Blue Arch — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

-- Avoid this place if you have other options - -

I have been an Airbnb user for several years and usually prefer paying more to stay with superhosts and have never gone wrong with this, until this particular host. We stayed here for 3 days during the start of January 2024. The good. Location is excellent, easy to find, and also Grocery stores (Farmer Market) was just a few steps away. The apartment is spacious and we (5 adults and 1 kid) had no issues in terms of space / beds etc. The whole place looked secure with smart locks! The staff were very attentive & friendly and attempted to support us whenever we faced issues. The not so good. The pictures on the portal are not a true representative of the correct state. (but still not a big issue) The driveway, is entirely made up of cobbed stones, so it’s a challenge to drag heavy suitcases from the entrance, all the way to the lift door, post climbing some 10-15 steps. Consider getting the car inside the building to the basement, however, we could not, as we had a 7 seater. Kitchen is bare minimum, just spoons and utensils, don’t expect tea bags, salt, sugar, pepper, oil etc like you find elsewhere. The Bad. The kettle was defective. We reported and it was rectified. Rather strange that the host did not discover it before us. Microwave worked but heating was uneven as the turn table was defective. We did not report it as we are not fussy travellers. Aircon in first bedroom started leaking water and gave out a fowl smell (smell of rotten curd!). Technician came, drained the water, cleaned the filter (it was quite dirty), but the smell remained and rendered the first bedroom unusable. We wanted to keep the passport in the safe, however it was locked. The staff had to ultimately look for the manual key to open it up. Again, it is surprising that the host missed it. The ugly!. During cleaning, I got a message from host that we have “smashed and damaged” a table and that they are “kind enough” not to charge us!!. This table in question is in the drawing room where the TV is. We hardly used it, Afterall, we wanted to explore HCMC and was out most of the times. The table itself is so old and full of scratches that I had to spend several minutes to locate tiny ball pen pock marks, which the host accused us of inflicting. Funny part is, the table is so old, that it has all sorts of damages, like scraped paint, bloated wood, etc, I observed some 50 types of damages. Yet the staff, who seemed to miss out basic defects as mentioned above, seems to have a special place in heart for the table, which we did not even use, let alone damage it.

This left a sour taste in our mouth as to what extent some hosts can go to, in order to coerce me into giving positive feedback. This was nothing but an attempt to scam us, intimidate us with false accusations I find this tactic inappropriate and believe it compromises the integrity of the Airbnb experience.. I will be taking this host up with Airbnb so others do not...

I recently stayed at Emie's apartment with my family, and I cant recommend it enough. We felt very welcomed and at home.

The apartment is very spacious, well decorated, clean and it had everything we needed for a comfortable stay -- even a kitchen, for those who prefer cooking.

The location is perfect. It's very central in Saigon (District 1) and close to many attractions, convenience stores, restaurants and stores.

Emie put a lot of effort to make sure we had everything we needed, and gave us great local tips. She was also always available to answer questions, the hospitality really made a difference.

We will definitely return to Emie's apartment on our next...

We stayed here for several nights in November. The apartment is beautiful and in a great location. Lots of little restaurants and cafes and bubble tea within a 5 minute walk. If I come back to HCM I'd definitely stay here again. We had a late flight out and they were able to watch our bags for the afternoon, which was really helpful. I also forgot my glasses and they notified me and helped arrange shipment back to home quickly very quickly with great communication. Thank...