When we arrived at the hotel, we were warmly welcomed by a lady at the reception. She took the time to sit down with us and shared recommendations on places to visit and things to do in Hanoi, which was a thoughtful and pleasant start to our stay.
Unfortunately, our first impression of the room quickly changed. As soon as we entered, we noticed that one of the curtain blind hooks had come loose. We brushed it off, thinking it might just be an isolated issue. However, things only got worse as we continued inspecting the room.
In the bathroom, the shower head was loose and water was leaking from the connecting pipe whenever it was turned on. There were also black specks of dirt or dust inside the bathtub, making it feel unclean. The biggest concern, however, was the towel rack. It was literally half-detached from the wall and hanging at a noticeable angle. This wasn't just a maintenance issue—it was a serious safety hazard. If it had fallen on a guest, the consequences could have been severe. It's disappointing that such an obvious issue was overlooked before assigning the room to guests.
Another letdown was that the handheld shower for the bathtub had been removed, leaving only the fixed shower head. It made the bathroom feel incomplete and inconvenient to use. Instead of relaxing after checking in, we found ourselves inspecting the room for faults. It honestly felt as though we were the hotel's maintenance inspectors rather than paying guests.
As it was already close to midnight, we headed down to the reception to report all the issues. A male receptionist attended to us and listened to our concerns. However, the only solution initially offered was to move us to another room the following day. While we understood that it was late at night and room availability might have been limited, we felt some form of compensation was reasonable given the time we had spent dealing with these problems instead of enjoying our stay.
Eventually, the hotel upgraded us to a family room. The room was much more spacious, with a separate living area, comfortable seating and a large bed, which we appreciated. However, another issue soon became apparent—the air-conditioning. Even after setting it to 16°C, the room still felt as though it was around 25°C. It was far from comfortable. In the end, I moved to sleep on the cushions in the living area because there was a ceiling fan overhead, and it was noticeably cooler there than in the bedroom.
To make matters worse, the breakfast selection was rather limited. While the food was fresh, the variety was lacking and the spread felt quite basic. It leaned more towards a simple, healthy breakfast rather than the standard you would expect from a hotel that markets itself as offering a more comfortable or premium experience.
What made the experience even more disappointing was that this hotel had a **5-star rating on Trip.com**, which gave us high expectations before booking. Based on the reviews and rating, we expected a well-maintained room, comfortable facilities and a pleasant stay. Instead, what we experienced was the complete opposite. The numerous maintenance issues, safety concerns, poor air-conditioning and average breakfast simply did not reflect the quality that a highly rated hotel should provide.
Overall, while the staff were polite and welcoming, the poor maintenance of the rooms, lack of attention to detail and underwhelming facilities made our stay disappointing. The hotel certainly did not live up to the expectations created by its 5-star rating on Trip.com. Unless significant improvements are made, I would recommend thinking twice before booking this hotel.