Haiphong Hostels

An incredible set of buildings with a huge range of facilities, including many pools, beaches, restaurants and bars. Unfortunately the level of service does not match the quality of the building and although there are many members of staff, they are often not doing anything or just on their phones. This meant things like ordering drinks or paying for activities such as water sports hire took a long time or was very difficult. No table service, even when we were the only people in the bar. Often drinks had to made in another part of the hotel and so took a very long time to arrive. Loud music played on the beach every morning from 0720, so worth asking for a room at the back the hotel if you don’t want to be disturbed. A lot of the features seemed to be for “show” rather than properly supported. The arcade for example, looks great but most machines were broken or switched off and people were more interested in posing for photos rather than the actual functionality of the equipment. Gym looks nice in photos but limited equipment. Similarly, a swim up bar in the indoor pool looked promising, but not stocked or staffed. Pool tables on the roof top bar look nice, it terrible quality if you actually want to play pool! That said, pools were very nice, beach was nice and water lovely. A lot of rubbish on the beach, but sadly this is true across most of Ha Long Bay. Easy access to the town centre of Cat Ba by using electric taxi service outside the hotel at 10,000 VND per person each way. Several restaurants , bars and tour companies in the town. Room quality was excellent, especially with the sea views; price included buffet breakfast and dinner which made it pretty decent value for money.