Unterwegs

IC Nha Trang, Vietnam

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Overall Yes. Since the hotel is new and still in soft opening I am writing a bit more details, so it possibly sounds more negative than it should.

How is the hotel?
New building on the main beach road in Nha Trang where all the other big hotels are (Novotel, Best Western, Sheraton, Sunrise). The hotel has two towers, one with apartments and one with room. Lobby is one level above street level in the back. Swimming pool is one level above the lobby between the two towers).
The rooms facin the ocean (and main road), the rooms facing the second tower have not much of a view, the rooms facing the Sheraton have a better view, these are on an 45 degree angle to the ocean.
The hotel has their own beach area with attendants and 20 umbrellas.
The hotel is not completely open yet. Club, Spa, Ballroom etc are supposed to open before the end of the year.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked cheapest, first got upgraded to a King Suite. Good size, around 75 sqm with separate living room, 1 1/2 bath, 2 baconies. Nice.
After mentioning that we are disappointed about the view (seems that all King Suites are facing the appartment tower) they showed us several other rooms. We settled for a King Executive Suite for a small extra amount.
These are around 100 sqm, bedroom with work area and full height windows on two sides with a perfect 180 degree view of the bay. Bathroom also has 2 big windiws with the same view, additional living room. Very nicely appointed. Loved the room.


How is the exec. lounge?
Not open yet. It seems that they upgrade RA's also to Club. Instead of club we got breakfast in the main restaurant, all day non alcoloic drinks, high tea and happy hour in the lobby bar.
Also two pieces of laundry per day.


Did you receive a welcome gift?

A french made (as Vietnam wouel not have some nice local gifts) paper notebook, 2 bottles of mineral water and a small fruit plate (both not replentished)


How was the minibar?

Average, with some larger bottles of alcohol (100 cc).
Negative is the piece of furniture they put the minimar in. It is faar too big, almost blocks the entryway to the living room, is not very functional and plainly ugly for my taste.

What was good and what was bad?

Good

- Everybody there is extremely friendly and helpful, but some people still need a lot of training. They are much better than other hotels in that area (Da Nang more than a year after opening was much worse).
- Nicely appointed big rooms
- They all tried really hard to deliver good service
- Location right in the center of Nha Trang
- View


Bad

- Food in general.
- Breakfast layout is very strange. Bread hidden away in one corner, cold cuts at the other end.
- Food selection and quality: Vietnam has really nice baguettes - they only had some stale rolls which tasted a week old and a few bread selections. Cheeses where of the basic cheap type, same for cold cuts. Vietnam has such nice patees and pork cakes. None here. Vietnamese sandwiches are great. The Sheraton next door has a sandwich station. Saigon has premade. Nothing here. Vietnam.
- They serve changing noodle soups for breakfast. They are missing out on the key ingredients, the result is a pretty bland beef broth nowhere near to what the real thing is

- Happy hour: some relatively good little cakes and some stale rolls with some piece of ham and cheese and a few other low quality relatively tasteless items. Same for high tea.

- Dinner Buffet: nice selection of food, pick your fish, turn it in, tell them where you are sitting, the prepare it and deliver it to some other table. Serve was completely messed up, but they were very apologetic and tried their best, but they just did not have the processes worked out.

- Security and lobby layout: The have the main lobby one floor above the street level and a small side lobby at street level. When you have a car pick you up you never know where their security allows them to go. We waited once 15 min for our car at the main lobby, security did not let him go there and sent him even away. The driver finally called, we had the hotel contact security to let the car up.


Value for $ or Priority Club Points?

We booked their opening rate, very good value. Even with the extra payment for the larger lounge value was great.

Would you return?

Yes, hoping that the club lounge will be open next time and they provide breakfast / happy hour and high tea at a similar level as the IC Saigon.