Fortune Hotel

Avoid at all costs!
Old Darling, Central Stars, and a few other Hanoi old quarter guest houses all seem to be run by the same disreputable thugs. Their favoured business strategies include lies, harassment, and death threats. If you make a reservation in advance and show up late at night after your flight, chances are that they have given your room away already, and will shuttle you off somewhere else to a room you were not expecting. We saw this happen a couple of times while we were staying there. The gang of teenagers who apparently run this place hang out (very loudly) in the lobby all day and all night don't let you use the internet because they are watching movies and/or chatting, and constantly pressure you to take their tours. We were also told a large breakfast with eggs was included -- all we got was stale bread. Oh, and after we advised some travelers in the lobby that it was a very noisy hotel, the staff became very aggressive -- one followed me outside and after shouting obscenities at me, honestly threatened to kill me. What can you even say about a place like this?? For the sake of unsuspecting visitors to Hanoi in the future, I hope the whole chain is driven out of business soon.

This place is to be avoided at any cost if you don't want to be ripped off! They overcharge on everything! They charge $35 for the cambodian visa, and tell you that you need it before going, while in reality, when we crossed the border, some people on the bus didn't have a visa, and it only took two minutes to get one, and it is $20. Then they charge $75 for the train from Hanoi to Saigon, but in fact the ticket is only $50 and they don't give you the ticket until you leave, so if they made a mistake, like they did with our tickets, you don't even know until you're on the train. The staffs harrass you as soon as you come in. They want you to go on all possible tour. They were selling us tours while we were eating breakfast! The large breakfast that they advertised is actually a piece of bread. There are no common rooms, no restaurant or bar like advertised. It's a shame that this hostel is affiliate with like five others in Hanoi, you can't tell which ones by reading the descriptions, they all have the same one. It's definitely a hostel (a hostel chain) to avoid. No wonder they have five hostels in town, they make so much money overcharging everyone! Managing a hostel myself, I couldn't believe that this hostel was so shady. You're being harrassed on the street, it would be nice to come home to a hostel that make you feel safe, but this place is just wrong.

I had a very positive experience at this hotel. I made a reservation at Central Stars Hotel, but when I arrived in Hanoi they moved me to Old Darling. Initially, I was worried about where I was being sent, but once I met the family the next morning I was pleasantly surprised. Although their business card advertises rooms from six to ten dollars, I paid twenty dollars U.S. I had previously agreed to this amount with Central Stars when I made the booking on Expedia before arriving in Vietnam. I had a large room with one double and one single bed as well as a large balcony on the fifth floor. I would ask for this room if possible. They tried to sell me a tour package, but I made it clear that I had other arrangements. There was no hassling. As a single, female traveller, I felt very safe in this hotel.

This place sucks! the owner is a bloke called Michael, is really dodgy and a professional liar. The rooms are quite ok, but the are only interested in selling you the trips to Sapa and Halong Bay for very high prices, if you want to take them somewhere else, they get pissed off and very unfriendly. This bloke owns another hostel nearby (the one we booked before) and arriving late he took us here, we were tired was ok. We took Halong Bay with them and booked two rooms to have when coming back from the trip, but this guy of course sold our rooms and instead of give us a reason, he ran away, leaving a young bloke with few english there, who after our complainings started being also naughty. So, eleven p.m., we'd to started looking for a new place, very tired and upset. He just wants to be in Lonely Planet, but with this kind of service he'll never make it. The worst experience in Asia was Old Darling, keep going, there is a hint of better places.

Hello, be careful with this hostel! The rooms are pretty good and the staff are friendly. But they only want to sell tours through Vietnam. They are very expensive! We booked a tour at another place because they have fair prices. We wanted to stay for two days, but the staff got very aggressive because we booked a tour at another place. They threw us out of the hotel. Vietnam is a great country with very, very friendly people. In Hanoi are a lot of hotels and hostels for $4 a night. Take another hotel and not Old Darling Guesthouse! Only with this reaction will the staff learn that living in a hotel and tours are different things!