Sometimes I don’t even realize how American I am until I travel abroad. A perfect example of this was my one night stay at the Lotte Hotel in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).
I couldn’t have chosen a more western style hotel if I tried. It was really good though. No regrets.
A full review of my one night stay at the Lotte Hotel Saigon
In my defense, this was my first ever visit to Vietnam, and having a comfortable/luxurious place to stay was high on my priority list.
I was looking for a memorable experience. I definitely got it. The problem was it wasn’t a very Vietnamese experience.
Location
The Lotte Hotel is located at 2A-4A Ton Duc Thang Street right on the banks of the Song Sai Gon River in central Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The ride from the airport took about 15 minutes via a very aggressively driven taxi.
Welcome to the Lotte Hotel Saigon! Or is it Ho Chi Minh City? Maybe it’s both? I don’t really know, but I do know that this looks really nice.The moment you realize that you flew all the way to Vietnam just to stay in a western style hotel. Oh well. Wanna know what impressed me most about the main entrance? It wasn’t all the glitz and glam. It was the feeling of the ice cold air conditioning oozing through the doors.
The lobby (and checking in)
Honestly? I wasn’t expecting this to be such a fancy hotel. The lobby was impressive, the staff was beyond professional, and my first impressions of the place were really good.
Checking in was quick and easy. I highly appreciated the complementary beverage they provided during the check in process. Cảm ơn bạn!
Checkin’ out the check-in desk. It looks great, but let’s be real here. The best part of my lobby experience so far is that ice cold air conditioning that I mentioned earlier.
BTW, the restaurant in the lobby looked really good. It’s definitely worth trying IMHO. The only reason I didn’t was because I had access to the club lounge on the 10th floor.
Getting to my room
The only thing worth mentioning about the journey to my room (up the elevator and down the hall) is how optimistic I was feeling. Based on what I had seen so far, I just knew that I was in for a pretty good time.
Nevermind the fact that maybe you’ve seen paintings like that (on the left) in central Oklahoma roadside hotels. If it wasn’t for that kind of wall art, you’d never know that you’re actually in Vietnam. Come to think of it, the jet lag that I was feeling at this very moment was leading me to believe that I had just flown halfway around the world. Maybe this is Vietnamese after all.Room 1515. Fingers crossed that the air conditioning is as nipple-hardening good as it is downstairs…
Room overview
I paid extra for what they call the “Deluxe Suite.” As you will see in the following pictures, it is very appropriately named. It felt like a small apartment more than a hotel room.
My room has its own damn foyer? OK. Now I’m starting to get the “deluxe” thing. Whoa. I hadn’t even seen the entire room yet and I already knew this was going to kick the sh*t out of the room that I had at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul.Yup. I can think of a lot of other hotel rooms that this kicks the sh*t out of as well. I’m not even mad about choosing a western style hotel anymore. Might as well kill two birds with one stone in this pic: not only is this a picture of the rest of the room, you get to see all of the complementary fruits and chocolates as well.
“Nope. I don’t think so.” (Past experience has taught me to never eat strange fruit in a strange country)Sandwiched between the living room and the bedroom is this desk. But it’s not just any desk. It’s a deluxe desk. As impressive as this king bed looks, it’s actually one of the least impressive things in this room. Did you see all that fruit and chocolate earlier? What about the dang foyer? Sorry. I was too lazy to stand up while taking the picture showing you what the rest of the room looks like from the bed.The only awkward thing about this room (other than the fact that I’m in it) is the placement of this flat screen TV. It seemed weird at first because you can’t see it from either the couch or the bed. Turns out that it swivels. Hallelujah! Another nice feature of this suite is the dedicated bar area (featuring a huge mirror which I assume was put there to make you feel bad about yourself as you reach for the $10 bag of cashew nuts).
Again, it’s not very Vietnamese. But it is extremely deluxe-y. I think they made it this nice on purpose just so I would be tempted to buy the $10 bag of nuts.
On one side of the bed was a desk with two more complementary bottles of water. On the other side was another desk with the phone and the control panel for the lights and air-conditioning (which was good).
It’s also worth mentioning that the closet in this room was huge. You’ll have no problem putting oversized suitcases in there with all of your stuff. Not only that, there were four very high-quality bathrobes (two thick and two thin). I recommend the thick ones.
The view
I had a pretty nice view of the river for my room. However, I suspect that the view from the other side would be equally as impressive (as you’d have a really nice view of central Ho Chi Minh City instead).
The view of the Song Sai Gon river from my room was nice. However……watching the organized chaos of all the traffic below was far more interesting. What rules of the road?The time: 6:15 AM. The mood:“Gooooood morning Vietn….” (sorry)
I loved the vibe of turning off all the lights just letting the natural light come in during the day. The windows may be small, but the scenery is quite good.
The bathroom
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bathroom that was split into two separate rooms (separated by a full hallway) before. Not that I’m complaining or anything, because the bathroom in my suite was pretty freakin’ sweet.
Everything about the bathroom is huge. Huge vanity, huge tub, and a huge lack of a toilet. I’ll explain in a moment…There’s a pretty huge dork in here as well. This guy shows up wherever I go. I don’t understand it.In addition to this box of amenities (toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotions, soaps, etc), there were two more complementary bottles of water on the vanity. They got you covered.
So where’s the dang toilet? Well, it’s actually in a separate room down the hallway. Why wouldn’t it be?
Never in all of my years of staying in hotels have I experienced a bathroom with a dedicated hallway leading from the bathroom to the toilet. There were actually many “firsts” for me on this trip, but this is one of the more interesting ones.Ta-da! There’s the toilet. The end.
Pros and cons
Perhaps the biggest downside to staying at the Lotte Hotel is that you’ll be missing out on a truly authentic Vietnamese experience. If that’s what you’re looking for, I highly recommend the Reverie Saigon located just a few blocks away.
Pros
It was far more luxurious experience than I was expecting.
It’s a fairly quiet property considering that it’s located right in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City.
It’s within walking distance to pretty much everything.
Cons
Yeah, it’s located in the heart of the city, but it’s not as centrally located as many other hotels. This is a minor complaint by the way, as I personally didn’t have any issues with this.
Pricing is all over the place. I’ve seen rates for basic rooms as low as $90(US) and as high as $400(US). It’s not worth that higher price.
