HadesNL

Haha true, for that upmark it must even included the famous person him/herself i wonder though if upsells are possible or if they stick to the published rackrate....... Thanks in advance for your effort and time

kay sedia

We stayed last January as a platinum member, booked the cheapest room and was upgraded to luxury club room which was really beautiful. The club lounge was amazing for cocktails during happy hour and although we had an early flight and missed breakfast, they sent boxed breakfast/lunch for us to bring to the airport. Also lovely chocolate truffles, macaroons, and fruit in the room on arrival. I would love to return and spend a few days there.

FGunawan

On my way back from Hanoi. As I mentioned before, we booked Grand Luxury Room at the Historical Wing. They tried to upgrade us to the Grand Premium Room at the Opera Wing but we preferred to stay at the Historical Wing (that's where all the historical events unfolded after all!) So they just gave us that Grand Luxury Room, no upgrade. I quite expected that so no problem

You are going to enjoy your stay at the Metropole. Some staff are very courteous and some are quite the snooty types. Never rude though. And all are helpful. Don't ever tell taxi drivers to drive you to "Sofitel Metropole" - they would think you're trying to get to Sofitel Plaza Hanoi. Just tell them to drive you to the Metropole hotel.

Could you tell me your experience later with upsell? We forgot to try that.

gilbertaue

Thanks for the update Pak!

Different point note: UBER is really cheap and useful in Vietnam.

jimig

Just spent a night here in the Opera Wing. Fantastic service all round. I'm grinning like a Cheshire Cat after a triple upgrade to suite. Probably the nicest room I've ever stayed in.

Had dinner and breakfast in Le Beaulieu restaurant. Again great service and excellent food. Highly recommended!

Sohan

Has anyone checked in without the Le Accor Club card? I was emailing with the hotel and I got a reply saying:

I've stayed a lot with many Sofitels this year and not one has asked to actually see my card so far (I don't even have it). So this is quiet worrying to me.

starflyergold

Utter nonsense, the physical card (except Platinum) will vanish soon enough anyway. The electronic version in the app should be more than enough.

gilbertaue

Exactly. And if they still think it is, they may have not received the AccorHotels memo to hotels more than 6 months ago stating that they should encourage guests to go for the app and use the card from there.

Annalisa12

I love the Metropole. I stayed in the Opera Wing in a Prestige Suite i think it was. I probably would of preferred the Historical wing but I don't really think I knew the difference before booking. I did enjoy looking around there as well as viewing the photos along the walls of the Historical wing. We did a tour of the underground bunker which was interesting.

I thought the staff were fabulous. They were pleasant and helpful but unobtrusive. I enjoyed sitting in the pool bar, just reading, on a hot afternoon.

I am not an Accor member.

Goldorak

It is indeed a truly fabulous hotel. But first time I hear about this bunker ! I hope I will return

HanoiIG

My wife and I first visited Hà Nội in 1994. We had been booked into a local hotel but my wife couldn't stand it for many reasons. We took a cyclo and tried a bunch of places from a guidebook but they were hardly as described. When we tried the Metropole it was $175(!)++ per night which was way more than we had ever spent before but my wife begged and we did it. Of course there was no Opera Wing at the time so we were in the old part which had been recently redone. Of course we were shocked by the service and the restaurant Le Beaulieu which was amazingly cheap for the quality.

We returned for stays in 1998, 2000 and 2003 and the price had gone way down thanks to the appearance of several more 5 star hotels(Daewoo, Melia,Nikko).

My wife got a job teaching in Hanoi in 2005 and we wound up in the sister hotel, Sofitel Plaza, that had serviced apartments. After living there for two years and talking them into giving Sofitel points, we became sort of branded to the chain. Since I learned Vietnamese and spent a lot of time bonding with staff, we became VIPS and returned every year, sometimes twice for stays ranging from a week to a month. The GM and his crew always gave us a special rate with automatic upgrades including Club Floor. Sadly, the hotel is rebranded as Pan Pacific so our next stay is probably going to be changed to Metropole who have offered us a good deal. This is not because of our Accor Platinum as much as references from GMs of other Sofitels and my correspondence in Vietnamese.

On our first couple of trips we became friends with the F & B director and kept it up when he opened a restaurant that we frequented during our two years living in the city. He then became GM and now is on the board of the M Gallery Hotel de L'Opera where we had a nice stay some years ago. We are likely to spend part of our upcoming stay over there as the staff are extremely friendly and indulge my desire to speak the language.

As for the Metropole, it is the hotel of record and has a great location. I have found in the past that some of the staff are a bit snooty and insist on answering in English to questions posed in Vietnamese, despite my reminding them that my Vietnamese may just be better than their English.

The crew at Le Beaulieu are all wonderful and so is the food, though they have learned how to charge now. We have dined there often over the years so are still recognized which is always nice.

We are looking forward to our stay at this grande dame. It is the only Sofitel Legend we have experienced among our 25 or so Sofitels.

Accor's Le Club program is not so wonderful but you do receive a welcome drink, an upgrade depending on a lot of factors(we once got the Presidential Suite in New York but we do stay there 4-6 times a year) and earn points towards 40E vouchers which used to translate to $60US but now it's about $44.

Assuming most people are only visiting Hanoi once and don't have a lot of friends there, I wouldn't advise staying anywhere but the Metropole!

Annalisa12

Google Metropole air raid shelter. Lots of info.

Goldorak

I did. Thank you. Very interesting. And now I know why I didn't know about it. It is because my stays in this wonderful hotel were prior to the discovery of this bunker (2011).

FGunawan

Just stayed again at the Metropole August 13-14. This time they really made a fuss of me, a bit much but I can't say I didn't enjoy it The front office manager was waiting at the door when our taxi pulled up. He greeted me by name and stayed with us, making small talk with my friend and me during the entire check in process. That's certainly a very warm welcome.

I had reserved for us the basic Premium Room at the Opera Wing, and ended up upgraded to the second room type (Grand Luxury Room) at the Historical Wing (my preferred wing). Not sure whether to think of this as a single, double or triple upgrade but I'd think from price point this constitutes a double upgrade. Everything was ready when we walked into the room, and this time around the stay was very nice. Didn't run across any single one of the "curated" snooty staff, like my stay back in December

Sohan

Recently stayed there and was VERY happy with the hotel. Great experience checking in and staff were very friendly. They didn't ask to see my accor card at check in (not sure why they made a fuss over that by email) and got upgraded from a base room to a big suite!

Left a day early and the butler came to the room to handle the check out and help us with our bags.

Will definitely revisit in the future!