Tag Archives: tripadvisor

Hanoi Serenity Hotel

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Hanoi Serenity Hotel is a hotel in the Old Quarter area of Hanoi, Vietnam. We stayed there on two separate nights, the first night upon arrival in Vietnam, and the last night before we left Vietnam. We found the hotel on TripAdvisor and booked the rooms online via Expedia.

A couple of days before our arrival, I contacted the hotel via email to arrange a pickup service from the airport. They responded in timely manner, and we didn’t have any problem meeting our driver even though our flight to Hanoi was delayed more than two hours.

The hotel building was laid out similar to most buildings in Hanoi Old Quarter area, very narrow, deep, and tall. This resulted in an interesting layout where to get to the rooms you would have to take the stairs up – not too bad if your room happens to be close to ground floor (our first room was on third floor), but it could be quite an exercise if your room is on the upper floors (our second room was on the sixth floor). This should be a consideration especially if you have little children or anyone who might have problem taking the stairs, since there was no elevator available.

On the ground floor, the hotel had a small breakfast area where every morning complimentary cook-to-order breakfast was served. You could get typical western-style breakfast fare like scrambled eggs, ham, and bacon served with a Vietnamese-style baguette. They also served fresh fruits and Vietnamese-style coffee (with condensed milk if you prefer).

The lady at the front desk was very helpful during our stay. She helped us providing directions to places we wanted to visit (they had complimentary map of the Old Quarter area — very helpful during our walking excursion in the area). She also allowed us to leave our packed luggage in our room for the day even technically we were already checked out. This allowed us to do sightseeing around the city without having to lug our luggage around. The front desk also served as concierge that could help guests arrange trips in and around Hanoi. We didn’t use their service other than for transportation from/to the airport, but many other guests seemed to do so.

The hotel room was pretty spacious, clean, and comfortable. There was Wi-Fi connectivity available, though the connection was a bit spotty at times.

The photo below was taken in front of the hotel. You can see the tall but skinny hotel building that is quite common to see in Hanoi.

Hanoi Serenity Hotel

The 252

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The 252 is a boutique hotel in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The hotel is owned and run by French/Swiss managers, but purposefully they tried to put some touch of Khmer tradition in the decor, so the hotel and its rooms were quite nicely decorated with a mix of modern and traditional interior design. The hotel is located on the 252nd street in Phnom Penh (thus the name of the hotel). It’s located a bit further out from many of the tourist hotels that are located closer to the Sisowath Quay (the area near the river that’s popular with tourists — similar to Khao San Road in Bangkok, Thailand), but it’s close enough that you can just take tuk-tuk for about USD $2 to get there or pretty much all major tourist attractions in the city.

We found out about The 252 when we looked for hotel to stay at in Phnom Penh on TripAdvisor. The 252 was ranked pretty high for hotels in Phnom Penh, and many reviewers gave it nice comments about their stay there. In some cases where there were complaints or negative experience, the hotel management actually provided response — I thought that was nice that they actually cared about the feedback/reviews that people gave. The price for the room was a bit higher than some others that we also looked at, but it was still quite reasonable.

When we arrived at The 252, the first thing we noticed was that the hotel was somewhat low key and hidden behind tall walls from outside. When we opened the front gate and came in, we saw immediately the pool with chairs around and the shaded outdoor seating for the hotel’s restaurant. It’s a nice, somewhat secluded oasis in there, quite a contrast from the hustle and bustle of the city you just right outside its wall.

Our room was one of the 19 rooms the hotel had, and we were situated on the third floor of the hotel. It was a nicely-decorated room; somewhat minimalist in style. We had good night sleep for both of the nights we stayed there, though at times we could hear some noise of construction or simply daily life going on in the neighborhood. They tried to block those with their walls, but we’re right in the middle of an urban city, so I don’t think it’s avoidable. In the morning, we also could smell Khmer cooking from a nearby kitchen — I wasn’t sure if it was the hotel’s kitchen or their neighbors. It gave a unique feel of staying in urban Phnom Penh — though some visitors looking for total isolation / seclusion may not be happy with it.

The hotel manager and staff were also very hospitable and helpful during our stay. When we arrived, we had a little problem using the TV and the safety box in our room. I went to the front desk to ask, and the manager actually went with us to our room to help us out. On the second day of our stay, we had a little mishap in our logistics to start the day. The hotel staff helped me contact our tour company to get things straighten out (we booked the two separately, so they didn’t have any relation to our tour itinerary). And on our last day, when we had to leave very early in the morning before the restaurant was open, they prepared carry-out breakfast for us the night before, so we could just come to the front desk and ask for our carry-out breakfast before we left. Overall, it was another excellent stay at a boutique hotel during this trip to Southeast Asia.

The photo below was taken from the seating area near the pool. You can see the nice pool with some seating areas around, and in the background you could see the high walls that completely block the view from the outside in and vice versa.

The 252

Bangkok Loft Inn

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Bangkok Loft Inn is a boutique hotel in the southwest part of Bangkok (near Taksin region in Thonburi). The hotel is not part of any chain, and managed and ran by locals. It has received many good reviews from travelers on TripAdvisor, and last year it received the 2011 Traveler’s Choice Award as #5 for bargain hotel in Asia. It is not located near the typical tourist area in Bangkok (Khao San Road or Sukhumvit Road areas), but it is within 5-minute walk from a Bangkok SkyTrain station. So it’s actually pretty nice those who want to stay at a nice hotel at reasonable price and don’t mind taking the public transit to the touristy areas.

When we were looking for hotel to stay in Bangkok during our Southeast Asia trip, my cousin Kristi and I wanted to find one that is nice and clean, with reasonable price, and within public transportation reach to the destinations that we wanted to visit. During her previous visit to Bangkok, Kristi stayed at a western chain hotel (Holiday Inn I think) that was located near the shopping malls area — perfect for her previous trip with her friends that was focused on shopping. While western chain hotels like that have the benefit of likely maintaining a certain quality standards, I thought it would be more interesting to risk it a little bit and look for a local hotel that might be smaller and not as well known, but owned and managed by locals and allowing us opportunity to interact with the local staff.

We found Bangkok Loft Inn on TripAdvisor. It’s ranked pretty high on the list of hotels that include some of the more expensive or bigger ones (the other ones ranked in the top 10 were mostly five star hotels that easily cost 4-5 times per night stay). Photos on both TripAdvisor and the hotel’s websites looked nice, and more importantly, a lot of reviews on TripAdvisor mentioned not only about the nice hotel facility but also the wonderful staff they had there. Booking was quite easy; done online using a site called agoda.com.

We stayed at Bangkok Loft Inn for two nights, and the stay exceeded our expectations. We only interacted with the front desk staff during our check in, whenever we went out or back in as we passed the front desk, and when we check out. But just those short interactions were memorable, and they really served as great ambassadors for their country that reflect Thai hospitality. Upon our arrival, they helped us make reservation at a restaurant and the manager even helped us get a taxi and provided instruction to the driver in Thai to ensure we get to our destination. On the following day, on our way out for our full day to explore Bangkok, the manager stopped us, and surprised my cousin Kristi with a little birthday gift. That day was Kristi’s birthday, and the manager found out about it from looking at the passport when we checked in the night before (about 12 hrs before, already at night). So during that short time she got a little gift nicely wrapped ready to give to Kristi in the morning. She also gave us some warning/advice against scam on visiting the Wat Pho temple that ended up to be part of experience when we got there. And on the last day of our stay, when she found out that we were heading to the airport from the hotel for the next leg of our trip, she offered to have the hotel’s car (I think it’s a family car) take us to the airport at no charge.

The photo below was taken at the hotel lobby after Pat the manager gave Kristi the birthday gift. It’s one of those unexpected moments interacting with the locals that you would remember from the trip, and it’s a reason to always have a digital camera handy for capturing these moments.

Birthday gift from hotel staff