Dong Xuan Hong Hotel in Phu Quoc Island

Hong Bin Resort
Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

Before coming to this island, I reserved a room at this bungalow-style hotel in the Long Beach area, which advertises on Agoda that they provide transfer from where guests arrive on the island. I took the eight-hour overnight bus from Saigon to Ha Tien on the southwestern coast of Vietnam, then the three-hour ferry to Phu Quoc. While on the ferry, I confirmed with the hotel that they’d have someone pick me up at the pier. But, as my ferry approached the dock, another receptionist told me that no one would come to get me. He said it in a cold, arrogant, and shockingly unprofessional manner. He acknowledged that their ad on Agoda indicates that the hotel provides such service, but said that the service has been discontinued. He wouldn’t explain why, but just said that they “can’t” do it anymore. He told me that I could get a Grab taxi myself at the pier. And he said nothing about the hotel reimbursing me for the cost when I arrived.

In my experience, when hotels say that they provide transportation from one’s arrival point, that means not only that they actually do that, but that it’s covered by the hotel. If not, all they have to do is be clear about such a simple matter.

I strongly challenged him in my messages online and when I met him at the front desk. He’s a strangely haughty, vacuous guy in his early 20s with a ponytail. He was completely indifferent to my rights and my situation as a guest. He considered it completely inconsequential that the hotel had coldly broken its promise to me.

While I was waiting to check in, I sat in the eating area at a table, and was using my laptop. An older guy with straight white hair walked into the room, headed to the light switch, turned it off, and gave me an evil smirk, as if to say “I’m the boss here, and I do whatever I want. I don’t give a damn about you guests.” Apparently, he works as a cleaning guy there, which explains why the pool water is a dirty brown.

In my online dispute with the nasty receptionist, he told me that, if I provided a screen shot of the hotel’s vow to provide pick-up, he’d “do something” about my taxi fare. I did so, and he did nothing to compensate me. My efforts to talk with the owner and/or manager were wasted. No surprise. In so many cases of really bad service in this part of the world, the owners are hiding, and have their lowly underlings cover for them.

He also insisted that a hotel’s promise to provide pick-up service is not a promise to cover the cost. That may be the case somewhere, but not in any of the 35 countries I’ve been in. And, anyway, the fundamental issue here was that the hotel promised to have me picked up at the pier and then stranded me without any explanation or remorse.

Last on the list of the phenomenal unprofessionalism of the staff at the Hong Bin “Resort” is that they provide no umbrellas in the rooms. On my last day there, there was a heavy rain, and no way to contact the staff to get one. There is no phone in the room, and the reception desk is not near most of the rooms.

Wouldn't stay here next time. A/c broken, needed maintenance every other day ( I stayed there for 6 days). Swimming pool has major issue two kids got hurt near the pool. Tiles are broken around the pool. They really need to spend money for the upkeep.

Very disappointing experience.
My family and I arrived at the hotel around 12:15 AM, and there was no staff available for check-in. The security guard was the only person present. I greeted him with “Xin chào”, but he didn’t even bother to respond.
We were traveling with elderly parents, and the path from the reception to the room has a steep slope. Instead of offering help with luggage, I had to insist multiple times before he reluctantly helped with just one trolley bag.
The room had insects, which was very uncomfortable, and even basic amenities were poor — the toothpaste provided didn’t foam at all, which clearly indicates very low quality.
Overall, this was the worst hotel experience I had during my entire stay in Vietnam. Extremely poor service, lack of basic hospitality, and not suitable for families, especially those traveling with seniors. I would not recommend this place.

We realized this would be a budget friendly place to stay when we booked and trusted the good reviews, but it was infested with ants and mosquitos. We had 4 bungalows for our family of 10. Every single one was infested. The ants were swarming our luggage and walls were full of bugs. Our transportation driver even questioned our decision to stay there while he was driving back to the stay down the small roads and he mentioned it was more than likely not safe. We could have dealt with the off beaten path. But not the infestation. We packed our belongings and left. Of course with no refund. It was just worth it to leave and go pay double somewhere else.

Absolutely the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. A complete nightmare.
We booked a Deluxe room with a balcony and a garden view, but what we got had nothing to do with the description.
The room was stuck behind all the other rooms, right next to the entrance, like some forgotten storage shed — definitely not a Deluxe room.
There was no balcony at all.
The “garden view” was literally a fence and a wall.
The window was covered with a dirty, torn, cloudy film, making the room feel dark and depressing.
The room itself was disgusting.The furniture was old and broken.The bed sheets were stained and had mold on them — completely unacceptable.
In the bathroom, there were hairs from previous guests, meaning it wasn’t cleaned at all.The toilet was dirty and the toilet seat also had mold.
The whole room smelled awful — damp, dirty, and just sickening.
The staff made everything even worse.They were unfriendly, rude, and didn’t care about anything.
Instead of helping, they tried to convince us that this horrible room was exactly what we had booked.That was a lie and a complete lack of respect.
Because of all this, it was impossible to stay in such disgusting, unsanitary conditions.
We ended up with wasted time, ruined mood, and had to search for another hotel in the middle of the night.
No one should ever have to go through that.
This place is dirty, dishonest, and absolutely unsafe.
Avoid this hotel at all costs.