Apartments Sea View

The views are incredible, and the beach is extremely close, just one building away. But the elevator was unreliable and very slow, and we got stuck in it once. Be careful booking here. These are individually owned condos, more like ordinary apartments, with owners paying a monthly fee like an HOA. Units get listed on Agoda, Priceline, Expedia, booking, Airbnb, and other sites for short or long stays. Photos often aren’t an exact match unless the place is new or newly renovated, and tenants may use one another’s pictures. You could check in to a different unit than the one shown. Paying in advance may make it more likely you get the same unit, since you can file a claim with Airbnb or the booking site if it’s different, costing the host money and a bad review. Paying at check-in gives you more flexibility to change plans, but a host may show you a worse room than advertised and try to negotiate a higher cash rate. I think this bait-and-switch practice is common in Vietnam. Booking sites and Airbnb should crack down on it, since photos are easily shared and reused. Many rooms are very dirty. Look at the bathroom photos, or lack of them. A lot of bathrooms aren’t westernized, with the toilet and shower beside each other rather than separated.

I was really disappointed with my stay at Apartments Sea View – Muong Thanh Da Nang. There was no reception counter or staff around, and no service. The room and toilet were dirty, with no daily cleaning. The person who gave me the keys behaved badly, and the apartment I got was completely different from the one pictured on the booking site.

Agoda’s listings for this property are fake, and scammers are operating here. My family arrived and ended up stranded without a place to stay. I know scams happen everywhere, but Agoda should have screened the listing properly and failed to help us once we got there. They’ve lost a loyal customer for good.

We cut our booking from seven nights to two and were told payment was cash only. The apartment looked nothing like the photos, and the building seemed dodgy. The TV didn’t work, nor did the air conditioning in one bedroom. The listing said there was a gym and pool, but neither was in the building. The pool was at another hotel next door. Our host spoke with someone there, then said it was closed for maintenance, even though about half a dozen people were swimming. The gym was in a different building roughly 200m away. The balcony door wouldn’t lock. The host pretended to fix it by wiggling the handle, but we checked after she left and it still wasn’t locked.