Mekong Charm Riverside — Hotel in Luang Prabang

This is the only negative review from our 4 week trip in SE Asia as this was the only accommodation that didn’t live up to its promise. We stayed 4 nights. The location is beautiful and breakfast along the river was terrific but we encountered numerous problems: ||The manager blew up at us when we enquired about laundry service in town. He actually screamed at us and got very angry. We’re level-headed, well-travelled 60 year olds - this has never happened to us ever, anywhere. He appeared to be offended we weren’t using the guesthouse service, called us cheap for wanting to ask about other services in town (2000 kip cheaper - about 20 cents!). We were actually trying to figure out alternatives - Was there was a local family we could support? A laundromat? This was truly bizzare. When we told him we would use the guesthouse laundry he continued to scream at us for being cheap and thrust our laundry back at us. This occurred in front of other guests and staff.||Batteries! The tv and air conditioner remotes needed batteries, as did the safe. No big deal, but each time we requested assistance, we got the sense we were somehow being bothersome. After ‘new’ batteries from an open basket - they appeared to have been previously used, the safe continued to be unusable (maybe because the tape applied to the battery door was no longer holding) and the aircon remote only worked intermittently.||Bikes: nice they offer bikes but there weren’t enough to serve their guests. Another bizzare altercation with the manager happened over bikes. We went for a morning bike ride, came back to use the washroom and intended to continue with our ride. The manager noticed we had locked the bikes, saw us on the balcony and rudely shouted we couldn’t lock the bikes when back at the property. I get it, we couldn’t selfishly reserve the bikes for the day. It should be noted there was a bike available, there were no other guests about and we weren’t informed of this ‘policy’. Common courtesy and professional interaction with guests is a reasonable expectation for anyone engaged in the service industry.||Overall, given the condition of our room and the state of amenities, this is no more than a 2 star accommodation. The unprofessional conduct of the manager would prevent us from ever recommending this guesthouse,...

Overall this is a nice place to stay : the all wooden colonial style villa is beautiful and the place radiates a relaxing feeling .... ||I liked the room and the view : the room is 40sqm , and has an 18sqm terrace with view to the river... ||The room has a high ceiling which adds to the nice spacious feeling.... ||The bathroom is very basic and simple but it has a rainshower with enough pressure and good temperature. ( It was funny that the first day I had 3 towels, second day 2 towels, third day 1 towel and last day I had to ask for one.... )||Bed is good, pillows are perfect. ||The staff is friendly, motivated and helpful||||The big terrace of my room on the ground floor was nice but it is next to the entrance of the hotel .... which means your privacy on your terrace is zero. All people walking in and out the hotel look always onto your terrace .... Fortunately there is a little low gate which you can close, because if you don't , some guests just come sit at the table of your terrace....||Also the street is between your terrace and the river, so anyone who walks by always stares at your terrace... ||Breakfast was basic but ok. However they did not offer any bacon nor croissants (although mentioned on the fixed breakfast menu) , because "it had become too expensive".... ||The high ceiling in the room also has a disadvantage : it means that there are glass windows above the entrance door. As the room is on the front side of the hotel -which is lit with spots all night- it lights up your room all night long .... ||It is also a pity that there is no coffeemaker in the room , but this a minor detail (you can go get a coffee...

After a boat trip from north Thailand on the river Mekong, we finally arrived this very rustic & beautiful looking mid-range hotel. After first removing our footwear, which is a gesture of respect in Laos, we sat down with the wonderful owner Chang. She explained all about the city of Luang Prabang, locating on a map a variety of things to do and trips... Very helpful!

We were then showed to our relative room with myself having a upstairs street facing balcony (although pointing at another building)... Minus the small drawback of a shoddy view, the general layout of the hotel was fantastic. Everything worked, the room was spacious and the bed was very comfy.

They have a fridge, safe, TV, bikes you can hire for free and AirCon with a big power-shower which runs nice hot water. My dad had a similar room which was slightly more expensive but included a Riverside-view downstairs private area plus much bigger room.

Unfortunately I seemed to catch a chest infection either before or whilst away on holiday, my first instinct was to "make do" but my symptoms got much worse when a tickley cough turned into real breathing difficulties, I needed to go and see a doctor...

After speaking to Chang about my problems she promptly organised a tuk-tuk to take us to a local clinic, amazing service by the Mekong Charm Riverside!! Really forthcoming to help.

I eventually got seen and I am now on a antibiotics. We stayed 4 nights and thoroughly enjoyed each day & night, the place was clean and I really now understand why they've got charm in the hotel title.

I want to say a big thank you to all the staff for being so helpful &...