Bien Dong Hotel Halong

Room 315 is rubbish, so don’t rent it. The air conditioner never cools properly, and the TV looks like it’s from the 1990s. In short, I wouldn’t stay here.

I wouldn’t come back. The hotel is near the city center, but it’s quite old and seemed almost empty. I only saw one family during my stay, and no one else. The room smelled musty and a little foul, probably because it hadn’t been occupied in a while. Cheap wallpaper was peeling off the walls, and the slippers smelled so bad I had to take them out. There was no bottled water, so you had to buy it at reception or somewhere else. The old curved-screen TV wasn’t appealing either. At night, the refrigerator was so noisy and didn’t cool properly, so I had to unplug it to sleep. The air conditioner was noisy too, but it was too hot to turn it off, so I put up with it. The bathroom had hot and cold water, toothpaste and a toothbrush, but the toothpaste was too thick to squeeze out easily. There was no shower soap, hand soap, or shampoo. The listed price seemed high. My friend got a better rate by booking through an acquaintance, but I don’t know what it costs for other people booking on their own.

They charge the price of a 2-star hotel for first-floor rooms that aren’t even as good as guesthouses. The only thing going for those rooms is the refrigerator. The hotel is very old, and they still have curved-screen TVs that you can’t even adjust.

Good value for the price. It’s a private hotel next to Suoi Mo Hotel, and the beach is about a 10-minute walk away.