Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel*****

Our brief comments:
Opening in 2005, the first Park Hyatt in Vietnam is a worthy member of the small group of Vietnam hotels that can truly be described as 'luxurious'.

It's located on Ho Chi Minh City's Lam Son Square, overlooking the Opera House and rubbing shoulders with the long established Caravelle and the swish Sheraton.

In keeping with its elite companions, the nine-storey 252-room Park Hyatt has a distinct identity transcending its membership of an international hotel group.

Walking through the entrance doors, a glance left or right indicates that this is a special hotel. The lobby and its attendant reception desk are small in comparison with the grand vistas of most upmarket hotels. Instead, the lobby is flanked by two areas that clearly define the hotel.

One's eyes are immediately drawn left to a floor-to-ceiling glass-backed wine rack in lieu of a wall. Visible behind is an ultra-modern Italian restaurant.

Turn right, and you're looking across a lounge redolent of a cross between a colonial period plantation mansion house and an early 1990's 'gentlemen's club'.

In rooms and public areas, original contemporary and traditional artworks by respected Vietnamese artists decorate the hotel.

This carefully-crafted juxtaposition of modern and traditional is used to effect throughout the hotel thus bridging the gap between 21st century convenience and traditional comfort.

Rooms with Regency desks with broadband internet access, marbled bathrooms with separate bath and 'rain-shower wet area', flat screen multi-channel TVs and replica planter-style bed frames are examples of hotel's remarkable design. The overall effect is a singular ambiance of cosy serenity.

Apart from the striking 'Opera' ground-level restaurant with a terrace for alfresco dining, there's the avant-garde 'Square One'.

It serves Vietnamese and 'Western' cuisines from a state-of-the-art open kitchen. Like the Opera, it has a terrace and a floor-to-ceiling wine rack.

On the recreational side, there's a deluxe spa with seven treatment rooms, a 20m pool and a fully equipped fitness room.

It's hard to fault the Park Hyatt Saigon - it has every facility you'd expect in a luxury hotel and more. The only obvious omission is a children's pool, but the hotel is well designed and supervised so it's not a serious exclusion.

Service is excellent - relaxed and understated. Staff members at all levels are genuinely welcoming and interested in the guests.

The Saigon Park Hyatt gets top marks for detail. High-quality organic toiletries, interior window shutters that obliterate night time traffic noise, lustrous hardwood floors and furniture, the sudden appearance of wickedly tempting chocolates, and much more besides - and this is for a standard room!

Breakfast in the Opera restaurant is a delight from the freshly-squeezed orange juice to the rich coffee topped up as soon as the level drops in your cup.

For visitors looking for the best that Vietnam can offer, the Park Hyatt scores highly. If you want a hotel with character, first-class facilities, a warm and friendly ambiance and an excellent location, you'll be unlikely to be disappointed.