Ramada Hotel & Suites by Wyndham Halong Bay View

The rates are really good for this kind of apartment, especially if you’re travelling on a budget with family. Ours was a two-bedroom place with an induction facility, so you can cook if you want. From our room on the 23rd floor in A block, we could see the Halong and bai chi area. It’s a local area, with everyday things like vegetable and fruit markets, groceries, and an ATM, but not much for tourists in the nearby market. Language can be a barrier with local people. It’s a bit far out, so you’ll need to book a grab to get around.

The laundry service was so bad that I couldn’t give the hotel all five stars. We asked for our clothes to be folded properly, but they came back a couple of days later than expected and some items were missing. I emailed about my missing shirt, and they mailed it the next day, but charged us. After I complained about the poor service, they at least promised reimbursement. Le Tan at reception was kind and helped us through the process. Too bad we didn’t see her at checkout. The place was clean and reception was nice. We stayed in a very spacious suite, though access to certain parts of the area was locked. The lobby was also very spacious, and breakfast in the restaurant depended on your booking. There are pools on the 2nd floor indoors and the 33rd floor at the top, with a lovely panoramic view of all of Ha Long. They only operate at set times, 1000H-1200H in the morning and 1500-1900H in the evening. Tl;dr: reception is nice. The place is clean PS: Like and Follow.

The rooms are only about four years old, but the place already feels like it’s slipping because nobody seems to be managing it properly. The whole atmosphere is disorganized, and the staff often seemed lazy or incompetent. The front desk was frequently empty, and many staff members looked to be teenagers or in their early twenties. The heated pool was freezing. It’s supposed to be open six hours a day, but we had to ask the desk to open it, and then there was often nobody there to ask. The infinity pool is shut for months over winter, even though the weather is more like a typical British spring or light summer than genuinely cold. They say the closure is because of the cold, but it seems to be because they’re short-staffed and don’t want to organize cleaning and supervision. They advertise the pool heavily, so I’d rather they were honest about its availability. Otherwise, I can see the hotel continuing to decline.

We went to the pool at 6:45 pm for a quick walk around it, since it was meant to close at 7. Staff shut it right in front of us and refused to let us in. They were rude about it.