Shilla Monogram Danang — Hotel in Quảng Nam Province

I wouldn’t choose to stay here again, and I’ll explain why—though I’ll also aim to give a balanced view of the hotel overall.

Briefly my booking confirmation stated:

"All charges will be made on check-out", and "A credit card or cash is required at check-in to guarantee incidentals."

However, on arrival: I was required to pay the full amount of the stay upfront (not a major issue, but contrary to the booking terms and some may not be prepared for it). I was also told to pay a VND 2 million (~£60) per night security deposit, in cash or on a card. This was not a hold or pre-auth—it was an actual charge to my card.

When I questioned this, I was told it was in the confirmation email. The next day I showed them my actual confirmation email, which said no such thing. There was no apology or explanation.

This meant that for a short stay of around £500, I had to pay around £800 upfront.

The rest of the hotel experience was fine, but for me, this issue overshadowed the stay.

So putting that partially aside (assuming management/owners fix this) here is my review of the other aspects of the hotel.

Located around a 35 minutes drive from Da Nang airport, it's only around £7 in a Grab car to get to the hotel (make sure you have the app downloaded, registered and your payment card authorised in the app). The pickup location is indicated from leaving arrivals hall and is just over the road to the left.

Arriving at the hotel you enter to a comfortable, large foyer area with a bar that closes at 11pm (but last orders are at 10.30pm although this is not noted anywhere). The reception staff were friendly and check-in was smooth (security deposit aside).

Standard rooms are very spacious and airy with a small table and a couple of chairs, very comfortable beds for a good nights sleep, a wet room with a shower and bath (some may find the wet room an annoyance) and a separate toilet. Beware the bidet function on the toilet (keep the kids away as they may like to play with it!), it's quite powerful and testing it the jet departed the toilet, hurtled over the sink bench in the room and managed to hit the end of the bed! Prepare yourselves for that!

The sink is actually in the main room hidden from the sleeping area by a mirror and has an open clothes hanging area, safe (large enough for a 16inch laptop which is great), kettle, small fridge. There are 2 bottles of water provided daily (if you have used the previous days) and the fridge/mini-bar has a couple of beers, couple of drinks and couple of snacks that are free for the first use and payable after that. The aircon would only get my room down to 22 degrees which is perfect after a hot day but some may prefer it to get a little cooler during the night as the duvets are soft, comfortable and keep you warm.

There is a small freestanding clock by the bed that ticks and to sleep I had to remove the battery each evening!

I didn't have the pool view but the balcony (spacious with 2 chairs small table and a clothes airer) was very pleasant and the view was, to the left the walkways of the front hotel wing but to the right of that over land to the sea so was perfectly acceptable and pleasant to sit and have a coffee and read. If you want to people watch you really would benefit from a pool view.

Breakfast is served in the lowest floor from 7am to 10.30am. It is a very good selection catering for different nationalities. There are hot options, an omellete station (very good and fast), pastries, fresh juices and fruits, various tea and coffee options, salads, cheese and even ice cream. Could not fault the breakfast and it's one of the better options I have seen.

Outside at the front to the left as you head out to the beach are 3 small plunge pools for quiet relaxation (I never saw anybody using them). Then there are 3 main pools with the furthest by the beach being for adults and was the warmest. A reasonable length of you want to get some swimming in. Beyond this is the beach which is lovely and sandy with warm water although beware jellyfish depending on the...

This is my 4th time staying at Shilla Monogram. Every time, I'm very impressed by the professional and friendly staffs, and the facilities/rooms that are maintained with great hygiene. During my previous and current stay at Shilla, I made many lovely friends as they always make my trip memorable.

Whenever I go to Dining M for meals, NhungLe the manager greets me and my family with a warm smile and always checks in on us and gives recommendations for sightseeing in Danang. Just like my previous stays at Shilla, Soohyuk (Kevin) helped with making this foreign environment feel like home with his ability in speaking fluent Korean. Although Linh (without glasses) is not a native Korean speaker, she tries her best in learning Korean and greets us and serves us in Korean. She is a very hardworking person. Linh (with glasses) is a trainee who doesn't seem like a trainee. She's very professional and greets us many times a day with a lovely smile. Hoa (with glasses) gives positive energy that washes away all the tiredness and exhaustion from travelling. Whenever she approaches, she instantly lifts up our moods. Hoa (without glasses) is another professional and hardworking person who seems very happy with whatever she does. She always makes sure that we are having the most wonderful time. Yen (along with many other staffs at Shilla) remembered me and my family from our previous stays at Shilla. She made us very happy when she recognized us and greeted us with bright smiles. Thuong also doesn't forget about us and welcomes us every time we come back to Danang. She expresses how happy she is to see us again, which also makes us very happy.

Although we don't eat mango bingsu every single day, Phuong who serves delicious mango bingsu at the lobby still remembered and recognized us from our previous stays which made us very happy. Whenever we go to the lobby to enjoy mango bingsu, we feel very welcomed by Phuong and other staffs working at the lobby.

Youngin, a Korean staff from the front office helped us make the most out of our trip by introducing and answering questions about Shilla Monogram in Korean language. She's very friendly, approachable, and informative. We enjoyed communicating with her.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang. We appreciate and want to thank all the staffs for gifting us another unforgettable trip. We would like to...

We booked a Deluxe Ocean view, which is a lower room type. So we don't have a view to the pools, but still a nice view to the sea and the construction site next to the premises.

The positive side: an A for breakfast. Lots of choices, all of which are super fresh and tasty. There are many healthy options, too. The guests are mainly Korean, so the breakfast atmosphere is calm and quiet, and not pushing or cutting through a queue. The tables are well managed and no guests have problems with finding a table. I really appreciated Ms Nhung Le (or Nhung Nguyen, I can't remember her name exactly) and Yen who work at the restaurant because they were very friendly to us and always had a smile on their faces anytime they went to us. On the other hand, many staff at the restaurant and lobby are just standardly polite but not friendly (the exception was an intern named Thuong at the lobby (hopefully I remember his name correctly) who was super friendly and helpful. When he told his colleague that he was helping us to bring the luggage to the room because our two toddlers were sleeping and we had no hands for the luggage, his colleague showed a surprised look and looked at me as if I was asking for too much (in fact I just asked if I could just leave our bags in the lobby for a while to bring the kids up and would come down to get them). Don't be surprised if you don't see smiles from the staff here because it's rare!

About the pools: four beautiful pools, some are not too warm thanks to the shade of the trees and the building. Just be careful of the many steps because you and your kids might strip or hit easily.

About the room: The room size is spacious enough to feel okay. We went out and returned after 13:00 and the room was still not made up. When we first received our room, there was hair on the floor and the bar counter in the room, and sticky dirts on the handle which you can see in the attached picture.

Environmentally friendly: not really since shampoo, shower gel and conditioner are offered in small plastic bottles. Soap are served in bars.

Overall experience: your stay is good but not great. Okay for a 2-night, maximum...