PhaiLin Hotel

Friendly staff, good wifi, and a quiet room. Breakfast was fruit, juice, and eggs, all clean and fresh. Laundry and motorbike rental were easy to arrange, the AC worked well, and the toilet was good. Most places are a 5-20 minute walk away. What else do you need?

We had a great time at Phailin hotel. It's a small place with about 12 rooms, and ours was spacious and clean. Breakfast had several options, and our favorite touch was being able to refill cold water in the lobby.

You take your shoes off at the entrance, and they provide slippers. That seemed to help keep the rooms exceptionally clean, and ours was very comfortable. The hotel is right in the city center, around a 5-10 minute walk from the night market, with other attractions nearby. Breakfast is simple but tasty, and the price is very reasonable. A great location and a very clean stay. I'd recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

I stayed four nights. The room and bathroom were clean and very basic, acceptable but nothing more. What really made the stay uncomfortable was the reception staff, who were unfriendly and unwelcoming throughout. I tried to use the laundry service, but their scale showed nearly 3 kg. That didn't seem right, so I took the same laundry to another nearby place, where it weighed only 1.2 kg. Later, while I was sitting outside, the manager and the staff member who had weighed it came up to me. They didn't introduce themselves or ask how I was, and immediately spoke angrily and accusingly: “Weren’t you told it was 3 kilos?” I felt intimidated and genuinely unsafe, and apologized because I was scared. The hotel also quoted 250,000 kip for transport to Nong Khiaw, while the same ride elsewhere costs around 180,000 kip. After three weeks traveling in Laos, this was one of my most uncomfortable service experiences. The lack of professionalism, transparency, and basic hospitality left a very negative impression. I'm writing this only after leaving Laos because the encounter frightened me.