La Memoria Hotel — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

The remodeled hourly motel Khach San Phuong Anh Sai Gon (more like a nha nghi,) truly disappoints to the point where if I could turn back time, I would never have stayed here.

Best bet. Come for the selfie or a romp in the afternoon, but that’s it.

Here’s are my impressions of the hotel so you’ll understand why I’ll never be back:

Location: although the hotel is close to the entertainment district and major thoroughfares, Nguyen Trai and Tran Hung Dao, if you have to walk anywhere, you’ll likely have to cross the failed Alpha King project which is also affectionately known as the urinal of Saigon. You cannot un-smell that place and it’s literally 10 meters from the entrance of the motel.

Reception: on first arrival, interaction was a bit weird with old Auntie signaling me into the property entrance (which was pretty clearly the entrance) and old Uncle insisting to carry my bags to my room. Just made me feel uncomfortable from the start.

The reception area has been ruined with various pieces of junk and plastic chairs strewn about, ruining the atmosphere and aesthetic of the hotel.

It has come to my attention that the lobby of the hotel is used as a waiting area from time to time for a local bus company’s passengers. Yes! The lobby of the hotel is a bus stop. Ahh, the ingenuity of the Vietnamese to make money at the expense of the enjoyment of the paying guests!

Internet: internet at the hotel was unusable. I had to switch rooms to try to get more tolerable internet but most mornings were spent struggling to do my work. Missing breakfast regularly, pushing back offsite meetings in order to meet deadlines, etc. later bought a sim card for internet use in my suite. Had to pay through the nose for my data but that’s how confounding these situations can be.

Noise level: don’t expect the rooms to be quiet and peaceful. You’ll have to tolerate sounds from other guests which should be fine. Honking from traffic outside isn’t that bad but then again, I’ve lived in Vietnam for many years so I’m probably acclimatized.

One incident - a guest’s bike alarm was constantly sounding super early in the morning on the last day of my stay. I guess I’m up now. No sleep in today! Staff’s response? Nothing. They didn’t care to address the problem.

Breakfast: not sure if they offer free breakfast every day. At check in, they took my breakfast order for the next morning which I attended, ate and though was ok. After the first day, I was too busy fighting with the internet to attend on time. Kitchen is completely closed after breakfast time. No coffee, no soup, no juice, no water, nothing available after the designated time.

Room comfort: no black out blinds, you can sleep with a pillow on your head. Kind of. Pillows are hard as rocks so you it will easily fall off your head while you’re trying to shield your face from the external light leaking into the suite. Suggest an eye mask.

Bathroom: in two rooms (308 and 209), drainage in the shower was a problem. I asked the staff to address in both cases but I suspect there’s not much they can do. You’ll have to deal with a flooded, slimy floor every time you shower.

Air conditioning: A/C units are old. They will eventually reach temperature but it will take hours.

F&B onsite: no food and beverage onsite except for the welcome breakfast.

Other items to note: the elevator is extremely finicky. The buttons don’t register properly so you have to jam your finger on the buttons to make it work properly.

Housekeeping: the housekeeper will not clean the room if the room is occupied. Call front desk to ask for cleaning if you’re working in the room. A couple days I ran out of toilet paper/towels.

Speaking of which…

Toilet paper: the cheapest stuff you can find in Vietnam. Completely inhospitable.

Overall: this hotel is just a total facepalm. My operating cost at this hotel was higher than if had booked the Pullman down the street. (I won’t stay at the Pullman for other reasons but pricing compared, my cost per day was higher dealing with the clownery at...

Absolutely recommend this hotel. Personal is sooo nice and helpful. The room is spacious enough for comfortable stay. Bed is big and with nice new mattress. You have enough storage place, which is sometimes a problem in hotels. Bathroom was clean and good looking, with big shower and a lot of hot water. If you want to spend some time in common area, you have 3 of them. One is with great view of the city and other two with pool view. Pool is great for everyone, we seen some kids there. But still you can get kinda private time there. Breakfast was soooo tasty!! Small selection (how some people can say), but for us it was enough. Location - very good. You have few 7-11 around, some restaurants and shops. Bui Vien Walking street is in 4 min walk. Staff was the friendliest we ever seen in hotels! They helped with every question that we had. I will 1000% stay in this hotel again while visiting HCMC ❤️ For this price in HCMC - this is a really good stay. We spent over 1 month in Vietnam and this hotel...

Friendly staff, clean place, the twin on the 3 floor with balcony , air con, flat screen tv with English movie Chanel , fridge, bath and shower toilet. Situated in the back street of the Main Street attraction Bui Vien there is no noise like music and crowd shutting . If you wanted to sleep at night get far away from the Bui Vien Street . The hotel is situated not far away from the public bus station . At the airport take the 152 bus situated just after the exit door cross the 2 car/bus paths then on your right the bus is there direct to the big place market where you stop. The cost 2500 pp + baggage = 20 cents American the taxis =US8...