We're on the last day of our latest stay here, been coming here since it opened, although a bit less often since we moved back to the US.
This stay didnt disappoint, but I would caution anyone that there is some pretty significant construction in the pool area. The pool is open, but there is noise emanating from the construction area right above the property wall at the end of the pool. It's pretty loud and most of the day. We dont really care and probably wouldnt have changed our trip, but it is more significant than anything I have been lead to beleive. If you want quiet (well not total quiet bc you are still going to hear the HCMC horns,etc!), you may want to call and ask whether that work is still ongoing. In addition, I was told the construction on the other end of the pool (near the spa) would be done by Nov 20 (and we adjusted travel partially based on that) but the spa is still a mess. They are months off schedule on that work. The spa is open, my wife is in there now, so I will update with info on how much this unfinished work impacted her enjoyment of the spa.
A few other comments:
(1) the proficiency of English at the hotel is now pretty high, including a much larger group of staff (all the housekeeping staff now speak English very well for example). Thinking back to our first visit here 9 years ago, it is nothing short of amazing, as then we had challenges with some basic requests with the front of the house staff downstairs.
(2) It's not just english skills, overall the staff have continued to up their game. I really enjoy the quality and type of service here. We checked in at 7pm, and by 8 we were sitting at Square One, with our kids in the room with a baby sitter (from housekeeping). We hadn't planned this, but asked and voila, it was all sorted in a matter of minutes. Same thing for dinner last night, baby sitting and dinner reservation at Cuc Gach Quan all arranged very quickly.
(3) best in house baby sitting in the world ;-) No kidding. The housekeeping staff has a number of young moms who are happy to sit, we have three under 6 and have found 2 women who have been amazing with our kids, and very affordable.
(4) food remains good, Square One still strikes me as over priced for what you get. Breakfast remains one of the best, love the vietnamese options.
(5) The hotel is still in decent shape, but has taken a beating over the last decade. I'm interested to see what they do to it in the renovation process. I could see them re-doing some trim work, etc that has chipped or worn.