Garrya Mù Cang Chải — Hotel in Yên Bái Province

Three days with no sleep in an ill-conceived, ill-prepared hotel

Me and my wife spent three nights in one of the fanciest rooms, all made out of bamboo. We were unable to sleep. Everyday a rooster woke us up at 3AM. It also woke up the dogs around the hotel. It was so loud that the animals seemed to be inside the room with us. Moreover, the AC was not working.

We complained to the front desk in the morning. Their reaction? They said it was my fault, and that I had probably placed the keycard incorrectly. As for the rooster, it is outside the property, so not their problem.

The hotel sent "engineers" to our room to check on the AC. They could not figure out what was the issue. They replaced the keycard and said that they hoped, I would like to stress, they HOPED, it would work on the following night. It didn’t.

Because of the sleep deprivation, we spent most of my days there feeling nauseous and dizzy. We barely ate and the food we ate made me feel like vomiting. The feeling is akin to a hangover mixed with a food poisoning.

On the last night, we tried to call the front desk. No one picked up the phone. My wife had to climb up all the hill until the main building to get someone's attention, which was not easy, since THERE WAS NO ONE THERE. She had to shout until some employee woke up.

How does a hotel not know that their room is noisy? How does a hotel not know whether the AC will work or not during the night? It is clear that they never tested anything. They designed it, it was beautiful on paper, they built it, and that’s it. They never tested it. They didn’t think it was a good idea to check for themselves, to spend a night on the product they are selling for a small fortune to see if it works. It would have taken one night. I am sure the rooster and the dogs were there before the hotel ever existed. I am sure that AC would have malfunctioned because the electrical wiring is not suitable.

Car companies test their cars with dummies before put them on the market. The hotel could have tested the rooms with their employees. It would not kill them, I can tell, I survived three days. However, it is clear right now that I was the first one to ever use the room. I guess I was the dummy in this case.

A hotel at this price rate cannot be anything but flawless. I spent a small fortune to stay there with my wife, trying to offer her something special. And all they staff had to give me was excuses (the rooster is not ours) and wishful thinking (we hope the AC works tonight)? A card in my room saying "we are sorry for your misfortune" just won't do. I don’t need your sympathy, and surely enough I won't give you mine. I want what I paid for. I won't be understanding. I lost money. I lost time. I lost my health. And I lost a chance to impress my wife.

Honestly, I think the hotel does not care. They just want my money. They know I will not go back there ever. They know that no one will read this review, only the photos at the top of the page, which, by the way, are soundless. They know this one review will not change their score. They just want to get you there. Once there, you will spend your money anyway. And then you leave forever, because normal people do not stay at this kind of hotel very often.

And the last resort of "I give you a discount" in the end just adds insult to injury, frankly. A trip to a hotel like this is a "once in a lifetime" kind of experience to many people, I dare to say to the majority of them. Once you have ruined someone's experience, it is done and you cannot go back.

"Luxury hotels" have insulation in their rooms. They have working ACs. They have 24-hour staff, and such a staff is trained for the usual, as well as for the unexpected. "luxury hotels" do not fail so epically in solving problems. But, most importantly, "luxury hotels" know that all those previous points must be checked and ensured before they open their doors to receive guests. This hotel...

Had a fabulous trip on the weekend with homies at the resort in early August. Before the high season of Mu Cang Chai usually starts. The resort has spectacular of bamboo architecture. Somehow I got told that it’s one of the largest bamboo structured building in the world. Arrived at dinner time 19:30 on Friday and dinners pre-booked were set menu with grilled salmon as main course, some shared dishes with local ingredients and BYO my own wines. The dining hall is one of the best location to dine in, every corners we sat thru out the trip are fulfilled with the amazing theatre of rice views of Mu Cang Chai. Took a look at the private room for 10 12 seaters, our crew were 6 so we did not take the private room for dinner. My routine was the buffet in the morning, I dragged till 10AM every day, few changes of seating station to enjoy all different views of the dining hall. Took time to go for a walk around the area us a must, landscapes are greenie, the buggy’s driver said can see whole walkway out there turns pink of the Hoa To Day, one of the species of Blossom. Took a sit on beans bags at one an open deck on the way, same thing with the theatre of rice view. The air is super clean, just watch out for insects, asked for the mosquito’s spray and all good. Back to gym afterward, same thing to the gym, the panorama view from the gym is one of the kind. After the gym we headed to wellness centre, first time seeing Vietnam some kind of scenic high end resorts equipped with so many different experiences of sauna, steam, cool room, high pressure shower, heated beds, so many many different things to try out, this wellness centre is a go-to place for sure. I did not took the massage session, went straight infinity pool at the common area to enjoy the sunset. Dinner on the second nights we definitely looking for the Charcoal Restaurant with impressive set up they got there. Well decorated with fine dining atmosphere. Unfortunately it was not open during our stay. After that, we tried the karaoke rooms, make sure about the pre booking, there are 5 rooms well integrated proper sound systems and Karaoke setups, all yours to be singers :)) we sang so much that we all lost our voice the next day. Been to Mu Cang Chai few times, had all different experiences but Garrya is the best one by far for healing and group stay with high end accomodations and services. Def come back in January for the...

Originally scheduled for 2 days here to celebrate our anniversary, but the typhoon, which hit Vietnam on late September, had some other ideas apparently. Due to landslides blocking the road we have to extend our stay to 3.5 days until one side of the road reopened. ||Even when the weather was awful the view here was mesmerising. Needless to say when the sky finally cleared up, Mam Xoi Hill (10 min away from hotel by motorbikes) offered some best views you could imagine for the terraced fields in autumn.||Regarding the hotel itself, excellent staff. They have arranged some frontline staff to keep in touch with us throughout the stay, like butlers: Jocelyn and Paul have been very very helpful, from settling our needs in resort, arranging spa and amenities, and ordering motorcycles to take us to the breathtaking views. With excellent attitude and attention to detail I am more than pleased. The weather greatly disrupted our travel plans, and we were stuck in resort for longer than we expected. But they still managed to cater our needs, and has kept us well informed of the progress. Once the road reopened they managed to secure transportation for us to return to Hanoi very very efficiently. They have helped us to deal with the extended visa issues as well (again sorry for all the troubles that may have generated to Paul and your colleagues) I would say 10/10.||We have had the anniversary dinner at their charcoal grill restaurant. Food quality exceeded my expectations, atmosphere was good (though the storm was raging outside the window, and creating transient power shortages lasting for seconds). Other meals at other days we went to their “Refresh” regular restaurants, there was a wide variety of selections of food.||We booked the Wellbeing Pool Suite. The room was more than comfy. Sadly we couldn’t really enjoy the pool a lot due to weather. Remember to close the door before sunset to stop insects coming in.||Spa was of very good quality as well.||Would...