Satu Kosong Travels

Ah, a hotel in the clouds.

Ho Chi Minh was one of those cancelled-because-of-COVID plans and I have always remembered I need to check this city off my list. With soaring airfares all around, a $250ish return ticket on Singapore Airlines caught my eye and off I went for 4nights. This property also came highly recommended from a trusted friend and it was just in time to clock double elite nights so win win!

Address - 720A Dien Bien Phu, Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 700000. Website.

Contact - Tel: +84 28-39718888. Email: ak.sgnak.vinpearl@marriott.com.

Location - NOT in district 1 where it’s all happening but connected to a mall with some shopping and eating options + a supermarket. Otherwise, there is nothing to check out in the hotel vicinity unless you take a grab to District 1 which will cost you about $6 SGD and 15mins.

Price - VND5.880,000++ per night = VND26,845,000 ($1,525sgd) booked for a Premier King room under the Member Rate Flexible - this was already the cheapest as there were no pre-paid options available. With the elite benefits of Club Lounge access covering breakfast and dinner + drinks, it’s not bad a deal.

Getting There - We booked an airport pick up from Klook for SGD$20 which is reasonable for 2pax given the rather chaotic situation at the arrival hall. The ride to the hotel took about 30mins and our luggage was quickly assisted with by the hotel staff upon arrival.

Check In - This was done at the lobby on the street level instead of the main lobby on the 48th floor - the formalities were completed in less than 15mins including explaining of the club lounge and elite benefits. At first impression, the service was really good! I was also informed that I have been upgraded to the Club Room, Panoramic, 2 Twin (Suite Night Award didn’t clear. boo) which I believe accords better views than my original room type.

Welcome letter

The lifts from this floor takes up to level 48, where you have to change lifts to access guest rooms.

Room - I actually thought that the Club Room, 6213, feels smaller than it’s advertised 36SqM but maybe due to the longish layout. The door opens up to a short walkway before you see the bathroom to your right.

It’s a fairly spacious bathroom that comes equipped with a huge tub, a single sink but good enough countertop space for 2pax, an open concept toilet, and a separate standing shower space. Toiletries are Thann branded which were quite nice.

Thereafter is a luggage rack space and the mini bar, with the fridge left empty. The mini bar is stocked with the usual coffee machine, pods, tea bags and necessary cupware.

The main bedroom area is laid out neatly with 2 twin beds with a beside table between them - but this was a tight space and you can barely put more than a phone + bottled water here.

The rest of the space would be a single sofa chair + coffee table facing the panoramic view, and a work desk + chair nestled in the far corner of the room. There is also a small wardrobe beside the bed as well - contains all the necessary but surprisingly thin slippers. USB / 3-pin charging ports readily available at both the bedside and the work desk also meant no fighting for charging points yay.

A generous welcome amenity of 2 pre-cut coconuts and 3 bars of local chocolate was laid out on the coffee table on arrival.

Club Lounge - I was really looking forward to experiencing this lounge on the 71st floor and can now confirm that the space is indeed so nice!

The panoramic views aside, the lounge is spacious and comes equipped with several seating options, with those by the window obviously more popular. In the middle of this space is the bar island where you can get drinks too.

Breakfast (6am-10am) - figured I would try at least breakfast here once. Selection is obviously lesser than what the main restaurant offers but it is a much more peaceful experience for sure. The food is still decent of course with egg station, sausages, cold cuts, cheeses etc.

Evening Cocktails (5-8pm) - this was stellar in my opinion. Each evening saw a full on buffet of hot dishes, really nice salad selection, desserts, breads, cheese, and too many nuts, condiments, dips etc. There was also some rotation throughout the 4 evenings and I look forward to seeing what’s new each time. And can I repeat again that I am very VERY impressed with the thoughtful salad selection - yays to more delicious veggies!

Drinks during this session comes in a form of a printed menu which was nice - I tried Mojito, Whisky Sour, but decided to go with white wines on most evenings. Until I found out they actually have a Prosecco on offer upon request on my last night - whyyyyy.

Service in the Club is fantastic, most notably Sherwin and Daniel who were absolute gems throughout my visits. The space was particularly crowded on one Saturday night and the team struggled a little in terms of clearing soiled plates and replenishment, but smiles were aplenty throughout nonetheless.

Facilities - I used the Fitness Centre (24hrs) located on level 47 each morning before 6am and it was a really nice spot to workout despite me not finding the rower machine the website listed. Access is 24hrs via keycard access and at peak I saw maybe 4 other pax in the space. The views though was fantastic - I mean how often do you get to workout with views?

Swimming Pool (6:00am-9:00pm) - this was located on the same floor as the fitness centre. The pool is a small infinity pool of sorts which was quite nice but they had glass panels put up along the edges which made it feel less ‘infinity’.

Oriental Pearl Breakfast - this main restaurant is located on the 66th floor and guests who have club access can opt to take breakfast here - which I did for 3 out of my 4 mornings. The restaurant is huge and with plenty of window seating available alongside other seating for various group size. The whole place is also awash in an abundance of natural lighting which is always nice …until you get the sun in your eye. When that happens, you may request for the shades to be drawn which the staff will happily oblige.

Food on offer was a smorgasbord of everything possible - western, vietnamese, korean, japanese etc. Everything was high quality and it would have been impossible to try everything in one morning. I also liked that here is a fresh juice counter and samplings of traditional vietnamese coffee BUT I don’t get why their basic Americano is not good though.

Service - Service at the Club and almost everywhere else in the property is great! The only patchy service came from housekeeping who sometimes only fulfil one out of multiple requests and then they came back one time for one request. Definitely not a language issue as I encountered the same thing even via the in-app chat. I was thanked for being a Titanium more than once during my stay which was not usual but I don’t mind!

Turndown service also saw a little snack left in the room each evening which was quite nice.

Check Out - seamlessly completed at 9+am at the front desk on a Sunday.

In summary,

Definitely a great way to spend 4 nights in this city especially after a sweltering day out! Despite its not-so-convenient choice, I have no issues about staying here again for sure ?

******

Thought I’d briefly touch on the Le Saigonnais Sasco Business Lounge which I had access to when departing Ho Chi Minh’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport as Krisflyer Elite Gold member. This lounge serves several airline parrtners and turned out to be more decent than I thought versus the Priority Pass options on pics. Large spaced-out seating with not-bad F&B offerings - a peaceful spot to park ourselves as there is really nothing at the boarding gate worth spending time for.

F&B on offer