologized many times and I told them it's ok, it's not their fault.
I will reiterate how lovely the staff was. They definitely made our experience a great one! Just one staff member made us feel a bit off but otherwise everyone was great. Thanks so much!
