Tam Cốc Luxury Homestay — Hotel in Ninh Bình Province

What a disastrous experience, I genuinely don’t know where the nice comments are coming from. These are miserable greedy people that only care to take money of you. If somehow they would take care of actually their guests, they would receive more visitors and get more money (we even would have eaten in their own restaurant at the corner!!).

Right from the start we booked a transfer with them from the Airport (1,2Million) which went quite bad at 11PM, as somehow they shared my name and details with half the town and someone else picked me up at the airport (see pictures). They didn’t even bother to apologise, nor give out an explanation.

That same night, we arrived 12AM all dirty from taking flight and walking all day in another city. We had to wait 30 minutes for the water to heat-up via the heater because they didn’t even bother to do it.

The next day we rented a motorbike, which broke due to nasty tires. This ruined our day and (after negotiation) they allowed us to use another bike for free the next day. What happened the next day? They charged us for the 1,5 days usage. Moreover, neither of the bikes had a gram of fuel, so the typical tourist would just re-fuel it to the max and they would keep taking the gas out. Really we’re talking about cheap and greedy people here.

One more example of this would be related to the fact we needed to book one more night with them due to a change of itinerary. They offered a miserable “discount” of not doing it via booking platform (considering booking usually charges 20% of fees). I should have booked via booking and made them pay their money.

In the end I don’t really care of spending a few more bucks, it is how they make me feel as guest and why I’m writing such a text. Which hopefully be of anyone’s use.

Last but not least, specifically related to the hotel, I don’t know why it is called luxury. Even if we wouldn’t have had a problem, it is not “luxury” and definitely not cheap compared to others. Nothing special about it, not even the breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, not even offering water or a 2nd cup of tea is an option for them.

The guy that was the visible face really seemed like hating his job and it made it feel to the rest.

I would suggest everyone avoid this place. I felt quite welcomed in every single place in south east Asia so far, this was a surprise for being quite the opposite.

Mountain view was the only nice...

The rooms are simple and clean but weren't serviced over the 3 nights we stayed. The location is excellent in that it is far enough from the town centre to be quiet, but not too far. There are bikes you can use free of charge to get around which is great. Unfortunately the character of the young men running the homestay is questionable. PLEASE DO NOT BOOK TRANSPORT with the homestay. We booked and paid for luxury limousine transport to Halong Bay that was to collect us at 1pm. At around 1.30pm they kindly drove us to the town centre saying it would meet us there. We ended up on a public bus driven by someone who clearly had a death wish. I messaged the homestay to say I wasn't happy. We were offered a part refund, was told the original car had been in an accident (yet nothing was said when my husband queried the transport that turned up). After messaging back & forth eventually we pull up at a stop and surprise surprise we are transferred to a luxury limousine bus. The passengers on board confirmed they boarded in Ninh Binh around 1pm and had been waiting at this stop for 30 minutes (obviously waiting for our public bus to catch up to them) I messaged the homestay about the dishonest behaviour. I'll give them credit for arranging the driver to refund most of what we paid. I'm not in the habit of writing bad reviews but there was just too much here that didn't add up. Proceed with caution if you decide to book additional extras...

Sadly this place no longer lives up to its previous great reviews. When our family arrived we were given a key and map and left to it. Very different from the warm and welcoming homestays we have previously stayed at. The yard was neglected and there was lots of old rubbish around. The pool was green and furry. The room did not look anything like the pictures and they told us they had recently downgraded. It was dark and dusty and not lovely, however the sheets on the bed were clean and the mosquito net was a good idea. The room was quite small with no space to put our bags but there was one hanging rack to the side. It is in a quiet location at the base of a mountain and can walk into town about 1km but I think there are much better options with improved rooms, service and grounds with a lovely outlook across rice fields nearby. They did waive our cancellation fee and we paid to stay for one night while we looked for other accomodation. (Which we found at the same price but absolutely lovely and stylish, clean and tidy and the most welcoming family) With some care and effort I hope Tam Coc Luxury Homestay can improve and live up to...