Hotel Grand Saigon — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

Disappointing Experience and Pathetic Hospitality by Hotel Grand SaigonI recently stayed at this hotel, expecting top-notch service given its 5-star rating. Unfortunately, the experience was subpar. The staff, particularly one Mr. Harry at the front desk, lacked the hospitality expected of a 5-star hotel.We booked 5 double bed rooms for a family group of 11, including a 6-year-old. The hotel's child occupancy policy was unclear, with conflicting information provided by the reception and booking agent. Despite clarifying our child's age with passport details, the policy seemed to change, causing confusion.It seems like there was a miscommunication regarding the hotel's child policy, and the front desk staff seemed uncertain about the policy. Here's a summary:- Initially, the reception informed that children up to 5 years old stay for free if sharing with parent (No extra Bed) - We informed the reception that kid is small and sleep with his parent sharing same bed and we dont want any extra bed. They informed still we will have to pay surcharge of VND 500000 for 2 night for kid.- Later, when we tried to contact the agent on customer care, they mentioned that hotel informed agent that if child is 6 he stay free but if child above 7 years old would be charged.- When we clarified that child's age is below 7 years (6 years, 7 months, and 14 days) precisely, the policy was changed again to "6 years and above." They said even if the kid is 6 year 1 day they will charge. We showed them screenshot of reply from agent (TRIP) of the above conversation. It was not about $10 but the way reception was rude was frustrating . Normally in 5 star properties when you check in especially when you have booked 5 rooms(group booking).. any guest would anticipate hospitality and they could have easily resolved and accomodated a 6 year kid given they didn't had any clear policy which was changing on different booking sites. Front desk Reception was very very rude, rigid and not flexible.We felt that the staff and booking agent were unclear about the child policy, which caused confusion. We were willing to pay the charges for the child, but the way the front desk handled the situation was questionable.We felt disrespected when we were given the room keys only after paying the security deposit of VND 50,000,000 , i guess it was insisted to secure Kid surcharge amount. whereas our room booking entire amount were prepaid. We had also given them time to clarify their child policy, but the experience was still unsatisfactory.We also requested on email for early check-in at 10:30 am if rooms are available, or atleast to give us ONE ROOM for small kid if possible but were made to wait almost 4 hours despite rooms being available. They didn't offered water while guest were at the waiting area. The hotel demanded an additional VND 1,443,000 for one room for early check-in, which was inconvenient with a small child.Given the low season in Vietnam, I expected better service and flexibility. Unfortunately, this hotel's hospitality was lacking, and I wouldn't recommend it.Key issues:- Poor hospitality from staff- Unclear and inconsistent child occupancy policy- Inflexible early check-in policy- Additional charges for early check-in- Disrespectful treatment after paying security deposit Eventually they charged us for 6 years old kid.... but Our agent realised the confusion offered us to reimburse... it not about $10 but hotel staff ask entire group to wait even after they know that guest have come to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam after long flight and while this is 1st day of entry in country.... this is the welcome they give to 5 star property guests.Recommendation:Consider other hotels with better service, more flexible policies, and clear communication. A 5 star hotel should provide top notch service.to everyone, especially to families with...

A Disappointing Experience at This Hotel – Misrepresentation & Poor ServiceStaying at this hotel turned out to be a frustrating experience, with misleading marketing, hidden charges, and subpar service overshadowing its supposed five-star status. Here’s why:Misleading Listings & Hidden Fees• Deceptive Photography: The feature photo on their website and Trip.com might once have been theirs, but it now belongs to Da Vinci Dining Lounge, a completely separate entity.• Sauna Charges Misrepresented: Their Trip.com listing displays the sauna as a standalone facility, but it's actually part of the spa—and unlike parking and spa fees, the sauna charges aren't disclosed upfront. Guests must pay per visit!• Happy Hour Pricing Gimmick: Spa signage advertises a 30-50% Happy Hour discount, but this misleading offer only applies to customers making a hefty VND 10 million+ prepayment.Irritating Room Features• Persistent Advertisements: Every single time you enter the room, the TV switches on automatically, playing the hotel's promotional content. Across a 4-day stay, this meant dealing with 25+ unwanted interruptions!• Tiny Shower Cubicle & Weak Water Pressure: The shower is far too small, with separate hot and cold mixers, making it unnecessarily difficult to get a comfortable temperature.Unimpressive Dining Experience• Poorly Managed Vegetarian Options: While breakfast includes a vegetarian section, some vegan/vegetarian dishes are placed next to bacon, improperly labeled, and even share serving utensils with meat!• Cold & Outsourced Bread: The Banh Mi and other bread items are served cold—hence the oven next to them for reheating! Even the pizza was nothing more than a frozen ready-to-heat base topped with fresh tomato slices.• Odd Breakfast Selections: Some breakfast items feel completely out of place—like spaghetti, which is better suited for lunch or dinner.Bathroom & Maintenance Issues• Dim Bathroom Lighting & No Vanity Mirror: Shaving or grooming is difficult with the poor lighting, and the missing vanity mirror doesn't help either.• Faulty Toilet Spray & Substandard Repair: The toilet jet spray wasn't functioning properly. While maintenance fixed it promptly, they left without cleaning up, forcing us to handle the post-repair mess ourselves.Disappointing Room Assignment• False Luxury Claims: At check-in, the receptionist assured us we had the highest-category room (excluding suites), only to find disappointing views from all three windows. The wing was labeled "Luxury" on the key cover, making us wonder how much worse things might be in their "Antique" wing!Customer Service & Complaint HandlingDespite sending multiple complaints and emails across eight addresses, the only response received was a generic, misspelled promise about forwarding concerns to the appropriate department:＞ “All those information have been taken carefully note and put forwarded to our related department to weather it and avoid similar occurences in the furture.”(Yes, the typos are theirs!)A Few Positives• Beautiful rooftop restaurant views• Helpful reception staff• Dedicated vegetarian section at breakfastFinal VerdictThis hotel might tick the necessary legal checkboxes for a five-star classification—room dimensions, specific amenities—but in terms of service quality, guest experience, and management, it falls short. A realistic rating would barely reach three stars.If they truly value their reputation, they should respond with real solutions—corrective actions and preventive measures, rather than vague reassurances.Would I return? Absolutely not - the place is surrounded by literally next-door 5 star properties - on all sides - Majestic, Riverie, Hilton, Renaissance, Sheraton are all much closer than they appear...

Overpriced hotel with very poor customer service. Not recommended.

New edit: The hotel's response below proves again - they don't care about clients. They didn't even read the review/comments and made the same unreasonable proposal - I need to fly from Canada to Saigon to get upgrade at this hotel. I've been there and have no plans to come back. There are so many interesting places in the world, including in Vietnam... It's a pity this hotel shows such unusual for Vietnam disrespect to the clients...

We booked this hotel to celebrate New Year on the hotels roof top restaurant in advance for a group of 6 people. However, the hotel placed 2 people out 6 on the 2nd floor - another party. After we insisted and shown the reservation , they moved us to the correct place, but quoted a wrong price ( as the hotel quests we were entitled for a discount). 2 hours was wasted on addressing this issue. Unfortunately the worst part was ahead of us.... The New Year dinner buffet was opened at 8 pm and all the food was out on the open air for more than 3 hours. The next morning, after the breakfast at the hotel, we tried to continue our trip. However, my wife started feeling sick, throwing up and even passed out 2 times. We brought her to the hospital and she was given medical treatment for several hours. Since during 20 hours prior to the sickness we have eaten only at the hotel, it's clear that the issue was caused by the hotel's food. Several hours later I had the same symptoms... Definitely, our 1st day of the year was ruined as we spent it at the hospital, all our arrangements for the tour were wasted, the following day we were very weak to continue as planned. We contacted the hotel and requested to address the issue. The answer was "... as you know the food poisoning is a big problem with us because it is not allowed to happen in the 5-star hotel upon the Vietnamese law of food safety and hygiene." They haven't tried to address the issue and 10 days later advised us that they dismiss our request. (proposed to stay in the hotel again and upgrade it next time. Sure, I will fly from Canada to enjoy such service again :-) Apparently, they worry and care only about themselves and not about their customers. During our trip we stayed at many hotels and all of them (even 3 and 4 stars) provided excellent service and did everything possible to make stays of their guests pleasant. Unfortunately this is not the case with the Grand. This is for sure not 5 stars hotel (don't even have a body lotion) and considering poor customer service and lack of customer focus, they hardly deserve 2. I highly DO NOT recommend this hotel to anyone. There are many nice hotels in this area and next to the market, where management indeed focuses on...