Moonlight Apartments RiverGate

The pool was the main reason I, and apparently many others, booked this place, but using it was a letdown. You have to register to get on a list before security will let you in. There are only eight sunbeds for around 1,000 apartments, and two are already broken with nobody maintaining or replacing them. It gets so crowded that sometimes there isn’t even space on the floor. The pool is cleaned only once a week, on Mondays, when swimming isn’t allowed. Guests generally don’t shower first, and people come straight from the city, dirty and greasy, to cool off. After a few days the water gets cloudy, with paper and all sorts of things on the bottom. Drinks other than water, food, fruit, and smoking are prohibited, with fines for anyone caught. That’s not relaxing for me. Each time you come, you can’t tell whether you’ll get a spot or end up on a dirty floor. I stayed 12 nights in two apartments. The second one, a Studio Suite with Kitchen and City View that I booked through Trip.com, was much nicer, had a better view, and the service was good. The guys were ready to help, and cleanliness wasn’t as bad as in the first place. My first booking was at “Can ho Rivergate - Sai Gon, Quan 4” for six nights through Agoda, and there’s a review there too. I was alone, but was given an apartment meant for four, apparently because nothing else was available. I couldn’t understand the business planning behind that, and it seemed like a loss right from the start. That first apartment was terribly dirty. There were no plates, knives, or anything useful in the kitchen, and whatever was there was filthy. The cleaner was still working when I arrived, but did a very poor job, leaving stains behind. I had to tell her about ten times what needed another proper clean, including the bed linen. She’d changed it ten minutes earlier, but it was still dirty, so she had to replace it again. The walls had stains and holes too. I was shocked by what I saw happening to other guests: every day, people arrived with suitcases hoping to enter the building. Some got in, while others had their bookings cancelled at the last minute and had to find somewhere else. People told me about all kinds of experiences.

Once we got into the apartment, I thought it was good value and fairly central. It isn’t actually in District 1, though, and you need to cross the bridge to get there. There’s a little couch, more of a loveseat, and a washing machine, though it’s quite old. A supermarket is downstairs, and food can be delivered. The bed was a bit worn but okay, and we didn’t end up using the pool. We booked the ‘Double E Saigon Apartment in Rivergate building’ and it worked fine for us. We only read the reviews about the questionable setup, with residential apartments sublet as hotel rooms, after booking on booking.com. When we arrived, we didn’t fully trust the place and nearly cancelled. The check-in was strange: someone led us into the building kind of secretly. But the check-in lady was nice, and we were able to check in early. The cancellation seemed to be a way for them to avoid the booking fee, but it didn’t cost us anything extra. I’d rather they handled it normally, though it really did us no harm.

Getting around was convenient, with the city center nearby and a 7-Eleven downstairs. There was a washing machine outside. The air conditioning worked well and quietly. In the room there was a kettle, microwave, small fridge, and a small smart TV across from the bed. The pool was cold when the sun hadn’t been out, since it isn’t heated. You have to contact the owner to use it, which also limits when you can go. The room smelled strange, especially from the bathroom. We had to keep the window open to air it out and the bathroom door shut. There was no hot water in the shower or the bathroom tap. The bed was uncomfortable and made a lot of noise when we turned over. It was a small double, not ideal for two people. We were also disappointed by how much smaller the room was than the photos suggested. When we raised it with the owner, he said the pictures were taken at 0.5 zoom, making the space look bigger. None of the roughly 100 photos online showed our room, which looked completely different from the nicely decorated, cozy rooms in the listing. For the price, I expected the room to be cleaned daily, but that didn’t happen.

We needed the sink and lights fixed, and the dirty blanket replaced when we checked in. The room itself was suitable, but didn’t seem very well managed. The location was the best part: close enough to walk to District 1 without being caught up in all the chaos there. We spent a week here visiting Ho Chi Minh. The lobby felt like a zoo most days because it was overrun with tourists. I might stay again, but would want a different room and a more attentive host. Still, you can’t get it right every time.