La Vela Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh

THIS IS NOT A 5 STAR HOTEL

I counted 323 rooms over 19 floors, rooftop pool, restaurants, *******, parking etc over 28 floors total. This would require 8 lifts and 2 service lifts for efficiency, La Vela has 4 lifts, I hope you enjoy waiting as this is what we ended up doing most at the hotel (waiting for the lift).

The pool - to get to the pool requires a long wait for 1 of the 4 lifts in the hotel which takes you to the 26th floor whereby you then have to navigate yourself through 5 flights of stairs and long corridors, once there, best of luck finding a seat, the pool can easily fit 500 people but there s seating for about 20.

The photos online must have been airbrushed, the pool is in need a good clean, sealing and fixing of broken and cracked tiles, its filthy, the decking around the pool is also a major hazard with, loose decking causing trip hazards.

If you want a drink at the pool bar, they wont accept room numbers and due to the limited storage space its not ideal to risk carrying cash/cards. When i asked why, the bar man said the pool is seperate to the hotel, which seemed bizarre ( it might explain what its in such bad condition)

The room - we stayed on 15th floor, we enjoyed listening to the traffic outside the hotel, the noise in the corridor and our neighbours talking in their rooms at night, just what you expect at a '5 star hotel'.

The room smelled of dead air when we opened the door, the room was not cleaned properly, there was power next to the bed on 1 side only (not ideal when travelling and needing to charge multiple items) and it didn't work, it took 3 days for someone to come and fix it.

The lights are all controlled at the front door or bedside, not practical for the bathroom.

The safe was not secured in place and could be lifted up and removed.
The 'rainfall' shower head is too low and i at 1.9m was unable to fit underneath it.

The hotel provided 2 small 355ml btls of water, we went to reception at midnight one night to get more and the manager was abrupt telling us we recieved 2 already if we want more then either use the ones in the mini bar or go to the shops outside, the mini bar was 46000 dong for a 500ml btl (the same btl selling for 4000 dong outside), this is not the experience I would expect in a so called 5 star hotel.

Breakfast felt like a trip to the market with cattle being herded through - you're greeted with a big array of western food, with 2 Vietnamese options. I got an omelette served up one morning with egg running out still, it took 3 attempts for the cook to understand before putting it back on to cook.luckily avoiding food poisoning.

Breakfast in a 5 star hotel you would expect fresh juices not concentrated versions out of a can, especially in a country with such good fruit. Same goes for the coffee, 2 machines doing a bad attempt of making coffee, where is the barista?

Check out - was absolute chaos, money first service 2nd, asked if i took anything from the mini bar, a simple no but then had to wait 20 mins for someone to.be sent to my room to confirm. Not what you expect from a so called 5 star hotel, especially when I paid a deposit.

Overall the best part was leaving the place. I wont be returning and I wont recommend this place to.anyone. It needs a major overhaul starting with the pool, or they could just be honest and update it to⁵ a 3 star hotel, for what it is.