Hanoi Hotel****

Our brief comments:
The Hanoi Hotel opened in 1993 as an eleven-storey tower block overlooking the Giang Vo Lake. In 1997, a seventeen-story block in an identical style to the original building was added to create two wings linked by a large two-storey reception lobby. The result gives the hotel a monolithic appearance which belies its interior.

Despite its location - a fifteen-minute drive from the city centre - it's a popular hotel. The reception area is spacious, with corridors to the two sets of lifts that serve the two wings.

Accommodation in the two wings is virtually identical, apart from darker wood fittings and furniture, a different colour scheme and smaller room sizes.

The standard rooms have good quality furniture, beds and soft furnishings and a pleasantly-muted colour scheme.

Bathrooms are average size, but have unusually low baths, a boon for the elderly but not much use for a prolonged soak.

The Superior standard accommodation deserves its name by virtue of an attached sitting room area, effectively making the rooms into mini-suites.

The massage and sauna complex is a feature of the hotel. Apart from dry and wet saunas, there are three Jacuzzi, cold, warm and hot, allowing health-conscious guests to indulge in the correct therapeutic regime.

Another attractive feature is a good ground-floor Chinese restaurant, one side of which lets on to a terrace for lakeside dining when the weather is suitable. The international restaurant is located on a mezzanine floor accessed by the lifts in the new wing.

Despite its rather foreboding external appearance, the Hanoi Hotel is worth considering if you don't mind a short taxi journey into the central tourist area.

Inspected February 2005

Room facilities:

Room Categories (Old Wing/New Wing)	Standard (new)	Superior (new)	Exec. Suite (new)	Standard (original)	Superior (original)	Exec. Suite (original)
Number of rooms	108	14	15	27	17	16
Air-conditioner
Satellite television
Shower or bath
Bath with shower
Bath + separate shower
Personal safety box
Coffee and tea facilities
Laptop connection
Free broadband access
Extra bed
Child's cot
Room size (m2)	28	36	44	26	30	40
View	lake/city	lake/city	lake/city	lake/city	lake/city	lake/city

Additional room facilities:

Hotel facilities:

Outdoor pool		Non-smoking floor(s)	2
Pool bar		Non-smoking rooms only	n/a
Fitness/health centre		Vietnamese/Asian restaurant
Sauna		International restaurant
Massage		Patisserie/coffee shop/cafe
Jacuzzi*		Business centre

Additional hotel facilities: *Jacuzzi in massage/sauna centre