Movida Stay - Bui Vien Walking Street, District 1

The only upside was the budget friendly price. Be especially careful with your belongings if you stay here. I accidentally left some money in my room and came back to find over 2 million dong missing. I suspect the cleaner lady, though it was obviously my fault for leaving the opportunity. We told reception, but there was nothing I could do, and the cleaner lady could simply deny it or say she didn’t know. The TV wasn’t working either, and the hotel made no attempt to fix it. If you can, take your business elsewhere.

Hotel staff were playing music and watching YouTube, and I could hear everything. I asked them a couple of times to keep the noise down until nine or 10 am. They said no and claimed they couldn’t control noise from outside, but I was asking them to stop playing music so loudly. I got a bit angry, touched the desk, and pointed my smartphone at it to get them to stop the music. A staff member then said he had canceled my booking, though that wasn’t recorded because he said it out loud. I left immediately to find another place because he told me he’d canceled it. Later he said I had to cancel my booking and denied saying he had canceled it. That isn’t true, and the video recording can show what happened. He also messaged me with the picture and said he had never said it, trying to hide what he’d told me. I messaged afterward because I’d left my belongings there, but got no reply, so I went back. The same person, if it was him, said he didn’t know. When I returned again to see if they could find my things, another staff member shouted at me and even pushed me. They took pictures of me and told me not to harass the staff, even though I felt they were harassing me. I spoke normally and just asked if I could check for my belongings. I’ve never had such a bad hotel experience.

The place has character, and Chris was friendly. It’s just off Bui Vien, with cafes and everything you need around the corner on the backpacker street. But it’s right by the infamous walking street in Saigon’s seedy heart, so it gets very noisy every night. The massage parlours downstairs stay open into the early hours.

I ended up having to move hotels at 1am after seeing several bed bugs, including one on me, and waking up with a bite the next day. The rooms were filthy and unhygienic. I’d booked two nights, but they would only refund the second one, so I also had to pay for another room down the street. They said they couldn’t refund the first night because I’d checked in early. I’d messaged ahead to ask if I could leave my bag, and they said yes. When I arrived, they told me the room was ready and let me check in early. I showed them a video of the bugs and my bite, but they didn’t seem concerned. When I asked how they’d clean the room for the next guest, a staff member said he would “check” the bed, which made it sound like someone else could be booked in straight away without proper treatment. I paid 780,000 for one night and now have to spend a lot cleaning all my luggage.