Sanouva Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh

The only good side is the strategic location to all the main tourist spots and must-try restaurants. We just covered all by foot from the hotel. However, we were being catfished by the hotel photos and “very good” reviews posted in trip.com, which we were quite disappointed.

From cleanliness aspect, some surfaces in the room are covered with thick dust. The towel smelled like they didn’t wash or air dry properly. Hence, we requested a new towel from the receptionist.

They don’t have much amenities like gym, pool and spa. Budget wise, they only provide WiFi and essential toiletries such as toilet paper, towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and cotton buds.

For service wise, overall it’s average. The guard will help us to carry our luggage in and out of the hotel, opening the grab car’s door for us. However we encountered an unpleasant experience with the receptionist and hotel manager.

I went for a body massage on the first night, with the red tiger balm on my body and neck. It stained on the bedsheet, duvet and one pillowcase. This was my fault and I admitted and willing to settle it.

The next day, the receptionist said we need to pay 1344,750VND (51USD) for a new set of duvet, bedsheet and 3 pillowcases. I asked them whether the stains can be removed with detergent or some special washing techniques, and they kept saying “can’t” which was a bit ridiculous.

I also checked on the average prices of new duvet, bedsheet and pillowcases online, it’s way cheaper than those written in the miscellaneous bill. Furthermore, hotels usually do bulk purchase on these items and they will be given special rates too. Something fishy there.

I asked them to check again the pillowcases because I remembered I only stained one, they said they’ve sent to the laundry department so they can’t check for me. It doesn’t make sense for a hotel’s laundry / third party laundry to be so helpless to remove a few patches of oil-based stain.

Thanks to trip.com for liaising this matter with the hotel and they agreed to issue me a laundry charge of 470,000VND instead of paying 1344,750USD. I very rarely write such long review, but for this hotel, I really hope that no more “misleading” nice reviews and photos.