Sekong VIlla Da Nang Beach

A good budget option across from Da Nang beach, about a five-minute walk from the water. The rooms are large, clean, and well equipped, and breakfast had a wonderful selection of Vietnamese and Western food. Most of the staff were nice and helpful. The one drawback was the bathroom design, since someone taking a shower gets water everywhere.

The hotel’s location opposite the beach was very good, and our Panorama View Suite had a great view. But the stay was highly disappointing. The hot water wasn’t working, and reception took nearly two hours to send someone, after we called four or five times. We were then told it couldn’t be fixed. My partner had clearly asked the technician not to enter the bedroom for privacy reasons, but he went in anyway. It was extremely uncomfortable. When we complained, reception seemed indifferent and only said we could get a refund, with no apology or concern. The refund became another problem. Staff first tried to keep 3-5% as a card fee, even though I’d specifically asked about extra charges before paying and was told there were none. They returned the full amount only after I challenged it. The whole situation ruined our day and completely disrupted our plans. Very poor service.

The location was fine, but there wasn’t much to recommend this hotel beyond that, despite being right by the beach. The rooms feel like a 2-3 star hotel at best: dated, with dirty walls, hard towels, and a kettle that didn’t work and had to be replaced. They give you 350ml water bottles, which hardly seems worth it, and there’s no pool. We asked for a front-facing room and were told it had sold out. That was hard to believe in rainy November, when Da Nang was empty and most five star hotels seemed nearly vacant. I hope at least the breakfast is good.

We had room 901 for one night, and the ocean view was good. The bathroom, though, had a sewage smell that never cleared, the bed was lumpy but bearable, and the room walls were damaged in several places. The tub looked ready to fall apart, and there was mildew on the bathroom ceiling. Maybe ours was just a bad room, but the elevator walls were also in poor shape, which made me think the maintenance problem could be more widespread. Calling this a 3 star hotel seems fitting only for 30 years ago, before they stopped maintaining it. It reminded me of hotels I stayed in during the civil war in Angola in the mid-90s. Glad we only stayed one night.