Hôtel Perle d'Orient Cat Ba - MGallery — Hotel in Hải Phòng

[WORSE ATTITUDE EVER] I have stayed at MGallery multiple times—once in 2022, twice in 2023, and once again in 2024—and have always considered it to be a trusted, reputable establishment. However, after my visit on May 4th, 2025, I am left absolutely HORRIFIED by the sheer lack of professionalism, untrained staff, and the appalling level of service that I received. Frankly, I would have never imagined that a so-called "5-star" hotel could sink to such levels of incompetence and poor customer service.

In 2024, I had an enjoyable lunch at your hotel and ordered directly from the à la carte menu. This year, however, I was shocked to find that the service had completely changed. Instead of being able to order what I wanted, I was forced to purchase a ticket for 300,000 VND per person just to "visit" the hotel, which only included a single drink. The price could have been reasonable if it had come with a welcoming service. BUT NO. I was never informed of this change during the booking process, and upon arrival, the reception staff treated me with open disdain. They didn't offer any explanation or courtesy and gave me the distinct impression that they were looking down on me, without even providing a basic level of information about what I was paying for.

Upon paying for the tickets at the reception, I had to ACTIVELY ask them what drink was included in the ticket, as no one bothered to provide this information. This is not only unprofessional but also completely unacceptable for an establishment of your purported standard.

Things only worsened after I sat down with my group of four. The staff demanded that we place our orders at the reception, rather than allowing us to choose our seating and order from there. I paid for the service in full via bank transfer, yet despite this, your staff persistently questioned whether I had paid. They made me repeat myself multiple times, and I had to show proof of payment over and over again. This is beyond rude and uncalled for. I was not made to feel like a valued guest, but rather as if I were a criminal trying to scam your hotel.

To make matters worse, two different employees, along with a member of the reception team, continued to challenge me, accusing me of paying "without their permission" as if I were some kind of dishonest guest. There was no apology, no attempt at resolving the issue professionally, and no recognition that “I had already paid” and was simply trying to enjoy my time at your hotel. This kind of treatment is utterly disgraceful.

I am utterly disgusted with how I was treated. Your staff’s behavior was not only embarrassing for me, but also embarrassing for your so-called "5-star" hotel. It's clear that your staff are neither trained nor capable of providing a basic level of service, and frankly, I have never felt more unwelcome at a hotel in my life.

I demand a full and sincere apology for the way I was treated, as well as a review of your staff training and customer service standards. If this is the level of service I can expect from MGallery Cat Ba in the future, I will make sure to NEVER return and will actively discourage others from doing so as well.

I expect a prompt response to address this serious matter. Feel free to check your camera of my access as well as the time of my transaction, i paid before i got to it down. clearly i did not deserve being treated like this...

The hotel is beautiful and luxurious, with a beautiful view of the sea and direct access to a very lovely and clean beach. The facilities are good and the decor of the entire hotel is amazing. The food at Indochine Restaurant was also excellent. My compliments to the dinner service team in Indochine Restaurant - they were very friendly, helpful, and we always had a lovely time dining there. The hotel is located in a quiet and private part of the town centre, and it is about a 15 minutes’ walk to the rest of the shops, market and restaurants.

However, the service generally (besides the dinner team at Indochine Restaurant) was subpar and unbefitting of a five-star hotel. When I was being checked in and waiting to receive my room keys, a guest cut in and started asking the receptionist questions, and the receptionist entertained this guest instead of asking the guest to wait their turn. The service team was also generally unfriendly and sometimes, just seemed rude.

The service at the pool bar was consistently poor - the staff member would not approach you with the menu and we had to go up to them to ask. When we asked to order a drink / get the bill, they would not even look at us or say anything in reply. The staff’s attitude was like they were upset that we were ordering drinks from them.

Despite placing an emphasis on sustainability, the hotel also only allows guests to receive a maximum of 4 bottles of filtered water per room, and told us we would have to buy bottles of water if we needed more. This seems odd when the bottles of water are refillable and we are paying five-star prices for the room.

Lastly, when we checked out and were in a rush to catch our bus, the receptionist stopped us, on the pretext that they were checking if we left any belongings behind. However, they were really checking if we had taken any items from the hotel, and eventually asked us to pay VND 170,000 for a pair of hotel slippers and laundry bag we took. We found this unbefitting of a five-star hotel - we did not appreciate that the receptionist misled us into thinking they were checking whether we had left anything behind (as if we were children they had to deceive), and we have never experienced a five-star hotel that asks you to pay for the hotel slippers and laundry bag.

Overall, while the hotel is beautiful, has a lovely view of the sea and direct access to a beautiful beach, the service and their treatment of guests left much...

Amazing place, the views from the hotel are spectacular, the most beautiful ones we’ve seen. We had a great stay, the hotel is really nice, rooms are huge and very comfortable, the pools are nice, got a massage at the spa and it was amazing. Breakfast is great, as a vegetarian I appreciate all the fresh fruit and cold draft beer (not during breakfast). The staff is so friendly and nice, they are really trying their best to make you feel comfortable. And is within walking distance from the town.

Things to keep in mind: -I read some reviews of people complaining abt the food, the restaurant is good, but also, the best food we had in Vietnam was street food, not hotel food, there is an amazing restaurant just outside of the hotel (2min walk). People also complained abt the staff not speaking english, the staff are just so nice, it is unbelievable, this is Vietnam, English is not their first language, vietnamese is a very complicated tonal language, it is ridiculous to expect staff to speak perfect english, specially when most of their clients are asian and I don’t think they expect them to speak Korean, Japanese or Chinese. I had absolutely no issue with language, sometimes you just have to ask them to repeat twice but it’s not the end of the world, if anything I felt dumb for my lack of vietnamese. People complained abt their concierge, really? Check how much you’re paying for this hotel first, in my case just the view of my room was worth 10x what I paid. Had no issues getting help from staff coordinating transportation. Other people complained about kids, this is a huge family destination, you can’t expect staff to educate/control other people’s children, that being said, I’m also someone that gets annoyed with kids in hotels but here it wasn’t an issue, there were a lot of kids but they were w their families and there was no screaming or running like crazy, just families having fun.

This is really one of the most beautiful places I’ve been, I highly recommend this hotel, you will have a great experience.

That being said if you are the kind of tourist that goes to Asia to eat a club sandwich, complain about your $4 margarita and expect hotel staff to educate people’s children, you might as well just stay in...