Madam Moon Hotel — Hotel in Hà Nội

I recently stayed at Madame Moon Hotel for the second time. 4 years ago, on a whim, I decided to spend a couple days in Hanoi and was very lucky to have randomly picked this hotel/travel agency to work with. When I decided to return for a two-week visit in October 2019, there was no other agency I wanted to work with. They helped organize my cruise in Ha Long Bay, my flights to Siem Reap for a couple days, all airport transfers, Hanoi city tour, and a day tour of Ninh Binh. Natalie (at the hotel) and Emily (on-line via email before my arrival) were a pleasure to work with and went out of their way to accommodate all of my requests. The hotel itself is located two blocks off Hoán Kiēm Lake on a quiet street (quiet, in that there isn’t a lot of traffic, a relief after the crazy traffic on nearby streets) with restaurants, shopping, and other hotels. Even though there isn’t much traffic on the street, there is a lot of life going on and the noise doesn’t stop until 3 am or later, especially on the weekends. I personally loved it, but if you need silence in order to sleep, the Old Quarter of Hanoi may not be where you want to stay. But, back to the details of Madame Moon: the rooms are super clean, large, with mini fridges, safes, and kettles for hot drinks. Bottled water, instant coffee, tea and bathroom amenities are provided. Hot buffet breakfast is included and served at a family restaurant just down the street. I am not a fancy traveler. When I visit a place I want to feel safe, immerse myself in the culture, and engage with the residents of the place. Madame Moon ticked all the boxes for me. I am already planning my next visit and Natalie is...

Pros: Best thing about the hotel is the location. It is conveniently located near the Hoan Kiem lake. Close to Pho 10 and other good food. Right a cross the street from a circle K. ||Cons: They pressure you to review them on TripAdvisor while standing next to you. They coerced me to write a review for the airport transfer service (Hanoi Transport Services) before I even used their service. I still can't get TripAdvisor to edit/delete my review. The transfer sucked, no AC, windows closed and the guy gave zero f**s about our comfort. ||Staff (Emily Dang) tried to get me to cancel my bookings w/ Bookings.com. In order for me to get a refund for one night (the night I spent on Halong Bay cruise) she said I would have to cancel the booking and rebook directly through them. Pretty weird considering I didn't pay through Bookings.com and made payment directly to the hotel. They could've just deducted the amount (including the commission for bookings.com)||I opted to keep the room for that night so I can store my luggage while I was on the cruise. I come back from the cruise and all my stuff is gone. They moved my luggage to their other location down the road. Almost as if they gave the room out that night and double dipped. They told me there was a leak in the room and they had to move my stuff. Nothing else in the cabinet where I left my luggage was removed. ||The take the meaning of Wet bathroom to a whole new meaning. But they give you a pair of...

We stayed here in a room with a lake view. The lake view part of the room was nothing extra, so we don’t necessarily recommend that if you really want something fancy.|The room size was quite good though - note: we don’t know if this had anything to do with the room selected.|Room size apart, it was a very pleasant stay, especially with the given price.|The other positive aspects of Madame Moon Guesthouse 2 include:|- It was the only accommodation so far that had hot water throughout showering|- The staff at the hotel are very friendly and helpful (although they don't speak a lot of English)|- The breakfast is at a restaurant which also does lunch and dinner (called Family Restaurant), resulting in a quite varied buffet for breakfast. It also includes some dishes which are quite local to start with, e.g. the pho soup, which you can see people eating on the streets.|Pro tip: be careful, because the accommodation has a different name when entering, so taxi drivers will be confused by that. Just say Madame Moon Guesthouse 2 and the taxis will take you to the correct street. In addition, it is tucked away in a kind of passageway, so just ask the locals around there when you arrive for...