LeBlanc Saigon — Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City

CLIFF NOTES: I made several requests to speak to manager Stefan, every time he refused to talk to me on the phone. Even when the employee had him on the other line repeating what he was saying, he declined to speak to me on the phone or come in to resolve the issue.

Aside from the remainder of items described in detail below, their main flaw is communication.

That evening, I was offered a reduced price; which you will find to be the case in most hotels in the area. Therefore, the reservation with Agoda I was told would be canceled and that I could pay for the hotel in person at a price given.

In the morning, after breakfast, I was told room would be clean when I returned and that I would be able to pay for the additional nights upon my return, as I was in a hurry to leave for a meeting across town. Upon returning there was someone else working the front-desk and said that he didn't know anything about what was mentioned earlier and that I had five minutes to vacate the room.

After the front-desk personnel contacting Stefan several times nothing was rectified and again, Stefan refused to speak to me. On top of that, instead of doing what was mentioned and canceling the night with Agoda, he attempted to charge the additional night through Agoda for my "late" checkout. It wouldn't have been a late check-out had they kept their word and retained me as a guest for the additional night; as promised.

With any horrible experience, there is always a silver-lining... Which there are MANY more hotels in the area and all over Saigon that is far better for far less.. More importantly, everywhere else I stayed during my visit was less expensive and service was 100% better. Do yourself a favor, keep searching other hotels... District 5 is okay, but there are 24 beautiful districts to visit during your stay. Don't merely remain at one, visit a few. Worth the time to experience a truly local experience. Other than that, Vietnam is AMAZING!

SERVICE Service - was Hit or Miss One day not too long ago this was a 100% family-owned business. It was effortless to know who was family from the dramatic difference in service and hospitality.

Unhappily, their lack of communication amongst each other and the guest would be the worse; if I felt like they had any in the first place.

If deciding to stay at this hotel or any others, I would profoundly recommend that whatever is communicated that you don't accept verbal no matter how big of a smile they have on their face that you have them write it down.

ROOM Room was basic and located on the third-level. Not sure how they told me it was on the first floor since I had to take two flights of stairs up to my room; as there are no elevators.

Like other reviews, the rooms desperately require a fresh coat of paint; as are notably nasty.

Word of caution warning in regards to the shower - There are only two temperatures. Deathly hot or warm, as there is no cold water and locating that warm spot can be as simple as turning the nozzle all the way to one end and hope that it still isn't too hot.

WIFI RECEPTION Even with full Wifi bars, the WiFi was extremely slow with weak security protocols on all levels, but especially anything on floor 2 or above.

FLOOR 1 First Test - 9:53 pm Tuesday Night 3.20 Download 17.9 Upload

Second Test - 10:20 pm Tuesday Night 2.84 Download 6.93 Upload

FLOOR 2 - HIGHER *Network to slow to retrieve a Speed Test

LOCATION Located on a narrow side street surrounded by both commercial and residential property.

The nearest "official" vegetarian restaurant is less than 190 meters. Unfortunately, I would strongly recommend exploring other options, if staying in this area.

AT THE END OF THE DAY Believe what you read on some of the reviews on about this hotel because even remaining positive I have found out the hard way that such things as; Chaotic and noisy area. limited breakfast Poor service attitude is also impatient Quite loud outside of the hotel what with construction and locals coming in and out...

Nice for the first couple of nights upon landing in Vietnam. Good location: only 20 minutes by taxi out of the airport, and less than 1/2 hour on foot to Notre Dame cathedral and Dong Khoi. Look at other reviews for the detailed location (in the alley just West of the Petrolimex gas station). Watch out for taxi scams at the airport: we managed to avoid most traps by avoiding all kiosks inside and outside the airport and going directly to the official taxi stands outside left of the door; right there we were accosted by a guy who acted like the supervisor/dispatcher: even though we refused his price (300K) and said we would pay the meter, the taxi driver told us at the destination that he had set the price to USD 10 (225K) and that he had to pay the middle man... Not exactly sure how to avoid that until they decide to clean then system on their own (not an issue for the $10, but puts the entire system in doubt). As for the hotel- Reasonably clean room (there were two dried-out contact lenses left on the small table which wasn't too clean otherwise either, and another few similar details). Bed is hard, even for me who likes firm mattresses. Apparently clean bathroom as well. However, shower doesn't have its own stall, so you'll splash everything (not a big deal, just surprising). They were out of toilet paper though on our first morning after we finished the few available squares ("the market where we buy it is closed today"...). Little furnishing. Newly painted (the theme is white). The air-conditioning was set to the minimum (17C) and made the temperature just right for the night (well above 17C). The wifi always worked, but often very slow. Don't have too high expectations for breakfast: an egg, "wonder" bread (pale white), a sausage, jam, peanut butter and coffee (we tried the "espresso" machine for 20K: never repeated...). If you need a SIM card: an employee indicated a small store just across the road from the lane, and actually came with us and translated. Paid 60K for a Viettel nano-SIM with 3GB of data (no time limit apparently). Of course, won't be sure of what I purchased for another until it stops working, but the lady seemed honest, and everything works as expected after a few days and 200 MB. Would have purchased it at the airport, but nobody was at the Viettel stands which I wanted for their coverage; others were trying to sell SIMs for 290K... Much appreciated assistance from the hotel person. He was the only one to speak relatively well in English, but only the first morning. Generally, the others could make themselves understood. Overall, this feels like a small operation that is still learning, but really...

Bad experience! We fully charged, although not staying at the hotel! In our arrival, it took a very long time to find our booking, with no English speaker at the hotel. The receptionist used a bad translation app that made trouble with communication and a lot of misunderstanding. We find out the room on the 3rd floor (no elevator as mentioned) and nobody to help with luggage. Narrow stairs, high floor (one of us is 71 years old and had trouble). We offered another room outside in different part of the hotel (very strange entrance) when the AC was not cooling at all, even after we stayed to check it. For this room, they ask for 100,000 VD more, although it was very hard to understand that. We asked everything 3 times till we have got the right answer. The reception is not at all like in the photos. We talked in the phone with the English speaker manager (bad communication all the way), who confirmed our leaving and canceling of the booking because of all the above, and left after very long exhausting time (something like 90 minutes). The manager was denying it all in Agoda conversations and did not refund us at all, and we paid for 3 nights without staying there. Very bad attitude. We called to discuss the refund, too, but in the end, he hung up the call with as. We didn't have this kind of experience in all of Vietnam. We traveled a lot, and things like that never happened to us. Check carefully all the details in advance if you really book this hotel, that unfortunately, we do not...