Arista 2

The apartment was spacious, felt brand new, and had all the essentials, including a washing machine, fridge, and stove. All the materials and fixtures were new, and the entrance hall was roomy, with a friendly woman on hand to help with reception and logistics. We stayed at Arista for a week as two people and were very satisfied. The property is tucked down a private alley in a quiet part of District 2, so it felt peaceful and private. A nearby mall with a supermarket made shopping easy. Highly recommend it if you're after a modern, well-equipped place in Hô-Chi-Minh-Ville.

The staff were polite and quick to respond to everything I asked for. The room was spacious and well equipped. The tap broke when I used it, though I'm not sure why, and the staff fixed it quickly. That made me feel more at ease staying there.

The WiFi was strong, around 100 mbps, enough for Netflix, and the bed was very comfortable and good quality. The apartment itself was okay, which is why I'd give it three stars, but it wasn't clean. We had to wipe greasy marks off the electrical switches and furniture, and the floor felt sticky underfoot. The street is a dead end with little traffic, though loudspeaker sellers still came through. Nearby, something like a small zoo had a harsh birdlike noise that a dog answered frantically, and about five dogs regularly barked loudly. The building is fairly new, with five floors, a spacious entrance, lobby, and elevator. The apartment is small but laid out nicely, which makes it feel airier. The living room is sparse, with just a sofa, lamp, desk, and TV. The sofa and desk are reasonable quality, the TV is a good Samsung, and the curtain facing outside is very good. There's a small balcony with a tiny table and two small chairs. The sliding doors are good quality and lock securely. The kitchen has a good electronic Kaff stove from Germany, a hot water tap, a good modern Samsung fridge, a microwave, a drawer, two-door storage under the sink, three cupboards above, and an extractor hood. The utensils are minimal: two chopsticks, forks, knives, and spoons; a frying pan; a deeper pan that can also be used for cooking; and a wooden chopping board. There are no cooking tools or other pots and pans, so it seems they expect guests to eat out as much as possible. There were no towels for drying hands or dishes, just small cloths for wiping the kitchen counter, and no cabinet above the sink for air-drying washed items. The bathroom is spacious and all right. The shower is at the far end rather than in the middle, as is common in Vietnam, and has a hot water boiler. The shower rod was there but no curtain, so we brought one ourselves to keep the bathroom dry. The modern rain-style shower has hot water, but looks like it may be deteriorating and raised doubts about how long it would work properly. It does work. The toilet is okay, although the two flush buttons are loose and hard to press. The sink drains slowly, despite the hot water tap, and there's no floor towel to step onto after showering. Water pressure is very good everywhere. We got two bath towels and one very small face towel. The bedroom is small, with a clothes-hanging cabinet, one bedside table and lamp, and power outlets. There's also a cupboard in the entry for shoes and other things. After we paid, service was poor. We had to insist to get a second very small face towel. When we said the floor was sticky, they told us to get the mop and clean it ourselves. The caretaker poured hot water down the slow bathroom sink and said it was okay, but it still wasn't draining properly. When we left our suitcases in the lobby to get a quick coffee and said we'd be back in 15 minutes, nobody answered the door when we returned, even after five rings. We had to call the number on the gate, then wait 10 minutes in the street before a woman came to let us in.

We stayed for two weeks and really liked having a separate bedroom and living room. Our baby could go to bed while we stayed up, which is hard to manage in a typical hotel room. The owner was sweet, helpful, and reachable whenever we needed something. It was easy to park our car in the alley, and there’s a nice banana cake nearby. Getting to Thảo Điền was convenient too. I’d happily come back.