Sofitel Luang Prabang
Mar 9, 2016 | 4:45 pm
Hotel De La Paix Luang Prabang Managed by Accor
Manomai St, Ban Mano Luang Prabang, LA 0600
Review Sofitel Luang Prabang (47 Photos)
Hotel De La Paix Luang Prabang Managed by Accor
Sofitel Luang Prabang has only 25 rooms in an historical place built around 1900. It was the former residence of the French governor of LP and was transformed into a hotel in 2010 (Hotel de la Paix), before the takeover by Accor in 2015. Note that the former name is not used anymore but the tuk-tuk drivers still know it under this name.
The Sofitel is not located in the heart of downtown, but it is not very far (it is feasible by walking but about 2 km). But it’s not really an inconvenient as the hotel kindly provides complimentary car service on demand to/from downtown (they drop you anywhere you want). The hotel area is very quiet, which is certainly an advantage compared to 3 Nagas.
The hotel is splendid, with rooms all around a beautiful garden and a nice pool (nice but cold!). You can appreciate the beauty of the hotel on the pictures below.
The reception/front desk:
The spa and fitness room:
The garden, room, restaurant and pool area:
There is no lounge of course with such a small scale operation, but there is a small pleasant inner library/bar. They do serve complimentary delicious fruit juices end afternoon.
Room
Here's my room:
Overall
The staff (French and Lao) was very nice.
The restaurant was very good.
On the negative/to-be-improved aspects, I will mention 2 things that they need to address IMHO:
- slippers: the slippers provided in room were not as usual in all Accor hotels I satyed in, i.e. new, wrapped in plastic. They were re-used slippers. No, I’m not kidding. I suppose they are cleaned between stays, at least I hope!! but, for one pair, it was obvious that they were not new. I know it is quite common in hotels in Asia, but this is clearly the 1st time I see that at Accor and especially in a Sofitel. The staff looked a bit surprised when I mentioned that, but guess what, the following day, I had new wrapped slippers put in the room! But when you think that this hotel charges something like $250+/night…
- drink voucher: only valid for soft drinks!! 1st time also in a Sofitel. I mentioned to the staff that it was certainly not up to Sofitel rules book. The staff looked clueless about this too.
Overall, an excellent stay in this Sofitel. Looking at both hotels, it started not too good at 3 Nagas but I certainly don’t have to complain about the Platinum treatment I received, but they need to address the issues I described. I want also to say that, despite the issues I described, you shouldn’t hesitate to book at 3 Nagas, because it is a nice boutique hotel, but providing of course they fix the issues.
Mar 9, 2016 | 5:54 pm
It is interesting that the staff at breakfast offered you to switch to the Sofitel even before you mentioned anything - did you find out why?
Feb 21, 2017 | 12:54 am
There is also a cooking school at the hotel that friends of mine attended. If you do plan on staying here, I'd recommend to split the stay and spend some time in town for the atmoshpere...
Feb 21, 2017 | 7:12 am
There is also a cooking school at the hotel that friends of mine attended. If you do plan on staying here, I'd recommend to split the stay and spend some time in town for the atmoshpere...
Feb 22, 2017 | 2:40 am
May 1, 2017 | 7:40 pm
Made a prepaid reservation for 3 Nagas MGallery by Sofitel. Shortly after I was offered an upgrade to Sofitel Luang Prabang as a Le club Accor Platinum. 3 Nagas MGallery by Sofitel and Sofitel Luang Prabang have the same management group. Apparently, 3 Nagas sells out frequently because of the preferred location and overflows to Sofitel.
Sofitel Luang Prabang is a beautiful property, the downside being that it is a good distance away from the city center necessitating hotel courtesy car or tuk-tuk. 3 Nagas is located in the middle of city easy walking to everything. Depending on your needs, this may not be an upgrade.
Accepted the upgrade and along with the confirmation, received info that the hotel provided courtesy airport transfers and I provided flight arrival info. On arrival, no transfers were provided and we traveled in a crowded taxi van, though the hotel provided a good recovery.
At Sofitel check out, I requested a copy of my hotel folio from the front desk knowing Le Club Accor often requires point posting follow up. In this case, the points did not post automatically from the stay and I came to find that the staff had provided me with a copy of someone else's folio.
In my Le club Accor account, my original reservation shows cancelled. Might explain the lack of transfers. I did stay at the hotel and have an additional folio that was for some drinks on premise.
The most annoying problem is that lack of response from the hotel staff to several notes from Le Club Accor representatives and myself asking them to correct and properly post points.
Sad that an otherwise pretty good stay has been marred by dismal hotel response and follow up.
May 2, 2017 | 2:18 am
May 4, 2017 | 12:59 am
I would not recommend staying only at the Sofitel, at least split your time. There are also very good independent hotels in LPB that are much cheaper than the 3Nagas and very nice...
oh, and I did have the same problem with points not posting afterwards - took a few emails back and forth to resolve...
May 4, 2017 | 7:17 am
You mention that it took a few emails back and forth to get the points. Were you able to get them to respond? No response or acknowledgement of my or Le club Accor representatives follow up emails.