M Apartment Lakeside — Hotel in Hà Nội

This was an awful experience. The property seems to go by different names. I booked the one-bedroom with a balcony under Cara Rustic. They also go by M Apartment Lakeside. The featured photos looked great.

The check-in process was a mess. Like other reviewers, I found a lock around the entrance gate. I contacted the host, and I was provided with a code. It felt like a prison.

The lobby looked outdated, dirty and sketchy. I sat on a dirty couch until minutes later a woman came down, greeted me in Vietnamese and took me to my unit. She spoke no English, provided zero check-in instructions, failed to check my passport and ditched me in my apartment without any electricity. I couldn’t turn on the lights nor connect to wifi. I stayed there for about ten minutes, sweating profusely, about to pass out and trying to collect my thoughts as I observed the mess around me. I called a friend and asked for help.

While I was on the phone, the lady knocked on the door, came inside without permission, turned on the electricity switch, picked up a black plastic bag from the fridge and a few kitchen items and left without any explanation.

The apartment was extremely outdated — nothing like the photos, which were completely staged and heavily photoshopped. I would dare to say that this woman or someone else lived in the unit.

The kitchen was extremely filthy. The countertop had many stains and was uncleaned. Bowls were very dirty and had a visible layer of dried food. The kitchen featured one dirty saucepan, no cleaning products and a few unusable and dirty kitchen utensils. The kitchen was disgusting. The electric teapot was covered in dust. No paper towels. No soap.

The kitchen blinders were also heavily covered in dust.

The bathroom sink had a solid layer of black mold.

Of all the rental units I have booked so far, this is the worst experience I have ever had.

I informed the host that I was leaving right away. I took several photos, walked to a nearby coffee house and found myself another apartment in the old quarter (clean, spacious and peaceful).

The host’s attitude was disturbing. As a solo female traveler, I felt extremely unsafe. This listing should be removed from all rental platforms.

I’m still puzzled that this apartment has great reviews. I suspect they are fake.

Do yourself a favor: find a better place to stay. Hanoi has great properties within the same...

The place is called MIRR apartment not M. A local resident helped us find the entrance. The entrance was locked, the apartment entrance was dark, there was no one around to greet us. We felt like we'd been scammed or something. After a few minutes of ringing various bells someone came down and let us in, but she seemed confused to see us.

There was no initial communication about check-in process and it wasn't clear to the lady who we were or what room we were staying in. I don't blame her, I think she was a cleaner. This is also the first accommodation where they didn't take our passport details, give us any information, not even WiFi. I may be wrong, but it looks like there's a cover over the smoke detector as though it was installed and never taken off which makes me question if it would even work in an emergency.

Once in our room we found it to be outdated, needed a lot of TLC (damp and peeling wall paper), the back of the sofa was so firm. The shower wasn't the nicest, there was no toilet roll. There was a foul stench under the kitchen stink. The bed was okay, we were able to take a power nap. Thankfully we were using this apartment just for the day before a late night flight home.

We went out for the afternoon and when we came back the gate was locked up and we had no way of getting back into the apartment. Fortunately another guest was coming back from shopping and let us in. Who knows how long we'd be stuck out there if it wasn't for him. When we first arrived we messaged the number provided if any help was needed. We messaged to ask where the entrance was, they replied 4 hours later to ask where we were!

There was no checkout process either. We messaged to say we'd check out at 9pm and a lady came to our room asking for payment in cash. We didn't have any, nor would we intend to pay cash as there would be no receipt provided. Eventually she came back with a card reader.

The pictures online looked great, but the reality was very different. We've loved all of the places we've stayed in Vietnam and this one left a dampner on the end of...

The place is called MIRR Apartment and Not M. Apartment Lakeside. There's no receptionist upon entry and the gate is always locked. You have to have WiFi connection when your arrive to talk to the owner/administrator as you need to get the lock access code from her through WhatsApp or Zalo. If you arrive there without having any local SIM, you have to spend some time at the nearest coffee shop or restaurant to access WiFi. The room overall is very spacious. It has a washing machine, induction stove but no body soap or shampoo. The caretaker will ask you to pay upfront and don't expect any receipt. The place is located in a small alley and may be difficult for a first time...