Splendid Star Classic Hotel

great rooms , great value , great staff , great package tour : My family, 2 adults, two 8 1/2 year olds and a 3 year old, stayed at Splendid Star for 4 nights.There are not enough words to describe how great the splendid star Hotel is william, ruby , and the rest of the staff can not do enough for you. They genuinely care about making your stay the best ever. From the moment we arrived, to the moment we left they were so accommodating. They recommended restaurants which were always right on, they booked our city tour, Halong Bay trip,sapa trip booked our flights to Danang and Ho Chi Minh, arranged hotels in Hoi An, Hue and Ho Chi Minh city, along with drivers and hotel pick-up, then followed up with a phone call to us in Hue to make sure everything was OK. These are awesome people and very genuine. As for the hotel itself, it is in a great location in the Old Quarter. Everything is within easy walking distance - shopping, restaurants, etc. The rooms are beautifully decorated. We stayed in a deluxe room for the first 3 nights and then moved to a suite after our Halong Bay trip which was larger, both were good choices. Free computer in the room is also a nice plus that you don't get anywhere else. Do not hesitate to book your stay at the splendid star Hotel. They will make it one of your most memorable stays ever. We hated to leave, it felt like we were leaving old friends behind.   — antony lane (2011-08-31) Hostelbookers

Clean rooms and computer in the room.   — Kevin Murphy (2011-07-17) Hostelbookers

The room was excellent. PC and a good TV meant we spent a fair chunk more time in the room than we should have. Great location to, right in the mix of things. Also the Halong Bay tour from this hotel is well recommended   — Andrew ventham (2011-07-13) Hostelbookers

Once we found it it is close to the lake and restaurants.   — Susanne Verth (2011-07-06) Hostelbookers

lovely hotel , super - friendly staff , excellent tour , great location , best value for money ! The rooms are big, spacious, clean and beautifully decorated. The air-condition is good and the bathroom is modern and clean. Unbelievable Value for this family run hotel. Dollar for Dollar, this is the best value we have found after 3 months of traveling through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Rooms were large, bright, spotless and absolutely everything works, lovely And as good as the pics (makes a change) room safe aircon, satalite TV, DVD (films frre to borrow) kettle, tea and coffee - in addition staff will room service drinks tea coffee juices free of charge. The location is perfect, right in the center of Hanoi’s old quarter, and down a short lane, which is always quieter than a regular street. Splendid Star Hotel delivers everything they advertise, and in a manner you would expect from a high-end hotel. And then some. The staff are warm, friendly, speak very good English and took good care of us , services with smiles !. The breakfast at the hotel was amazing. Not a buffet style but the quality beats everything with many order ( vietnam food + western) : i love banana pancake with honey , toast is great . We purchased our 2-day tour of Halong Bay, and our 4-day tour of Sapa, and our flight tickets to bangkok from william ( 1 great package tours ) is excellent , great value for money ...! If you choose to stay at splendid star you are sure to leave with a wonderful memory and a warmth for the Vietnamese people and their hospitality ! Highly recommend !*****!   — folk ethan allison (2011-06-11) Hostelbookers

Nice and comfortable hotel to stay. Good location in Old quarter. Especially very friendly and helpful staff. They help me a lots and I found here the best service. Thanks to all hotel staff for making my stay an enjoyable.   — Marvin Tanenbaum (2010-10-31) Hostelbookers

I stayed in this hotel for invitation of my close Friend wedding with Vietnamese lady.I was very impressed by the hotel staff who were unbelivable helpful.They are acknowledge about the culture & local traditional and made me very proud in my friend wedding.They also helped me to book wonderful Ha long Bay cruise during my space time -highlight place i would like to recommend to everyone.Thanks for your value suggestion.Please keep going with your good work.   — Louis Pierr (2010-05-09) Hostelbookers

After a long flight to Hanoi, this was a welcoming retreat. The building is new, free breakfast with a fresh, huge selection. The style is modern and my room was quiet and clean. Location was great, very quiet. I expect to go here again.   — allan clark (2009-11-28) Hostelbookers

Very central in Old Quarter. Good service and Tour options. Rooms are provided with a PC and Internet   — Dagmar Sommer (2009-09-29) Hostelbookers

great place to be, but often visited by couples. no place to have fun and to party. ask for room 601 and you have a great balcony with a beautiful view to the cathedral (but also with some ac-vans that run all night). ac in every room. international tv. they also provide tours but stay friendly, even when you've already booked via another agency.   — Andre Lohse (2009-09-03) Hostelbookers

The hotel was in a quiet location in a back street which is important for me. The staff were very friendly but pushed their tours too much. The hotel offered all the standard flashpacker facilities I have experienced throughout Vietnam - TV, A/C, fridge, internet etc. Ha Noi along with Hoi An were the most costly for accommodation in Vietnam.   — Lynda Hove (2009-09-01) Hostelbookers

Overall: not bad hotel, needs more attentive maintenance in the rooms.For Vietnam, the Splendid Star is average or below-average value. The hotel provides almost exactly the same services as every other hotel, including our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City which cost 4 euros per night per person. Granted, Hanoi is a little more expensive, and the location probably makes it worth a little extra, but there's still some way to go before it begins to match our hotel in Hoi An which was a fair bit cheaper.We stayed here for five nights in total. We booked for two originally and then stayed longer for convenience's sake because we also booked a Halong bay tour through the hotel. When we booked on HostelBookers we had an email from the hotel asking if we wanted a transfer to the hotel. We said yes please. Our flight was delayed by three hours but we made it to the hotel at 1am. I get the impression that they would have all gone to bed if they hadn’t been waiting for us, and sure enough on checking the guest book we found several comments saying “nice hotel, but when we arrived the reception was closed and we had to wait outside for an hour and a half”. We felt lucky.Our first night was in room 602, a "superior" twin at the top of the building. We changed room after one night because of various faults: the bath plug did not drain the water from the shower, the curtain rail was broken, hanging out of the wall and the internet on the room's computer didn't work and, judging from the state of the ethernet socket on the wall, wasn't going to. Fortunately we were able to move into 202, a room of the same grade and price without a computer but with a working bathroom.The tour to Halong bay was simple to arrange and reasonably-priced. We took the cheaper of the two options available for two-day overnight cruises on the bay: the Marguerite junk. The staff on the boat had a captive audience and didn’t need to work very hard or be charming, but for those prices (about $90 per person, inclusive package except all drinks) we couldn’t complain. We had some nice kayaking and swimming in the sea, and although the whole Halong tour thing has become incredibly touristy it is still worthwhile and utterly beautiful.As is normal for this kind of thing, the hotel kept our bags for us while we were away on the tour. When we came back they only had a suite left, which we stayed in at no extra charge. The suites are really just bigger versions of the standard rooms, with two double beds with very tired mattresses instead of just one. The bathroom was also twice the size of those in other rooms but with the same amount of the same things, making it look quite stark. The internet worked on this room’s computer, but unfortunately the plumbing was once again suspect: the toilet bubbled up and spat out water from the bowl each time a toilet in the room upstairs was flushed. I will leave the reader to imagine possible resultant scenarios.The staff – apparently mostly late-teenage boys - are motivated by fear of the manageress, Rose, who may be their grandmother. Rose ties the whole place together and ingratiates herself to each client of the hotel in turn at breakfast (which, incidentally, is good, but only served at 8am sharp). She makes sure everything is alright with your room, and if you’re feeling brave you can tell her about any faults. Tom, the lad on reception most of the time, is pretty good. The other staff mostly waft around watching football or looking at pictures of girls on the public computers in the lobby. The TV in the lobby usually has the football on quite loud every evening until 11.30 or 12 and the sound travels up the stairwells and into the rooms.Overall, this place is *nearly* a fairly nice hotel. The elements are all there - beds, fancy furnishings, hot shower, etc - but the rooms we stayed in were not particularly homely, and things just don’t seem to work all that well together. The lights were a clinical white, the shower curtains were moldy, the mattresses needed replacing (especially in the suite)... and then there are the things which are just silly. The doors of the rooms have frosted glass panels, which means the light from the landing comes through. The bathroom door is also glass. The shower curtain isn’t long enough, so the water shoots out all over the floor. There are no free electricity plugs, in case you need to charge something. The curtains/drapes are completely see-through. For these prices in Vietnam, you can stay in a hotel with a swimming pool where everything works and is beautiful. I know this because I did it. The Splendid Star is expensive for what it is, in Vietnam terms, and I suspect that other reviewers here may have been blinded by Rose’s attentiveness over breakfast and put up with any other difficulties because they have low expectations of Vietnam.Finally, because I want to end on a positive note, I will say that we did have a very good time in Hanoi and that the location of the hotel is very good for seeing and experiencing the city. You are literally around the corner from the cathedral (about 20 yards). The surrounding area is very pleasant and is as well-placed for exploring the Old Quarter as for getting to other attractions such as the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, former residence and museum and also the old Hanoi prison. Hoan Kiem lake is a five-minute walk away.   — Sam Roots (2009-08-21) Hostelbookers

We stayed at the Splendid Star Hotel for our honeymoon. Their staff was knowledgeable and friendly - they helped us with directions, phone calls, and anything we asked about! Rooms were cleaned every day, and the breakfast was a nice, simple start to our day. It's extremely close to the church and a Hoan Kiem Lake is a block away. We would definitely stay at this hotel again.   — Mathiew Destrooper (2009-08-19) Hostelbookers

We recently stayed at Splendid Star Hotel for 2 nights with friends.We had chosen to stay in Family room and we were delighted with them. The rooms were extremely spacious, clean and comfortable and the air-conditioning worked well. The bed was very comfortable and we slept well.The staff were very helpful.The location was just perfect. Walking distance to lots of attractions. The St Joseph’s cathedral was just around the corner and provided an oasis for us in this busy city. We would not hesitate to recommend this hotel as we felt it was a good choice and good value for money.   — Zsofia Asztalos (2009-08-14) Hostelbookers

Really not much to say, hotel is in a great location - very close to the St Joshep's Cathedral and convenient access to all atractions and shopping area in center of Hanoi. Not to mention the neighborhood is very quiet and the rooms are beautifully decorated. A trip to Hanoi i will never forget.   — Jeroen van der Meer (2009-07-24) Hostelbookers

Many positive things have already been said of the hotel and overall we would agree with them. I stayed here with friends in May. The welcome and service we received during our stay was excellent. The staff and management were very helpful in aiding our site seeing tours around Hanoi. I stayed in Room 601 at the top of the hotel. This had a terrace table and 4 chairs that you could sit down and by looking to the side see the top of the Church. The Location is perfect and very quite. We look forward to be here next year. - Roberto -   — Roberto Pizzini (2009-06-28) Hostelbookers

Nice small & comfortable hotel. Great friendly staff. Nice view room, it is very clean.   — Stefano Gagliazzo (2009-06-24) Hostelbookers

I just returned from my first trip to Paris where I stayed at the Splendid Star Hotel. The owner, Tony, and his staff make staying at SS an absolute pleasure. I had a terrific balcony over looking an city view and church view. The bathroom was very roomy. The bedroom just a bit small but that included a nice desk, bed, closet and night stand. Whenever I had questions about Hanoi, getting around or just questions in general, Tony and his staff were always very helpful. They create a very friendly personable atmosphere that makes you feel comfortable from the very start. My entire Hanoi experience was enjoyable, fun and positive in every respect and part of the credit for that goes to the Splendid Star Hotel owner and staff. When I return to Hanoi I'll stay there again.   — Robert Torfason (2009-06-05) Hostelbookers

clean room and private PC at the room. Bad thing is the airco water constantly dripping in the bathroom   — Angelique Schrama (2009-06-03) Hostelbookers

It is really clean. The location is great and the staff are extremely friendly and helpful!   — Stephanie Chong (2009-06-02) Hostelbookers