As requested in a previous thread hereby my findings about the new Park Hyatt in Saigon.
Mrs. Miles and myself arrived quite late at the hotel on Friday because UA had decided to depart HKG more then 1 hour delayed.
But arrival was nice and the hotel welcomed us with open doors and took care of our baggage. We walked into the lobby and this is a nice contemporary space.
The lobby is not your typical marble and stainless sprawl, but a very tasteful design with plank wooden floors, which gives the whole area a very nice feel.
Checking in was quite efficient and the only problem that occurred was that the doorman hadn’t given us a tag for our luggage and thus we had to check which bags were ours before we could move up to the room. The lobby with 3 lifts is easy to find.
We entered our room and accompanied by the lady who registered us. Consequently she pointed out the floor valet who would take care of our needs during our stay.
The rooms are small, but giving the restrictions Hyatt had to work with, we couldn’t blame them. The building is only 9 storeys high. Apart from size the room is good. The bathroom can be entered from 2 sides and a very nice detail is that the cupboard opens to both the room and the bathroom. There is a separate toilet with door in the bathroom and a separate wet room with a small tub, shower and rainshower.
Detailing was nice and there are plenty of amenities, nicely presented, but no famous brands.
The room itself has a high, framed wooden bed and some might find it slightly hard, but it was fine for us. Surprisingly, given the size restrictions Hyatt had to work with, they used conventional televisions and not plasma screens. This does eat a little into the room and plasma would have created some extra space, but they had to stick the minibar somewhere and is is locate under the tv. Channel selection is fine.
The desk is equipped with e very nice swivel chair, much more comfy then what they usually provide. The windows have blind shutters and this adds to the traditional feel of the room. Our view was of the opera house, as requested. The ugly motorbike parking behind the opera house has been turned into an open-air coffee terrace, great job! Apparently plans are advanced to turn the quite ugly car park in front of the hotel into a square and pedestrian zone.
Fruits were provided daily and service to the room was excellent apart from a few slip-ups. The staff is all new to the job and some are still a bit clueless, but as mentioned before; an A+ for effort. Our room valet was quite sure that the last breakfast order was at 9.30, but in arrival in the lobby and consequent check we found out the breakfast was available until 10.30. Breakfast is good with only a limited supply of buffet items, all other items are made fresh for you while you watch, in an open-plan kitchen. This location doubles as an Italian restaurant, which we didn’t try…. There is also a Vietnamese restaurant on the second floor (can someone please report?)
The pool (3rd floor) is in Roman style and has mosaic tiles. Not too big, but sufficient and still pretty quiet, there are not too many outside buildings looking into the pool area. There is an excellent towel service at the pool and if the hotel gets busier, this guy is going to have a tough job to keep that level of service going.
There is also a bar outside, but it is tucked away in the corned and it took me 2 days to actually notice it. It looks like they want to use the lawn for outdoor dining in future. Maybe BBQ style food?
The spa is also on the third floor, just opened and Mrs. Miles and myself got an excellent treatment there. Go and try!
Likewise the gym is good. All the equipment has this new tv-screen-integrated system and there was enough to keep us occupied, but maybe some of you might expect more.
The lobby lounge area is great with a high ceiling and while I had a meeting there Vietnam television was using the space to tape some tv interview.
I didn’t have a chance to check out the suites and the pool rooms are still not ready, but almost. Workers do hang around a lot there, but that is unavoidable I suppose.
I didn’t try the business centre, maybe next time.
Let me know if you have any questions.