Dalat Palace Luxury Hotel & Golf Club

The staff made this a great stay. Everyone was friendly, welcoming, and ready to help. When our airline changed our flight, Tran at reception spent a long time helping us work out whether we could switch to another one, since the replacement flight was too late for us. We couldn’t have sorted it without her. We started with a night in the “stay and play” package, then added two more nights. It’s a handy package if you’re planning to play golf. The entrance, halls, and dining areas are stunning, and we had an amazing room view. The room was good, though a little warm, and the fan we asked for arrived quickly. The bathrooms are old, but suit the decor. We had a lovely time in Dalat.

The room in the new building had a street view, and noise kept me from sleeping well. The shower was the worst I’ve had in a five-star hotel. Washing my hair took ages because the pressure was so weak, and there was only an old-fashioned overhead shower, no hand shower. The gym was still shut at 7:30 in the morning, and didn’t look well maintained. Breakfast was decent, though for a hotel trying to preserve its French legacy, none of the dishes had pate. Restaurant staff weren’t very attentive, food wasn’t replenished, and I had to ask three times for scrambled eggs. Other staff were really good, remembered my room, and were very customer focused. I enjoyed the free afternoon tea, and the hotel’s location and view were absolutely lovely.

The original architecture and views are still beautiful, but the property badly needs better plumbing, sound insulation, and a new kitchen. We first stayed at Dalat Palace Heritage Hotel in 2014 and loved its French colonial style, especially breakfast on the lake-view balcony among the misty gardens. That visit made us want to return. As someone who stays at five-star hotels around the world, I’m sharing our repeat-guest experience to help others decide. Our October 2025 visit, under new management, was a joyless nightmare from check-in and shattered the nostalgia. Our “royal suite” in the new 2017 annex smelled strongly of sewer when we arrived. Other reviews mention drainage problems too. The stench was nauseating, and the annex’s gilded French theme park decor felt tacky beside the authentic art deco and historic colonial details in the older wing. Noise went on from late afternoon until after 11 at night. Loud music and street sounds rattled the windows and my skull, so we gave up on the peaceful balcony and went to a cocktail bar in town every night. The food was poor. Breakfast meant overcooked eggs, stale pastries, and limp fruit, nothing like the made-for-us breakfasts we enjoyed in 2014. Afternoon tea was both lukewarm and stingy. Dinner had fallen off too. The lamb rack was badly trimmed and dressed, with gristly fat we left behind. The “French onion soup” was oddly chunky and tasted like the chef had never tried a real one. Back in 2014, we chose from an impressive cellar, including a memorable 1985 Chateau Chalon, whose photo I still have. Now there were only five lousy commercial wines, and they’d even run out of their one Dalat sparkling option. A shampoo dispenser slipped off the wet, slippery shower shelf and shattered. Accidents happen, but charging 500,000 VND for it felt miserly and showed how far the hotel has fallen. Language gaps with staff seemed wider than in 2014, even with tourism booming in Da Lat. I had to chase up requests two days after first making them.

The restaurant is where my stay really fell apart. Service was awful, and the buffet name cards seemed randomly placed, printed in tiny type at hip height and facing forward instead of up. Maybe they were only decorations. I’m pretty sure the orange juice pitcher didn’t actually contain potato salad, regardless of what its card said. The juices all tasted like water, though at least they must have been sugar free. One waiter was always buried in Facebook, and the other staff avoided eye contact. When some loud Big Boys came to breakfast, they got fawning attention, probably because the staff were scared of them. When I asked one worker for water, she didn’t understand until I asked in Vietnamese, then just pointed lazily to the back of the room and said, “You over there.” Five-star service, apparently! Away from the restaurant, the building is nice, the view of the lake is unbeatable, and the gardens are fun, though camera-toting tryhards spoil them a bit. I like the grand, chintzy public rooms. It’s like staying at a Trump property without having to give money to Nazis. My room was huge and classy, with a wonderful view and a super comfy bed. A few times each night, neighbors screamed, argued, and FaceTimed at full volume. The “hot” water started cold and, with a lot of effort, got to somewhere between room temperature and lukewarm. There was no heating either, despite this being a five-star hotel. The younger guy at reception who showed me to my room was great and helpful, and seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the hotel. The other front desk staff were middling and seemed to go through the motions reluctantly. Still, it costs a tenth of what real five-star hotels do. Don’t compare it with those, and you’ll probably have a better time.