drron

Spot on mario.I am here at the moment.So went to ask.No knowledge at executive lounge but at the business centre the answer was-1 room is being renovated now(not sure where),the business centre is next then the executive lounge.Told that all renovations will be finished by the end of the year.

Chapel Hill Guy

Is there a grocery store/supermarket near the Hilton Hanoi or someplace else where one can purchase wine/alcohol? We're taking a Halong Bay cruise and I'd rather take my own wine than pay what I am sure are exorbitant prices on board. TIA.

josep

Any update on Hilton Hanoi Opera?
I'm thinking about using points for a 3 night stay (2 rooms) in about 10 days, I'd book a King Hilton Deluxe room.

My concern: it was mentioned some time ago that they were going to have renovations. Do you know if it is happening and whether the service level is affected?

Also, how good/bad are the standard Deluxe rooms? I won't get any upgrade, I lost my gold status some time ago... :-(

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Heading soon to Vietnam. Can I get some recent comments on this property and their current treatment of Diamonds? I contacted the independent tour agency noted here within FT to arrange for a private ride out to Halong Bay. Note the puppet show. Any other gotta sees while we are at it? Appreciate all comments. Thanks.

Chapel Hill Guy

We spent four nights there in mid-November.

Diamonds treated very well. At check-in in exec lounge, we were offered glasses of passion fruit juice (delicious!).

Lounge has a decent assortment of food for breakfast and evening cocktails, including an assortment of beer, wine, and spirits. There is also an afternoon tea with a variety of tea sandwiches, desserts, etc. Staff are very friendly and accommodating.

ETA:IIRC, if you want eggs other than scrambled, you can order them. We also had breakfast one day in the restaurant, Chez Manon. Huge buffet with many more options than the lounge.

Try Bobby Chinn (1 Ba Trieu) for drinks and tapas if you can. It's walking distance from the Hilton. Sit on one of the couches and order two-three small plates.

http://www.bobbychinn.com/en/home.htm

Old Quarter, St John’s, Ba Da Pagoda, French Quarter, see Ho Chi Minh, then the Temple of Literature.

We absolutely loved Hanoi. Strolling around the lake, getting ice cream at Fanny's, wandering the endless Old Quarter. Great city. Our new favorite in Asia. Enjoy!

RTWSTARALLIANCE

That is excellent information for us as we are express tourists. Thanks.

mario33

Contacted the hotel and apparently no renovated rooms.

I am not too keen on the old / existing decor and will give the Hilton a miss for my upcoming trip to Hanoi.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Just wanted to let you know that I have never ever been so frustrated with inhouse reservations department than at this place. I have had reservations and a couple months ago I was not able to view them online. When I contacted the hotel they finally re-appeared. Then my non-smoke rooms changed to smoking. Now I have an award reservation that needs to be cxld. I called the Diamond Desk and "special services" wasting 30 minutes this morning and was told only the hotel can "touch" aka cancel. Total waste of time. Those desks suggested I can contact the hotel directly. With regret I prepaid at a low rate so I am stuck at the Hilton. The service has been awful and I am not even there yet. They are going to get a spot on review from me. I am bringing my note pad.

Chapel Hill Guy

Whoa my friend. Don't let your frustration with the reservations department sour your stay before you even arrive. We had a great stay there and the staff were very helpful and friendly.

I'd suggest you contact the GM, Mark Deere, at:

[email protected]

He's very responsive and is aware that some of the reservations staff, in his words, "require some additional improvement training". I responded to an online survey about our stay and noted one minor annoyance and he emailed me back very quickly, apologizing for what happened.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Thank you. It certainly will not ruin my stay but as noted is frustrating. I just looked online and my rooms are back to smoking. I printed my confirmations and will take them with me. We have already booked Halong Bay and a city tour via van/driver/guide private. The prices were amazing and inexpensive. Even in this economic crisis. The hotel rate is 50% less than where I started. I just got a e-mail back from our travel agency we are using in Hanoi. SIM card call back to US- 2 cents per minute. Ordered a SIM card which BTW tops out max at around $17 USD. Thanks.

mario33

The problem of "disappearing" reservation and change to smoking room, is not exclusive to the Hanoi Hilton Opera. I have been having these problems for bookings at another Hilton hotel lately.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Preface: Please let me say first that I had second thoughts about staying here and seriously considered changing. That was after I had even prepaid. Let me put your mind at ease. We are here to visit Halong Bay and all is well.

Status: Diamond VIP.

Rate: Prepaid at a little more than $100 USD which includes breakfast.

Transportation: I made tour reservations with a outside agency which has been great. Really great. They collected use upon our arrival into HAN. The one-way rate for hotel car transfer is $60 USD plus plus. Taxi is $15 USD.

Parking: n/a

Check-in: We arrived as were promptly escorted to the Executive floor reception on 7.

Perks: Upgrade.

Lounge: The Lounge is a ok size. The staff is good and made our reservations for Bobby Chinn this evening per another post. Full breakfast 6 AM to 10 AM. Afternoon tea 3 PM to 6 PM. Cocktails from 6 PM to 8:30 PM. It looks like we can also take a full breakfast downstairs. The Lounge is open 6 AM to 11 PM. Nice.

Room: You enter onto carpet. Closet to right followed be entertainment / mini bar set-up. Tube tv and frig aka not auto charge. This is followed by a desk. You have a window with a full on Opera House view. I have a small table with fruits and chocolates with a chair. This is followed by a king bed.

Bathroom: You enter onto marble. Single basin sink with toilet and separate shower / tub. Standard I think Crabtree amenities. Nice size.

Internet: On Executive floor internet both wired and wireless is comp.. You need to sign up and agree to pay. The charge is then waived.

Gym: not been

Spa: not been. Prices are not bad. Gonna try and make it.

Eating venues: Have not been yet.

Local markets: Lots of things around. Looking forward to walking around later this evening.

Local area: Nice. Hanoi with its energy is a nice crazy. The Hilton is a quiet sanctuary. We have enjoyed the stay so far.

Negatives: None. The only problem I had was inhouse reservations making me crazy. That was all fixed.

Closing: This is a very nice place. The pictures on the internet do not do my room any justice at all. The place is new and fresh. No signs of that ugly green stuff. The bathroom has without doubt been made over. I highly recommend this place. We are not disappointed. That is praise coming from me. Tomorrow we are off to Halong Bay. Regards from Hanoi. Life is good.

Chapel Hill Guy

I knew you'd be happy with the Hilton Hanoi, even if it's not the most luxurious hotel in HAN.

Let us know how you liked Bobby Chinn. We only had tapas there, so curious how dinner is. Maybe stop by Fanny's for ice cream. Life is indeed good.

mario33

Now I am confused whether the rooms have been renovated, hotel's response was no, not yet.

Is the wall behind the bed covered with flowery (blue or green) fabric and the headboard suspended from the wall ? If yes, its not renovated.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Honestly we thought Bobby Chinn was way over rated. Our first clue was the clientele like us. The only locals were females with their foreign friends aka guys. The second was a menu pricing all in U$D. I ordered the salmon which was a filet not cooked evenly. The staff could care less. They were only interested in us ordering the "next" beer. The bill came in two pricing which was 1330525 VND which the restaurant says is only $78 USD. We will see when it hits my cc. We thought they had some local items but less than 10% was local food. With regret we had ordered drinks first before opening the menu. We will try for something local this evening. IMHO.

The back board is suspended and a blue with gold. Even if not "renovated" the room is fresh and not an issue with us. We are all very happy. In fact the Lounge food (sorry to say this) was in the opinion of one of us better than Bobby Chinn. As Tet is upon us that might be our food tonight. Off to Halong Bay today.