Halo Hotel Ho Chi Minh City — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

I arrived on the 17th December and at first impressions, everything was great. The lady on reception was welcoming and checked me in to my room quickly, even though I had arrived quit a bit earlier than the check in time (I had an early morning flight from Hanoi the same day) my room was ready and I was allowed to go straight up. They had a porter took my large and heavy back up to my room for me, which was great. ||||I only stayed for one night, because the next day I had an early morning flight to Bali. In the evening, around 9:30-10pm, I started getting all my things packed up again, as I had a 5am start the next morning, and I realised my passport was missing. I remember handing it over at reception for them to make a copy, and realised that I hadnt received it back. ||||I headed down to reception to retrieve my passport, and was greeted by a very rude lady - a different person to the one that had greeted me in the morning and been so welcoming to me. ||||When I asked for my passport back, she refused and immediately became unnecessarily agressive, and demanded that I give her money for it before it could be returned to me. She insisted again and asked me for 500,000 VND. I again refused to give her the money, and informed her that she had no right to withhold my passport from me, under any circumstances. I told her to go ahead and make a copy, but that I wasn't leaving reception until I had my passport back. I informed her that I was leaving early in the morning to make an international flight, and it was vital that I have my passport with me so that it isn't lost / misplaced / forgotten. ||||Again, she got even angrier and shouted at me, "no money, no passport!". At this point, I certainly wasn't going to back down, but despite her aggression and rudeness, I managed to stay calm and polite during the entire exchange, because I knew she had no legal right to keep my passport.||||As a long term traveller I'm aware that hotels cannot withhold your passport from you under any circumstances. I informed the woman that the passport was not actually my property, that officially, it belongs to the British Crown - which is true. I also informed her that I was fully aware the foreigners in Vietnam are required to carry photo ID with them at all times, and that the police would be interested to know that my passport was being withheld from me. ||||At that point she realised that she had lost, and literally threw my passport at me and it landed on the reception counter. She then shouted at me, "Go back to your room!". I asked her what the problem was, and she literally yelled, "GO TO YOUR ROOM, GO NOW!"||||I guess she didn't like the fact that I knew she was wrong and made her look stupid. She knew she was wrong, and I know for a fact that had I needed to get the police to help, they would have certainly made sure she returned the passport to me. ||||A real shame, because the greeting in the morning was lovely, the bag porter was kind and helped me with all my heavy stuff and the room was clean and nice. There was no window in the room - there was a glass pane behind the curtain, but it was just a few inches from the next building, so it was just a white concrete wall to look at, but for just one night it wasn't an issue. The bathroom toiletries were especially nice - they smelled amazing and the towels were nice and cosy. ||||But sadly, I cannot in good faith leave a more positive amount of stars because I think people should be aware of the passport issue, and the woman's agressive and rude behaviour....

Update: So I have gone back and forth across Vietnam and have stayed here when I come back to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh city.

I think for a single person this is perfect because it's close to everything. I was judging off a married man point of view which isn't fair really. Despite the fridge and AC turning off when you leave which is normal, it's really worth the price and the staff have all been really friendly and helpful the three or so times I have returned this month.

So I'm raising to 5 stars because it really meets what I need. And the front entrance message ladies are always nice and look pretty so I mean, that's good. But also the massages which I have had three, are good. Not a fan of the other noisy clients talking etc but eh, it's a small place.

It is what you would expect for being located across from a night club. Either you can handle the noise or you can't.

WiFi seems to be disconnecting and floor 2 WAP may just need a reset or the entire network as it seems very sluggish. As an IT Admin from the US, I would say to reboot everything and double the speed if possible. Can't even watch a Instagram clip.

The room is what you need for a night to sleep and store things in a fridge. However the power shuts off when you leave so the fridge and room warms up and the ice melts and leaves a mess. So if they fixed that and left the fridge on and the AC, it would be way better. You can use a comb with the teeth knocked out the end to keep it on while your gone. See pic.

The messages are good, got the Thai deep tissue and other. The ladies are easy on the eyes which is the point I suppose.

Like most places, people work harder than they are paid. Learn the currency. A good place to get drinks above 4%ABV is the stout house to the left as you leave the hotel on the corner. A 7-11 is nearby for soda, water and booze.

The massages helped my shoulder and the girl/lady did a 90minndeep tissue and was clearly tired. So did a good job and earned it.

If you want to find more upscale shopping, find the mall on the other side because this area is more the old style.

The electronics and shades seller across the street sells knock off Oakley, Ray-Ban and Gucci shades. They don't even have polarized lenses. So if you buy them, offer half because they are not legit.

All in all, I just needed a place to sleep while I visited all over. So it was good. The massage girls out front will always want to sell you another. At about $24 it's...

We arrived in Ho chi min and was looking to have a couples massage. As we were walking past the spa we was drawn in by an lady who could speak reasonably well English saying it was there happy hour and we could get a massage at a reduced rate in a vip room.(private room for 2 people) We agreed on a price for full body massage including a foot massage. She took us to the room which was just an ordinary room which was fine as long as we had our massages. 2 ladies were going to carrying out myself & my husband massage. We opted to have a Thai massage which was a strong massage. It’s started of fine I had the lady doing the massage. Then half way through another lady came into the room and swapped places with her without telling me. I turned my head round I could see it was a different lady. By then I was use to the first Lady techniques and my mood was put off because the new lady was talking to the other masseure . I had to tell to go stronger. She stood on my back & was rushing the whole process. The whole mood of being relaxed was disrupted. I asked her to bring the first Lady back. She bought in a another different lady who was ok but again spent most of the time talking Vietnamese to the other masseur. Sadly 60 minutes of for me time was...