Ha Long hotels & places to stay

We were there for a 2 night stay and enjoyed all facilities a lot. But one thing needs to be improved, and that is the staff at pool bar. We got to the pool and after 15 minutes I decided to look for towels by myself while at least 3 staff were at the pool bar and 2 staff were right beside the pool enjoying their chats. Furthermore even then when they noticed us, we had to get up from our chairs and get the bar menu by ourselves. I would accept this in a 3 star hotel but 5 star with this amount of staff - no can do. So there is more training needed. All the other things - buffet, dinner, pools, beach, ship transfer to coast are very convenient and well maintained. We enjoyed it a lot.

The resort is big with indoor heated pool and outdoor pool. Suitable for family relaxing trip. The location is 10m drive from Sunworld Halong Park. Quiet and peaceful neighborhood. And there will be a beach open in front of the hotel in a few months. Some of the equipments in the fitness center is broken. However, the hotel staff needs a lot more training. When I came near the reception desk nobody even greeted us. All 3 receptionist at the front desk seems like they just started working here not long ago. The whole check in process was awkward and and no conversation was made. After check in, I have to ask for them to show me to my room. When I made the booking I clearly stated that it was my birthday and I want to arrange something special for this weekend trip. When I come to the hotel nobody even said happy birthday. And when I came to the pastry corner to buy some cake, I wanted some candles for the celebration. I heard the staff talked to each other that somebody has candles but they turn to me and said we dont have candle today sorry. I love the landscape and the facility in the hotel but I expect a lot more from the staff of a 5 star hotel. They are helpful but not friendly and they dont even smile back when I smile as them. This would have been a great resort if not for the staff.

ok... i have tried every single hotel in halong bai bai chai and halong city. i know everything about the hsitory of novotel here and hows its managed. it was built to be a 5 star, but they couldnt in the end so its a 4 star. as ive said before, you can call it a 4.5 star hotel. the price is great and the rooms are comftable with good internet connection. the views are nice and staff are helpful. you are only about 200,000 dong away from halong city, and minutes walking to the bai chai beach and market area. having stayed at every hotel this is the best hotel in the area. the only other 2 hotels that are comparable in comfort and price that i would reccomend is saigon halong hotel and halong plaza hotel. make sure you ask for a sea view room when you check in, normally you always do anyway. dont stay in hotels on a boat, why would you want to do that and be stuck on it unless your doing nothing else but relax and happy to eat from the floating seafood market. novotel is just simply "comftable" for everything you want to do in halong bay. key feature - the bathroom. its difficult to find decent showers in vietnam, here you will feel like home

Stayed in this hotel for many times. This is one of the biggest 5 star hotels in Ha Long, with a reasonable price, coming with good service and nice staff. The room is spacious and fully-equipped. Only a small thing that is not really fine is the air conditioner, it is still cold despite the fact that whatever do with the controller, but this is not really a problem to me. If you are looking for a place which is the most comfortable place for staying, you should choose this hotel.

All met our expectations except the announcement was not clear enough for us to understand detailed activities. Beside that, the on duty Manager (could not remember his name sorry) takes his responsibilities very seriously he, himself rode along on our boat to send us off to our car on land where the driver drives us to the Da Nang Airport and made sure our luggage was counted and safely transferred to the car. We appreciate their attention to details and every one works very hard to meet our requests and answer our questions. They are dedicated workers... The only downside was the Athena has many venues to advertise their cruise, each has its own ad and attractions, however, some may not agree with the company's polices. They did offer us free transfer from their location to the Airport as their complimentary. We are grateful for it.

We booked several rooms and travelled in a large group with children. Hotel is located on the quiet end of Ha Long Road, a couple kilometres to night market & "main street" (way overpriced and overrated), around 20 minutes walk or just catch a taxi for less than AUD$2. Hotel lobby is wonderfully massive with a welcoming fruit drink when you arrive at reception. A fruit basket, coffee/tea/chocolate and bottled water is complimentary in your room. Features: electronic key entry, remote control lighting/in-room radio & alarm clock, slippers, bathrobes, iron, hair dryer, huge comfortable bed with white linen and very clean bathroom with separate tub & shower... Superior King room is very spacious, plenty of room for our baby to share the bed and crawl around. There's a gym and sauna, outdoor pool and two restaurants on separate floors. We had buffet dinner at the hotel's Four Seasons Restaurant on ground floor - very decent selection of food & drinks, & buffet breakfast next day (included in booking fee) again good variety and restaurant staff were great. We spoke Vietnamese to staff so they were always helpful with our enquiries, unsure about their english so cannot comment. We suggest researching before booking tours via hotel (we were short on time so paid AUD$200 for a 4-hour private boat Ha Long Bay tour for our group, but the shifty crew ended up sneaking extra people on the upper deck). Hotel was happy to hold our luggage after check-out while we went on tour. Overall good service, clean & spacious rooms, good food, great value, relaxing atmosphere... would stay there again.

We stayed at this hotel when our cruise on Ha Long Bay was cancelled due to a nearby typhoon and would recommend it only for that purpose. The hotel does not live up to its 4 star status: stains on the carpet, noisy corridors, no wifi in the room, pool and gym of poor standards. Breakfast does not offer much for Western travellers. We would recommend this hotel in an emergency.

After three nights in Royal Lotus Hotel Ha Long, I have to admit that it is the best hotel which I have booked via Agoda. Royal Lotus Hotel Ha Long is a brand new hotel. Consequently, the facilities are very modern and good as a four star hotel. I also was impressed by the room design, cleanliness and pleasant helpful staffs as well. Without a doubt, if I come back to Ha Long, I will choose Royal Lotus Hotel Ha Long again.

Impress by the hotel location althought is quite a steep driveway to the lobby. The service staff is well train but english is still not well verse and sometime some questions that we ask didn't come with a answer. The room is big and clean, bathroom up to standard. You can even see the sea view in the room although it come with a balcony, should be the best seaview in Ha Long Bay. The only weak point is the swimming Pool, too far away for the hotel, you need to walk pass the hotel lobby and down the slope stairs. It could be ideal if is within the hotel itself. Anyway no complain, will come back again with family.

The beach is only 200 meters from front of hotel but it’s not clean so have to take a taxi at 10-15 k Dong to get anywhere or take a bike which are free at hotel to run up to ATM or a bakery or smoothie place . Breakfast at hotel was marginal with white toast fried eggs and terrible coffee but they include juice and a small amount of fruit - if you want lunch or dinner again not the best but it will do in a pinch . We arranged a tour of HaLongBay through the hotel and paid them , they called a taxi for us, and were helpful with arranging transportation from hotel to Ninh Binh and they were friendly can’t say enough about the staff, they also did a load of laundry for us. All fir a price but much appreciated. This is a quiet location but out of the way a bit from everything

i stayed for two nights in this hotel in january 2012. there were 4 of us, so we booked two rooms. overall, i am very happy with my stay here. firstly, the hotel provides a great view of halong bay and i got two rooms on the 10th floor. the staff were really great, always smiling and ready to help. most of them were not proficient in english, but their positive attitudes really won our hearts. special thanks to mr hua, who provided great help in booking local trips and also helped in getting us vegetarian food. i would strongly recommend this hotel to anyone.

the hotel was walking distance from the boats and the town as well as the beach and the night market. enjoyed our few nights there except the first morning was incredibly noisy with a bus load of guests leaving early but the next morning was ok and the pool is lovely but you have to walk out the front of the hotel and go around as there is no exit at the back. the rooms were a good size and the view is beautiful.

The managers helped us to translate and came to the police station with us to make a report on our stolen belongings. That was nice. the travel agent was super nice and he took us to dinner at a local restaurant and the food was amazing. He also booked us was great. However the walls in our room were moldy and there is no wall decoration whatsoever. It's a 4-star hotel but don't consider it as a 4-star hotel in the US or any other developed countries.

Our guide, Qui was kind, helpful, efficient and always working to do his best for everyone in the group. Ha Long Bay and the Majestic boat were even better than I hoped, the former enchanting and the latter delightful. The food was fresh, plentiful tasty and varied, the cabin was spotless, the staff was attentive and I was sorry to leave. Next time I would do 2 nights. Thanks Qui for all your hard work.

We did the 3 day 2 night Halong Dugong Sail Cruise, they picked us up from the guesthouse and took off to Halong Bay, little drive and checked in the boat. Nice rooms, we had 3 people and booked through Agoda with an Extra Bed. Our friend didn't get an extra bed in our room but just got another private room with interleading doors, absolutely perfect ! First day is pretty touristy, You go kayakking which is alright for 30min, a cave (lots of tourist) and a beach & viewing point, lots of tourist too.. 2nd day was perfect, we got onto a smaller boat and they took us 2hrs somewhere where no other boats where. Did some kayakking, jumping off the boat, can visit a little beach and swim round. Bring a book or cards since you're there for like 4hrs. Relaxed :). 3rd day you go around Halong Bay, just cruising and back to Halong Bay. The food is absolutely amazing, really good food. They give you a table full of food for example; prawns, shrimps, calamari, morning glory, beans, rice, vegetables, springrolls, fruit, chips and heaps more. Definately enough. Worth the trip, friendly staff and just absolutely amazing if you do the 3 day 2 night.. When doing the 2 day / 1 night, you only see the most touristy stuff about Halong Bay, if that's what you wanna settle for it's good too..

Mp Passport was collected on arrival which seems to be the normal thing to do in Vietnam. The room was quite big, more than I needed but was nice for a change. There was a bit of an odor which seemed to comming from the paint, it looked stained or mouldy. The a/c worked well and freshened the air . The bed was very hard. The shower worked really well and the bathroom was big. The wifi worked well also. I would stay here again. I was in room 404. There was a short walk to the activity in SunWorld but far enough away fir it to not be a problem.

When we arrived in our room, I noticed that there was no hot water in the bathroom and that the shower jets did not work. I went to reception and asked for it to be repaired. Then they could not and after insisting on a room where the plumbing works, we were upgraded to a very nice suite. Unfortunately the baths' jets again did not work and after my friend fell on the wet floor as the bath leaked we had to move for the third time in 1 night. The staff was very accommodating and helpful and I'm grateful for that. The hotel is a little isolated but it has a fantastic view.

I was traveling on a budget but decided to spend the extra to do this cruise...best decision ever! The staff on the boat was amazing and very friendly. The activities were fun and well organized. The boat was clean and well maintained. Halong Bay was BEAUTIFUL and the sun deck provided a perfect viewing spot to sit and take in all the Bay has to offer! Don't miss this opportunity!

Found our stay here to be great we actually extended by an extra night. Rooms were a good size and clean, beds were fairly comfortable. We were greeted by a lovely guy Viet on reception who we found very helpful with booking boat trip, the guy on reception the next day tried to get extra money out of me for the bus to Hanoi but I'd already got the price off the helpful receptionist so he gave me the bus for 150k as I had initially discussed. Breakfast basic but nice enough, two gorgeous cats in reception I personally don't agree with the fact their on a lead so they can't move far but beautiful loving cats. Location is slightly out the strip which didn't bother us too much but the walk uphill might be hard for some guests. Not much to do generally in ha long but perfect stay for trips and to get away from busy Hanoi. They hire scooters at the hotel, only downside is they were 170k a day we got one for 100k down the road that's the only negative.