Originally Posted by EcotoneHR

I just got back from Vietnam and this was my least favourite hotel of the 3 I've stayed at (the other two being MGallery in Hoi An and Pullman in Da Nang, which were both incredible). That is not to say that it's not a great hotel, it obviously is, but I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. A lot of it has to do with the service. After my experiences at Sofitel and SO/ hotels for the past few years, I should have known not to expect much. In my opinion and in my experience, they are quite full of themselves and know they don't need to impress you or try to win you over because they know they will always have other guests. But because of the "Legend" part in the name of this hotel, I thought this one might be different. It wasn't.

I had two stays in 2 weeks: the first was 5 nights and the second was 1 night only before I went home.

First of all, yes, the hotel is really beautiful. I loved the beautiful room, the courtyard, the pool, the bunker tour, the bars, the breakfast... All of that is a given. What I found lacking was the service, especially the loyalty treatment. I thought a Diamond status would mean something in such an iconic hotel. But it really didn't.

- A 1-category upgrade is clearly stated in T&Cs, I know, but it wouldn't kill them to go the extra mile for Diamond members. Especially if I have two bookings in two weeks.
- The welcome amenity is really underwhelming. Two small pieces of banana bread, two macarons, some pralines and dried fruit. No sparkling wine, no champagne. Poor for such a hotel, in my opinion.
- Welcome drink: Diamonds should really be able to order anything and not be limited by the welcome drink menu, which is the same for everyone from Silver to Diamond. And it's quite a short list.


The hotel didn't contact me prior to my arrival, which I thought was weird. They didn't offer me airport transfer or anything.

As for the room, I was upgraded to a Grand Premium Room. Before the first stay, I checked in online and asked for a quiet room facing the inner courtyard/pool and got it. But for the second stay I didn't check in online and was given a room facing the street. I then asked them for a room with a courtyard/pool view, but there were none available so they gave me a room facing a wall. No view whatsoever, but at least it was quiet. However, it shows that they didn't check my preferences in my profile or made a note of what kind of room I had asked for the first time. Basically it shows that they don't give a damn.

I can only echo starflyergold's sentiments about the lounge. I was there for 5 nights and every single day I had to provide my room number whenever I entered the lounge (and sometimes I did it 3 times a day). The cocktail hour was really disappointing. First of all, the food was the same every night and there were no hot options, just cold cuts and the like. I really expected much more from a Sofitel Legend. Once an hour they would bring small food samples from the Angelina restaurant, which made it seem like they were trying to steer the guests away from the lounge and toward the restaurant. Fair enough, but it really made the lounge underwhelming. Also, the cocktail menu is really short. The afternoon tea was the best, with a nice selection of sandwiches and pastries. But again – it’s the same every day. I didn’t really see any effort put into this lounge.

By the way, speaking of the Angelina food samples, one evening, as the waiter was handing them out to guests, he completely ignored us. Twice! He simply approached other tables and walked past ours as if we didn’t exist. I finally had to complain and he didn’t even apologise, but, thankfully, he did come to our table with the following tray. Unbelievable.

But the most surreal part was the following. As we were going on a day trip to Ha Long Bay, I thought I’d ask the receptionists in the Lounge if we could borrow two towels for a day. I thought it was such a benign request and that it would be a non-issue, however, I was flat out refused by a very curt receptionist. “No, we don’t do that.” I was completely shocked by her attitude. And then it turned into this whole thing where a butler said that they don’t do it, but that he would ask his supervisor for a permission. Which he got, of course. But they all acted as if we were going to steal the towels, they told us repeatedly that we had to return them, it was really surreal. The butler brought us the towels, but asked us that we “please please please return them to the reception” (I guess just leaving them in the room wouldn’t have been enough). We are talking about borrowing two towels for a day, for Christ’s sake. The whole thing really shocked me and afterwards everyone on the staff, including bellboys (!), kept asking us how our trip to Ha Long Bay went, even when we returned from the Da Nang 8 days later, which was really embarrassing. I know they were just trying to be friendly, but it made me feel that this thing was now entered into my profile and would haunt me forever. Bizarre, to say the least.

Both times at check-out nobody asked me if I had enjoyed my stay and they didn’t send the email survey afterwards either. Another sign that they really don’t care.

Oh, and they posted an incorrect amount of points, 5 days later (usually it takes two).

I personally wouldn’t return. I’m more of an MGallery guy anyway.