decided because this was our first trip to vietnam we would organise pickup from the airport.

pickup was great, on time, and driver offered us water as we got in the car. water was warm but to be fair the heat in the air was unbearable so a drink was appreciated.

when we got to reception they realised we had booked a club room and sent us up the lift to another reception desk in the club lounge. this is fab. considering what you pay for a travel inn in britain. pay the same money and get treated like a god. free alcohol from 7pm - 9pm and small finger nibbles available all day. with club, you also get breakfast which is well worth it.

the pool is at the top of the building and considering the height of the hotel you get a fab view of the whole city.

hotel

on a main busy road, but it is a city and chances are your not here for a fortnight but passing through to either go to thailand or other parts of asia. hotel is really clean, rooms are smart and up to date. definately go club if you can as its well worth it when you take into account free alcohol for 2 hours before you go out and see the city. no balcony but thats not an issue, some of the windows open and saigon has about 4 million ppl with 7 million scooters and motorbikes (their prefererred transport) so quite misty with fumes.

hotel staff are great and definately take the tour to the cu chi tunnels. dont book through the hotel but. ask a local in the street as its much cheaper. i booked through the hotel and my guide couldnt get me through fast enough. takes about 1 hour to get there and once there he whisks who through. Before you know it your back on the bus and heading back to the hotel VIA a very expensive foundation aimed at giving disabled ppl jobs and making trinkets. dont get me wrong i have nothing against such organisation but unfortunately the ppl making such trinkets are not paid much, proceeds mainly go to the fat cat and your guide gets a cut. i realised that when i bought some stuff and found the same items at a third of the price in a local stall.

definately go to the war museum, thats a must! would bring a tear to a glass eye. the zoo is 5 minutes walk away and again worth while if an animal lover. i was expecting very poor quality accomodation for the animals but to be fair they seemed well treated and you get to feed the elephants bamboo.

fantastic experience. loved it. ppl are great and really friendly. you can walk about freely without feeling scared or intimidated. they have tourist police everywhere to make you feel even safer and they help guide you across very busy roads etc.

only scary experience i had was a begger came up to me which generally isnt a big thing but i got such a fright because he had clearly been a victim of the war and his face was very badly burned to the point he had no eyelids or lips. it was quite horrific!.

hotel pool is fab and because right at the top of the building it seems to be above all the smoke and general bike fumes below. you wouldnt know you were in a city.

any further details please contact me on nicolahouston29@yahoo.co.uk

We finished off our Vietnam holiday with 3 nights in the Sofitel. We booked a club room because that was the only option available on the website we used and we were glad that we did. We were treated like VIPs from the moment we arrived till the morning we left in the free limo to the airport (a club room perk!).

The room itself was pleasant and comfortable but it was the club lounge that made it. The staff were helpful, nothing was too much trouble and the food/drink seemed to be never-ending and delicious! We ended up there on all 3 nights and thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed atmoshpere. We had breakfast down on the 2nd floor and this was also excellent with a wide and varied choice of food. The hotel runs a shuttle bus to the Russian market which is close to where most of the shops/restaurants are - this was the only downside to the hotel, it was a little bit out of the way of what there was to see/do. However, I would not hesitate to recommend it to others.

Re Saigon, I am glad I went but don't think I will be back in any particular hurry!

Good overall. Good staff, friendly service. Excellent a la carte room service breakfast. Great pool on roof, Nice fitness centre. Free internet in business centre. Only drawback was that the extractor fan in the bathroom didn't operate and the bathroom steamed up . Also left a slightly damp feel to the bedroom. They did offer to move us to another room, but for a 3 night stay and having already unpacked etc. it didn't seem worth it.

Hotel is a little far to walk to some of the tourist areas in the heat, but taxis are cheap enough in the cvity. Take care which company you choose though - Stick to Mailinh or Vina taxi. On one occasion took a taxi that was not one of the above and it was 70k dong for what should have been a 20 k dong trip.

Another good thing is that there is a safe in the room.

Nice lobby bar.

The Sofitel Plaza was our first stay in all of Vietnam. The room was so relaxing and had plenty of space for all of our luggage.
We had great nights of sleep. The beds were firm but comfortable. The bathroom was large and elegant. Behind the hotel is a Highlands coffee shop and only a long block away behind the resturant are many great resturants.

The pho at the hotel (in the bar in evening) was the best we had in the city....i know that is probably not a popular comment, but there was such a great aroma that it beat any local stand or Pho 24.

The hotel staff was extremley helpfull. I thought I had lost my Credit card and went down to the desk at 1am at night. Their business center was closed and I could not use them to cancel or to see if any charges had processed. The staff took me back to the offices and let me use the computer there. (oh..it was in my purse... :) oops, I think jet lag was getting to me)

The breakfast buffet was the best we had in all vietnam. They had everything and the quality was certainly better than some of the other 4+ star hotels we stayed at.

Overall a great hotel. Enjoy your stay!!