DJ-RTW's profile and reviews

First, they completely forgot to pick us up at the airport as arranged in advance and finally sent someone only when we called to check on what was going on. We hadn’t finished checking in when the tour desk guy tried pressure selling us tours in and around Ha Noi. Later, we asked staff to check the heat in our room but it took three different guys playing with the remote before they admitted that the room we were in was not equipped with a heating fixture. So we moved to a room from the Old Darling Hotel which has no heat to one in the Asia Queen Hotel which does.

The location is good in that it is central, but it is off a very small lane that isn’t easy to find especially since your taxi won’t be able to approach nearer than two blocks away as the street is closed to cars – but unfortunately not to scooters and motorbikes. So it is noisy but that is expected from a centrally-located hotel.

Contrary to the hotel’s marketing, the rooms are not spacious and some are actually overcrowded with furniture (we couldn’t open the mini-fridge in our first room because of all of the furniture). All rooms and hallways could use a good cleaning and coat of paint. There was free WiFi and computers in the lobby, but no WiFi in the room as promised.

Breakfast was okay (bread, jam, Vietnamese coffee or tea) but was served in an eating area in which a staff member was sleeping on the floor between tables. None of the common areas (dining, lobbies, computer area) are heated so it was difficult to spend any time in these during the freeze.

Be warned that the luggage storage area is not a secure room but rather in an empty space between the front desk and several rooms on the first floor. This area is not always occupied so make sure you lock your things.

To quote the web site “At the Asia Queen Hotel, you will be satisfied with our outstanding service, and experienced, enthusiastic staff.” The last words of the receptionist to us was to suggest that we have physical relations as we leave the building after we argued about whether or not we had asked them to arrange transport to the airport!

Not really a resort and not really by the sea, The Raj somehow felt justified in charging almost 4,000 Indian Rupees ($105 U.S.) per night between Christmas and New Years. This small hotel, which resembles a hostel, had little that warranted its high rates but had many things that s hould actually bring down its prices. The hotel is near the airport so jets rumble overhead frequently; it is a fifteen minute bus ride away from the nearest town; the beach is a kilometer away with a good uphill slog when you return; the kitchen cook is pretty bad and the only alternatives are at the beach (didn’t feel it would be safe to walk back from the beach at night after dinner or drinks as the road isn’t well lit); bed linens have moth holes while pillows must date twenty years; and the window air conditioner rattled all of the windows – which, by the way, didn’t open so that wasn’t an option. And, like everywhere in India – the entire place needs a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. The pluses are: free wireless Internet access (although it constantly goes down), a small unheated pool and the staff are friendly but really need customer service training as well as English-language training.

The high tourist season between Christmas and New Year has mistakenly lulled the owners of this hotel to believe they can charge very high rates for what they have on offer. We paid 3,000 Indian Rupees (or $80 U.S.) for our first night’s stay in this east coast city as we had trouble finding anything reasonable.

The first room we were shown had large patches of mold on the ceiling and the smell of rot and old smoke was overpowering. The second room we were shown was better although the smell of mold was still present. The room was in need of a good cleaning as well as some new paint.

The most annoying thing about this hotel, more than the noisy street and poor neighborhood, the lamp without an electrical plug, and the tepid-water shower was the unwanted early morning wake-up call by the laundry service asking whether we had dirty clothes for him! The noisy street made it impossible to return to sleep.

The lobby of the hotel is the only area that looks modernized while the other public spaces, including the elevators and restaurants sent visitors back several decades with old furniture and décor and dirt while providing a smell that only mold can provide.

Interesting old hotel that reminds travelers of colonial times. Our room was newly painted, except for the peeling bathroom, had a large balcony overlooking the main street as well as air conditioning – a must in this humid, hot city. Located on the main street of the tourist area, there were many restaurants and cafes nearby to supplement the so-so hotel restaurant where we had the continental breakfast (eggs or omelet, dried sausages, fatty bacon, cold toast) included with the price of the room.