La Vogue Boutique Hotel & Casino

My room was the strongest part of the stay. I had a clean, roomy Superior Twin on the eighth floor for four nights, and it was comfortable. The beach was just a two-minute walk around the corner. From the balcony there was only a partial side view of the water, though, with high-rise construction and an abandoned resort directly opposite. There are many construction sites around, some unfinished and apparently occupied by poor Cambodian families in unsafe conditions. Restaurants nearby cover Indian, Chinese, Turkish, Japanese, Cambodian and Western food, but as a solo diner I paid about $15-20 each time. The beach itself was clean, with clear enough water for swimming, and I saw only a handful of foreigners there. The staff were polite, smiling and professional. Housekeeping did a lovely job, and my belongings stayed where I had left them. The hotel has 13 floors: reception and table games are on the ground floor, with the elevators reached through the casino; karaoke is on the first floor, casino machines on the mezzanine, and rooms from the second through eleventh floors. The presidential suites are on nine, Vogue Clue, the all-day dining restaurant and bar, is on ten and very expensive. On eleven there is a tiny gym with two treadmills, one cycle and a small punching bag, plus paid massage and sauna services. The clean rooftop pool and bar are on floors 12-13, but the pool area needs repair. Umbrellas were worn or broken, there were no sunbeds despite the room folder saying there were, and many chairs and parts of the DJ area and cabinets were rusty or damaged. The folder also says the doors are open 08:00-22:00, but I had to call reception to have them opened, even during those hours. The extra sky-bar seating is nothing special, and the rusty stairs are best climbed in shoes. The website gives a misleading picture in several ways. Cigarette smell reached every floor; it didn't bother me much, but it could be an issue if you dislike smoke. The neighborhood felt shady, especially for a woman walking alone at night, though during the day I was fine and nobody bothered me. Loud music from nearby restaurants and beach bars, along with construction noise, went on day and night. It didn't keep me awake, and the balcony doors and windows blocked some of it, but anyone looking for a quiet, relaxing stay should choose somewhere else.