Khách sạn Bông Sen Sài Gòn — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

The girl who spoke English at reception was 1st class on service. The girl who didn't tended to drop the phone down, and leave you sitting like a fool, should know to hand over to the multilingual staff! I have stayed here a lot in the past, and was looking forward to seeing a renovated room. I was given a non renovated room, with a bath/shower, the shower being wall fixed shorter than me. So ducking under was necessary, and in a very narrow bathtub, it was a bit precarious. No way would it be suitable for anyone over my own fairly agile 60 years. I did enquire about a renovated room, and the very helpful girl showed me the room I used to stay in, a few years back. I was very disappointed with the fact that there was zero desk, despite having acres of wall space. How utterly mindless is the room designer to provide just enough counter for the TV to sit on, then radius cut the remainder back to a depth of about 20cm, rendering it absolutely useless, to hold anything at all! It is typical of the country though. Not great thinkers. You certainly do not want that style if room if you have laptop work, it writing to do. So that room was out, and my room, with a old fashioned, but perfectly effective desk, was where I remained, and happy enough, despite the charming blue bathroom, with white loo seat. At least the towels were not on a shelf above the toilet. I really dislike that. The breakfast is always a superb selection, and the staff very attentive and friendly. My one criticism is that the cook cannot fry a egg. The pan is way too hot, and the top never cooked through. She was also intent on cooking about 5 plates in advance and lining them up. So they were cold, no thanks! I can't do cold eggs, unless hard boiled in a salad. I showed her an old trick to allow the eggs to cook through; just score around the yolk with the spatula, to allow the heat through the thicker white, but she's in too much of a hurry to live. That said, it's a good place, in a good location, close to Annam Gourmet for...

Excellent nine night stay at this hotel. We booked into a Junior Suite and we were extremely happy with the spacious and quiet accommodation. The hotel is older but very well maintained and the room furnishings and fixtures were quite nice. The room was spotlessly clean and the housekeeping staff did an excellent job daily. The location is central, in the Đồng Khởi area, with a variety of attractions and restaurants nearby. The ground floor restaurant was excellent, with an extensive daily breakfast buffet included in our stay. Service was excellent, and staff (including restaurant, housekeeping, and doormen) were all extremely friendly and helpful. Front desk staff were also friendly and accommodating, but requests sometimes went awry (we were shown us a standard room to our satisfaction before booking and upon request we were told that no suites were available, but we were immediately able to book a suite online through Agoda ourselves while standing at the front desk; twice, deliveries arrived and we were told they would be brought to my room, but each time I ended up going down to the door desk an hour later to retrieve them myself) - I am willing to write these small incidents off to language issues. I would return and I recommend this...

The hotel is a historic colonial-style structure. It had a very nice atmosphere. The rooms had been renovated and all the furnishings were new and recent in design. There is a large bathtub, so I was able to fill it with hot water and rest my body. The breakfast buffet was very satisfying with many varieties. The ground floor was full of Christmas mood at the time of the year. I have stayed in many hotels in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, but this hotel seemed very slow in terms of internet connection. I don't know if it was just the room I stayed in, but I was disappointed in this respect, as I was using the hotel for business. I would hesitate to stay at the hotel if I thought the internet connection would be slow again next time. The room facilities, breakfast, and location are troubling because of...