This is my first non-Bonvoy trip of the year!

After plotting out my Bonvoy Titanium renewal, I decided to focus on Accor in an attempt to see if I can regain my long lost Platinum status. And in line with my obsession with new-ish hotels, I was super happy to find an Accor property that was offering rather reasonable rates even for an Executive Room so that sealed the deal yay.

Address – 9 Cat Linh, Quoc Tu Giam, Dong Da, 10000 Hanoi, Vietnam. Website.

Contact – Tel: +84 24 3211 5757. Email: H6936@accor.com.

Location (website) – the property is not located near the French/Old Quarter which is kind of where the heart of the city is, but rather a little off, in Hanoi’s historic Dong Da District near several monuments and relics. This includes the neighbouring Temple of Literature and Hang Day Stadium and nearby Museum of Fine Arts and Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. There’s not much in the immediate vicinity of the hotel and give the hectic traffic scene, getting a Grab to head elsewhere is a much comfier option.

Price – SGD185++ per night booked directly on Accor’s site for an Executive Twin Beds (32SqM) which I thought was a steal as it includes club access where breakfast and dinner /drinks are all covered.

Pre-arrival – I had a couple of email correspondences with the property on my few requests and I politely asked about the chances of getting an upgrade to a Suite as a Gold member and the property noted that I didn’t mind a king bed configuration if there was a space-available upgrade at check in.

Getting There – The hotel was charging VND1,200,000 (~SGD62) for their airport pick up so we decided to book our own on Klook which cost only SGD18 – yay to saving more to spending more! The driver reached out via watsapp prior to arrival and the process was very seamless.

With slight traffic, the ride took 45mins and the bellmen were happy to help with our luggage as we pulled up into the driveway. The hotel is very photogenic with its non-descript exterior and bright interiors!

Check In – The front desk was empty on a weekday past noon and we were very quickly attended to. When the staff reconfirmed that my room type was as booked, I asked again politely about chances of an available Suite and after a quick check, he said yes and we were invited to the Executive Lounge to enjoy some drinks while they prepare the Suite. Yay!

Shortly after, the staff came by with our keys, welcome letter, and welcome drink vouchers.

Room – After a short wait and trying out coconut coffee for the first time, the staff came by with keys to our Deluxe Suite and off we went. Getting a 75SqM space for 4nights was mad nice and we were super excited. The space opens up to reveal a spacious walkway with a huge half bathroom to the left….

with the wardrobe and closet space to the right containing the usual bathrobes etc (nice slippers!).

The rest of this section is the living area decked out in Viet flavors and cheery colors – very nice and modern touches which I really liked. The sofa can easily sit 4pax, with the single seater as an extra spot. These faces a quaint looking mini bar which doubles up as the TV console.

At the end of this section is the work desk + chair which was a useful spot for charging devices but also plenty of those around the entire space (3-pin and USB includes) so no lack of such spots for sure.

2 sliding doors separate this space with the bedroom area – a massive 4-poster king bed (firm asian type) with generous bedside tables which comes with its own charging port, all facing a wall mounted TV which remained very much underused during our stay.

The open concept bathroom here was a weird concept as it does not come with any sliding doors / dividers although the toilet and shower spaces are frosted – but it still means having to deal with a certain amount of awkwardness even for couples especially when the shower space does not come with any hooks at all. The bathtub remained unused for this reason. The single sink meanwhile was functional with sufficient countertop space and housekeeping was generous with amenity replenishments. Toiletries are house-branded so unsure what brand it was but smelt nice enough.

A staff came by later in the day with a platter of welcome amenity – fruits and cookies which was a nice touch.

While we were generally happy with the room, we had 2 unfortunate issues:

The hairdryer was quite a hilarious design – forgot to take pics but essentially it was such a stumpy one with the wire so short that it refused to stay plugged into the wall socket and would simply fall off unless you hold it in place with one hand. With 2 ladies needing to dry hair on a daily basis, this became a sore point of the stay as it was a logistical challenge day after day. We feedback to the front desk at check out and the staff seemed to already know that this was an issue so hopefully the property sorts it out soon enough as I assume it’s an easy problem to fix.

The floor of the shower also clogged on first use – the water simply will not drain and water would overflow into the main bathroom area which caused issues since it was an open concept design. A quick call to housekeeping seemed to fix the issue as they came by while we were out and water did drained faster thereafter although still not optimum as a 1-yr old property should not be even facing this issue. But 2 staff separately asked after us though which we thought was a sign of good service for the hardware failure.

Executive Lounge (website) – I was excited to check out this space located on 15th floor as the official pics looked really nice! Executive Lounge is opened from 6:00am-10:00pm and comes with the following listed privileges:

• Priority Check In and Check Out at Executive Lounge
• Daily turndown services
• Complimentary welcome drink
• Welcome amenity in the room prior to arrival
• Complimentary use of the in-room minibar (excludes alcohol)
• Complimentary laundry service of three items per day (exclude dry-cleaning)
• Complimentary use of the Executive meeting room for one hour per day
• Guaranteed complimentary extended Check Out until 4:00PM

Out of the list, we most appreciated the laundry service was great and on-time every day. Other times, it was simply having access to a private and full serviced space which made chilling out at the end of the day a joy, especially with the modern and cheery design offering comfy sofa seats for guests to unwind in.

Off-hours, a selection coffee, tea, juices, and soft drinks are available, with a small plate of nuts /cookies on request. The coconut coffee was an awesome drink – it was a cold creamy caffeinated concoction which everyone should try at least once!

6:00am-10:30am – Breakfast

We tried this only once as guests can choose to enjoy their first meal of the day at the main restaurant instead which is the smarter choice here as there is nothing laid out and instead guests are presented with a completely ala carte menu of mains.

A bread basket is served upon request but otherwise there is no salads, fruits etc to pick from even. I do have to point out though that local Vietnamese drop coffee is served here but not available at the main restaurant if that in any way sways the choice. Unfortunately, my order of smoke salmon scrambled eggs was way too salty but the replacement of seared salmon fared much better.

2:30pm-5:00pm – Locally Inspired Afternoon Tea

We tried this only once on our day of arrival and it was a thoughtful plate of small bites but rather average tasting and certainly not something that I would deliberately come back to the hotel for. Scones were not nice as well sadly.

6:00-8:00pm – Evening Reception with Canapés and Alcoholic Beverages

This was the highlight of our unwind evenings each day and the food certainly didn’t disappoint – a small buffet of local flavors were laid out including local staples like summer rolls and banh mi on the DIY stations, meats.

There were also cold appetizers and sweets each night which made more than enough for dinner to me, though there are limited rotations of the choices so 4 nights basically saw quite a lot of repeats.

Drinks wise, it was a generous list of wines, beers, and cocktails – most of which tasted great! No champagne but they did have a sparkling wine on offer which was decent.

Breakfast at LOC-Ally – served from 6:00am – 10:30am, this was a place of bustling activity every morning especially so when it’s not a big space. The space itself uses the same cheery colors in the modern design with plenty of lush velvety textures – very reminiscent of the former SO/Sofitel Singapore. Some of their tables were positioned uncomfortably close to each other though so I thought that was weird as most wouldn’t want to be that close to strangers.

The spread itself was better and bigger than expected, with international and local flavors equally sharing the limelight. They had the quintessential egg station and of course a pho station too which was the most popular spot most mornings. Pictures do a better job here so here it goes!

Facilities – Locate on level R (rooftop) is the Fitness Centre (24hrs) which was expectedly small but a little dark and dingy for my liking in terms of the design. The space had a reasonable amount of equipment which should suffice for a short trip, and was relatively empty at 6am every day.

The swimming pool is located on the same level and is a unique glass-sided rooftop pool is supposedly one of a kind in the city – the rectangular space looked better than an IG spot but I can imagine some laps being done in it if need be.

Song Spa – the spa located on level 4 was having a 20% off treatments so we made an impromptu booking for Foot Reflexology treatments which they confirmed availability for after a short check. I couldn’t find any online menu but the treatment was priced at VND800,000++ (~SGD40) before discount for reference.

The entrance of the spa was very welcoming and staff ushered us to take a seat and served welcome tea for a start. After confirming our preferred strength of massage + a short questionnaire, we were led to the locker room, then the treatment room. The space was very relaxing and the massage was a great relief on the last day of the trip for us, even finishing off with more tea and cookies.

VANs – The Lobby Lounge

We also enjoyed our welcome drinks at this spot located at the lobby level. Choices were any non-alcoholic drinks, wines, and beers. I enjoyed my Shiraz alot and the watermelon juice was apparently quite delicious too.

Service – I thought service was very thoughtful throughout our stay, regardless of at the Executive Lounge or not. Staff who checked us in remembered us and actively greeted us whenever we stepped back into the hotel, and any issues/requests we had were swiftly handled with polite efficiency. Concierge was knowledgeable for recommendations as well. I was actually most impressed with how we did not even have to open the hotel doors ourselves – staff was that attentive in watching out for guests departing or coming back to the lobby.

Check Out – seamlessly done at the front desk before the staff got us a pre-ordered taxi at VND400,000 (~SGD21) and bundled us + luggage safely into the car.

In Summary,

So happy with our choice as we definitely got alot of value at the price point. If Marriott does not up its game in the city, Accor will remain my default choice here!