Era Apartment La Thanh

The room cost around 350k vnd and felt like a real bargain for the space and comfort. There wasn’t a TV, but the owner had set up a projector and speakers so we watched a movie on the white wall. It was a fun, clever touch. We booked two rooms for a few days in Hanoi with my family. I’d been wary because the Google Maps reviews weren’t great, though my brother had once considered living here while studying and only passed because it was too expensive for a student. Getting there takes some patience. The address can be off in Grab or Be, so we went to 242 Xa Dan street, Dong Da, Hanoi and walked about 100 meters. Drivers can get lost too, though it’s not far to walk. Shops nearby sell just about everything, but some may charge tourists more, so I’d use convenience stores to be safe. I kept telling my brother to leave a review because the place deserves better comments. It isn’t fancy, but it’s good for anyone who just needs somewhere to sleep.

There were ants all over the room. I also left my passport behind and asked the owner to retrieve it, but he called me a liar. In the end, I had to wake the guest staying in the room myself to get it back. He was a terrible person.

We reached the property at the 2PM check-in time, but the security guard said there was no chance we’d get a room because the place was full. Before arriving, I’d called about checking in early and was told they’d look into it. When we called again, they said a sudden system problem had left us overbooked. They offered to send us to a different hotel in another location, which we didn’t know anything about. We refused, and they said a refund wasn’t possible. After I challenged their behavior, they called back later and said they’d figured out how to process a refund, though apparently it wouldn’t cover the full amount. Hotels.com eventually arranged another hotel for us, but only after I spent two hours on the phone with customer support. This was a horrendous experience. Era Apartment on Google Maps has lots of reports of this same scam, so don’t book with them.

Nice.