Pre arrival service

I booked directly through the internet site which is OK and convenient, but not very personal as you do not get in touch with the hotel directly, just the central reservation system. This means that any requests that I send to them will be answered in a standardised way by someone in the central office. I did, however, manage to get in direct touch with the concierge department and got them to organise pick up and recommend restaurants. They did also recommend an agency for sightseeing, but I was not happy with this agency, so I contacted Amanoi who recommended another agency for this. More about that later.

Arrival

We travelled with Emirates in business class via Dubai and arrived early evening in Ho Chi Minh City. Pick up went very smoothly, we were met in the arrival all by a representative from the hotel and taken to the waiting car where cold towels and water was available. Instead of a limousine type car, we got a van in order to fit in three persons and luggage. Luckily no traffic, so the drive went quickly. When arriving at the hotel, a woman from the reception was waiting for us outside, greeted us by name and took us directly to our suite where the check in formalities were taken care of. A very nice welcome. A bottle of wine, fruit and lovely cookies and snacks were waiting for us together with a welcome card.

Room

We had booked a park suite which consisted of a hall leading into the living area (sofa, table, chair, desk, mini bar, coffee and tea making facilities plus the rollaway bed for our son) from which a door led into the bedroom (pretty hard king size bed, chairs, little table) and from there into wardrobe area with lots of space and the bathroom with double sinks, separate toilet, good shower and a bath tub. Miller Harries toiletries if I remember correctly and lots of extras that one might need (shaving stuff, toothbrush etc.) in a handy box or to be ordered from housekeeping if needed. The room was in the 5th floor, had view to the pool and was very quiet and comfortable. Though the furniture was not the most modern, it all looked new and was more than OK (better than the internet pictures), so I did not really see the need for the renovation that was planned (and cancelled or postponed).

Pool, spa, gym

We enjoyed the pool every day before or after sightseeing. Good pool service where someone would make up the comfortable loungers, serve us water and fruit and come around to take orders if we wanted something else. Nice pool, not very exciting in its layout, but more than good enough. A small restaurant close to pool where we were happy to meet 5khours one day for coffee and some preparation for our Amanoi stay. Sometimes noise from traffic or events taking place nearby, but still an oasis in the middle of the busy city. There is a spa and a gym at the hotel, but we did not use these facilities.

Food

We had excellent breakfasts every morning in the hotel. Light and airy room, a serviced buffet with excellent pastry, different juices, a good choice of cold cuts, cheese, fruit, youghurt etc. in addition to a large menu to order Asian or European/American breakfast specialities. One of the better city hotel breakfasts we have had. In addition we had one lunch at the pool which was OK, but nothing special. All other meals we had outside the hotel, where there is a wide range of very good Vietnamese, Thai, French and Chinese restaurants, many within short walking distance from the PH. Vietnamese food is really very, very tasty. If I should recommend one restaurant, it would be the Hoa Tuc right across the road (less than 2 minutes walk) from the hotel that 5khours recommended to us. We went there the first evening and went back another time as the food was brilliant and the atmosphere (simple, outside seating) very nice as well.

Service

We were positively surprised about the service and found it to be close to what we have experienced at larger FS hotels. We were greeted with name, our preferences remembered and all request were taken care of in a quick and good way. The concierge was very nice and helpful and the butler fixed all room related issues very quickly. Upon checkout, there were some discussion about the bill (they had used higher rates than confirmed for transportation, they had converted invoice to USD using infavourable rates), but this was changed without discussion.

The city and sightseeing

As mentioned, Amanoi put us in touch with an agency (Inside Asia) who organised private sightseeing for us. We had half a day of city sightseeing where we were driven around at oldtimer motorbikes with side cars to see the sights and get a feel of the city life. A very cool way to go on sightseeing that we truly enjoyed. We saw a church, the post office, a palace and the war remnants museum which was fine, but the city is not as interesting with regards to sights as other Asian cities we have visited. However, the travelling on the motor bikes itself was really a highlight. Our guide took us to a local coffee bar where we got to know the delicious Vietnamese coffee (with condensed milk and ice) and showed us the local life. If you want to know all the historical details etc., this is not the sightseeing for you, but if you want to be part of the city, it’s amazing traffic and have a fun afternoon, I highly recommend it. We also had a one day excursion to the Mekong delta. We did want to see a floating market, but found out that this was not possible without a night away from HCM city, so we opted for a visit to Cai Be which has a tiny floating market and where we toured the Mekong on a nice boat (not like the Boats at Amantaka or Amansara, but very good and private), went in smaller boats at "canals", had lunch in a traditional house and saw life at the Mekong. Nice guide speaking excellent English, very gentle and knowledgeable. Finally we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels made by Vietcong (1/2 day excursion). We – and especially our 10 year old son – liked this a lot. An amazing place to see. Same guide and driver as day before.

Overall