JW Marriott Hotel & Suites Saigon — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

My original booking was for 5 nights, but I stayed at the JW Marriott Hanoi hotel for one night: July 20th, 2025. Below are my views on good (+) and not-good (-) about this hotel. In the end, my final evaluation (the number of stars) is heavily based on the quality of my interactions with staff as a guest and a loyal member. ||||Good things:||+ The breakfast restaurant had a large number of items, though it was super crowded and chaotic.||+ The gym is nice with enough equipment. The outdoor pool looks wonderful (I didn’t try, but walked around it) with a small green garden next to it.||+ The hotel is at the heart of the city, and thus you could walk to many attractions close by.||||Not-good things: Compared to other JW Marriott hotels, this is by far the worst I have ever encountered from outside to the inside (see below):||- The people who escorted guests in front of the hotel didn’t even care to open the door when our Grab taxi arrived.||- Compared to JW Marriott Hanoi, they do not have a person (holding a manager position) to welcome an ambassador member (to make you feel special as an elite member). Even there was a club lounge supervisor, he didn’t even care to come out to greet me (see the next item)||- Though they had at least a suite available, they didn’t upgrade me until I told them that if they did not welcome me, I would stay a night and check out to another hotel. Then the person who (just passed the probation after working there for 2 months) checked me in said that she would come in and talk to her manager. A few minutes later, a lounge supervisor came out and said that they would upgrade me a suite. ||- Their welcome gift was by far the worst compared to all hotels that I stayed in this trip (clearly far worst compared to JW Marriott Hanoi): a few fruits and two bottles of tonic water. ||- Moving from Vinpearl Landmark 81 to this JW Marriott (which is higher in the chain), I expected a better welcome (or at least the same as the JW Marriott Hanoi). However, given the above under-treatment which appeared to me that they didn’t care about my staying at their hotel, I was too disappointed that I asked them to change my reservation to only 1 night (instead of 5 nights as in the original booking). They asked if a manager could come and talk to me, but by that time, it was too late and I do not have the mood to talk to any of their team. It was the right decision, as the Sheraton Opera Saigon, where I moved to, was the best in terms of recognizing ambassador elite (see my reviews for Sheraton Opera Saigon hotel). One would expect JW Marriott, which is supposed to be a higher standard, to be better, but this JW Marriott Saigon was not (by far).||- At the breakfast restaurant, the staff didn’t even pay attention to taking my used dishes away (only when I asked them to do so). My observations at other tables showed that they focused on foreigners, though, I bet, most of them are not even ambassador members. ||- Their whole operations from outside to inside left me with the impression that they treated Vietnamese people (I was excited to speak to them in Vietnamese as I am a Vietnamese American) differently at this hotel (in a negative sense, of course).||- The checked-in night, when I was outside, an assistant manager of the front desk sent me a note and a bottle of champagne apologizing for their mistreatment (I didn’t touch the champagne, of course). Oanh, the front desk manager, came to see me the following morning when I was at breakfast and tried to explain the situation, but at that moment, I lost interest in this hotel. Though she showed some sincere regrets, it was too late. ||- I already told my personal ambassador to talk to them about my 25th anniversary at this hotel, but my personal ambassador missed this hotel from the list of hotels. Nevertheless, even without a note from my personal ambassador, they should have done a better job in welcoming an ambassador to their hotel. Their team should learn from the teams of Vinpearl Landmark and...

My original booking was for 5 nights, but I stayed at the JW Marriott Hanoi hotel for one night: July 20th, 2025. Below are my views on good (+) and not-good (-) about this hotel. In the end, my final evaluation (the number of stars) is heavily based on the quality of my interactions with staff as a guest and a loyal member.

Good things: The breakfast restaurant had a large number of items, though it was super crowded and chaotic. The gym is nice with enough equipment. The outdoor pool looks wonderful (I didn’t try, but walked around it) with a small green garden next to it. The hotel is at the heart of the city, and thus you could walk to many attractions close by.

Not-good things: Compared to other JW Marriott hotels, this is by far the worst I have ever encountered from outside to the inside (see below): The people who escorted guests in front of the hotel didn’t even care to open the door when our Grab taxi arrived. Compared to JW Marriott Hanoi, they do not have a person (holding a manager position) to welcome an ambassador member (to make you feel special as an elite member). Even there was a club lounge supervisor, he didn’t even care to come out to greet me (see the next item) Though they had at least a suite available, they didn’t upgrade me until I told them that if they did not welcome me, I would stay a night and check out to another hotel. Then the person who (just passed the probation after working there for 2 months) checked me in said that she would come in and talk to her manager. A few minutes later, a lounge supervisor came out and said that they would upgrade me a suite. Their welcome gift was by far the worst compared to all hotels that I stayed in this trip (clearly far worst compared to JW Marriott Hanoi): a few fruits and two bottles of tonic water. Moving from Vinpearl Landmark 81 to this JW Marriott (which is higher in the chain), I expected a better welcome (or at least the same as the JW Marriott Hanoi). However, given the above under-treatment which appeared to me that they didn’t care about my staying at their hotel, I was too disappointed that I asked them to change my reservation to only 1 night (instead of 5 nights as in the original booking). They asked if a manager could come and talk to me, but by that time, it was too late and I do not have the mood to talk to any of their team. It was the right decision, as the Sheraton Opera Saigon, where I moved to, was the best in terms of recognizing ambassador elite (see my reviews for Sheraton Opera Saigon hotel). One would expect JW Marriott, which is supposed to be a higher standard, to be better, but this JW Marriott Saigon was not (by far). At the breakfast restaurant, the staff didn’t even pay attention to taking my used dishes away (only when I asked them to do so). My observations at other tables showed that they focused on foreigners, though, I bet, most of them are not even ambassador members. Their whole operations from outside to inside left me with the impression that they treated Vietnamese people (I was excited to speak to them in Vietnamese as I am a Vietnamese American) differently at this hotel (in a negative sense, of course). The checked-in night, when I was outside, an assistant manager of the front desk sent me a note and a bottle of champagne apologizing for their mistreatment (I didn’t touch the champagne, of course). Oanh, the front desk manager, came to see me the following morning when I was at breakfast and tried to explain the situation, but at that moment, I lost interest in this hotel. Though she showed some sincere regrets, it was too late. I already told my personal ambassador to talk to them about my 25th anniversary at this hotel, but my personal ambassador missed this hotel from the list of hotels. Nevertheless, even without a note from my personal ambassador, they should have done a better job in welcoming an ambassador to their hotel. Their team should learn from the teams of Vinpearl Landmark and...

Recently stayed in the residential suite and it was mostly good. Nice size 2 bedroom suite with kitchen, dining, and living room with two bathrooms and washing machine. Great for families on holiday. Short walk to the city centre and surrounding shops and eateries. The hotel buffet was included in our suite price and was very good. Lots of variety for all tastes. The restaurant staff were courteous and provided excellent service.

The room cleaning staff were excellent, did a great job of servicing the room and were very respectful. "Some" of the reception and bell boys/door staff also provided service of a high calibre.

Now the not so good.... (Bearing in mind this used to be The Intercontinental and had only transitioned to JW Marriot not long ago.) The suite bathrooms were fairly run down and definitely in need of a refurbishment, walls are badly water stained and have serious lime scale on them, floors are very worn and in bad shape. A few cracked tiles which have been poorly repaired. Toilet roll holder was broken and the washing machine wasn't working when we first arrived but the maintenance staff managed to fix it. Safe door ran out of batteries so didn't work. The biggest disappointment was the rudeness of some of the reception staff at the front desk on the residential side (one or two in particular). Whether it was asking for change for smaller denominations, enquiring about extending our stay for a few nights or just general questions, we were always on the receiving end of rudeness and arrogance which we did not appreciate. This isn't a language barrier thing either as my wife is Vietnamese and we both experienced the same outcome in English and Vietnamese separately. Same with the door men on both the hotel and residential side. On arrival, my wife had my 2 kids and 3 large suitcases and arrived at the hotel side and had to transition over to to residential side. The doorman helped her with her bags to the front of the hotel and then found out she was going to the residential side and left her to sort herself out. Just literally walk away without question. I, however arrived by myself with one bag and was escorted by the doorman all the way to the residential side without question, even was helped with my bag. I'm white Australian. We noticed the same mentality when the doormen would open the front door or car doors. We would receive the full service if I was with my family but my wife and kids would be left to their own devices it they were without me. We also arrived back one day and got out of the taxi with a small quantity of Durian which we just purchased. One doorman proceeded to quite offensively tell us off for trying to bring it into the hotel and advise there was a $200US fine for having it in the room. We were happy to throw it out but advised him that at no stage were we notified and there were also no signs posted like we have seen in so many other hotels. We didn't appreciate the verbal attack, a nice friendly tone would have been better. Overall we had a nice stay but didn't feel like we were at a five star hotel. The service issues definitely let this place down. I hope things will be ironed out by the time we return. These were our experiences but I would still recommend staying here. Hopefully your experience is...