Citadines Bayfront — Local services in Nha Trang City

I stayed at Cetadines Nha Trang for 5 nights recently for the first time even though I visited Nha Trang many times before. I went away disappointed for a number of reasons, many can be fixed easily. I felt the hotel has a great potential to be “truly” 5 star hotel but it’s not there yet by any stretch of imagination. On positive notes, the front desk and concierge staff was very cordial, friendly, and eager to help contrasting to the dining staff serving breakfast doesn’t seem to care much. I enjoyed other amenities such as pool and gym. They are up to par relative to a 5-star rating. However, for me the negative side seems to be overwhelmingly dominated. Five observations stood out. First, my room smelled like a “smoking room” every morning. I did mention to the front desk but it seemed like nothing they can do about. So I had to endure a daily dose of second-hand smoking. Second, the bathroom has no electrical outlook for my wife to use the provided hair blower. She had to use outlets outside of the bathroom. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any convenient location so she could use the hair blower in front of the mirror. Third, most if not all electrical outlets had been so used or worn-out making them difficult to plug in. Fourth, both TVs in the room weren’t smart TV because they are relatively old. Lastly, we had to exchange the steam iron due to water leaking. Each observation by itself might not be annoying but compounding with multiple incidents would suggest a lack of customer caring mentality. Frankly, I do think the remedial cost is very minor: placing 1 way flow dampers at room exhausts to prevent smoking from adjacent rooms entering other guess room, changing out electrical outlets, adding Amazon stick or Google Chromecast, installing an ground fault electrical outlet in the bath room for hair dryer and periodically checking appliances their working cond. The total cost is less $100 USD. Wondering why it hasn’t happened yet! I stayed at Vinpearl Beachfront, Sunrise, both of which seem to offer a better value and services compared to Cetadines Beachfront...

We were traveling with three dogs from Danang to Ho Chi Minh City and stopped at this hotel along the way. The website states that dogs are accepted, so I booked through Booking.com. However, the regulations and prices for pets were not clearly explained.

After making the reservation, I received a confirmation directly from the hotel. I replied to inform them that we would be bringing three dogs, but never received any response. To be sure, I asked my staff to call the hotel directly. They were told that each room can only accommodate two dogs, and for three dogs we would need to book an additional room. This limitation was not mentioned anywhere online, and I had already booked a large, expensive room. Still, we followed the hotel’s instructions and reserved another room (for no real purpose) . My staff also confirmed with the hotel that the price already included the dog fees.

When we finally arrived at 9 pm, after a nine-hour drive, we were exhausted. At check-in, the staff suddenly asked us to pay 566,000 VND per dog (1.7 million VND in total). We were shocked and had a long discussion with the duty manager.

First, they ignored my earlier message, yet we complied and booked another room without complaint. Despite this, they still charged us an additional fee for the dogs upon arrival. On Booking.com there is only a vague note saying “a fee may be applied for pets,” with no mention of how much or of the two-dog-per-room restriction. This lack of clear information caused us major trouble during our trip with pets. I really hope they improve their communication so future guests don’t feel misled or frustrated at check-in.

That being said, the room itself was clean and the...

Stayed the first night of the 3 nights here with 2 separate rooms reserved. After long flight and a ride to get here. Got here after 2 pm yesterday, thinking the room was ready. They were not ready till after 3 pm. The lobby were over crowded with guests and mostly VNese tourists who were impatient and yelling loudly to each other. It was chaos. The staff did offer us to go up the 2nd level to wait. After the rooms were ready, one of the main door lock doesn’t work properly. Other room phone had no power, can’t call my kids. Had to called service to fix. Lock was Not fixed other than just explaining to me how to work around it.

Executive rooms are a bit smaller than picture. The hotel condition looks a little bit old. I keep my mind open, but the location is very good so far. I’ll see if this staff can be as good as they said. So far, I am not impressed.

Day 3 here at Citadines, I have to admit the atmosphere is very much improved from Tuesday on compared to the Monday afternoon when got here. It’s been really quiet, lobby are kept clean. Pool and lobby’s restrooms are kept very clean. Restaurant buffet staff are friendly and attentive. Good food selection. Fresh. Bed sheet, towels are clean. House keeping are top notch. I guess they were overwhelmed by the weekend amount of tour buses guests. I will make note of not visiting Nha Trang on weekends. Front desk are very responsive to our requests of fixing phones, clean the hallway due to people wet the floor from swimming.

I’ll change my rating to 4 stars with 1 left for...