Ruby Hotel Cat Ba

We were so comfortable at Ruby Hotel that we added an extra night. The room was the nicest we'd had in a month of budget hotels around Vietnam, with fresh, clean bedding and towels, a really comfortable bed, and even Netflix on the TV for after a sunny day. The location was ideal, a three-minute walk from the island's best restaurant, ‘Yummy’, and five minutes from the water. The staff were lovely and incredibly helpful. At 11 p.m., they even went out of their way to help my boyfriend get into his luggage after the lock broke. The ladies in the kitchen were sweet at breakfast and made us amazing food. For such an affordable price, the service and room were impressive. We'd definitely come back.

For 9 euro a night, the room was clean and nice, and breakfast was included, pancakes with a hot drink. The staff were very helpful, and checkout between 11:30 and 12 was convenient. Recommended. My only complaint is that staff were talking loudly outside my room at 7 a.m. and woke me up.

The worst part was the noise. Other guests sounded as if my room door were open, and some teenagers partied until 2 a.m. and kept ringing room bells for fun. Complaining didn't help, and there was no staff at the hotel overnight to assist. I got no sleep. We were booked here as part of a CatBa tour and otherwise wouldn't have checked in. The rooms were reasonably clean, but the mattresses felt like wooden planks and there was almost no daylight. Breakfast was pathetic: noodles, chips, soup, plain toast, and boiled eggs, with no other choices. The so-called coffee was a strange dark liquid from an old Pepsi bottle, so we went straight to a cafe for a proper cup. A disgrace.

Don't stay here. We left the hotel after returning to our room in the evening and finding our things moved around and some missing. The manager wasn't helpful or responsive. Two other staff members came over, and we had to communicate with them through Google Translate. They didn't seem concerned or apologetic, and didn't try to sort it out, just stood there laughing with each other. They said cleaners have access to the rooms, but ours hadn't been cleaned, and this was between about 5:30 and 10 p.m. Staff having room access doesn't explain why our belongings were taken.