I have used Ho Chi Minh City Airport several times for transit, but I have only been to the city once. At that time, I checked my luggage at the airport, took a local bus to the city center and eat pho. The actual time spent outside the airport was about two hours or less. If I keep passing through Ho Chi Minh City Airport for connections, I may dislike the city without knowing what it can offer. I decided to stay one night in Ho Chi Minh City and explore the city during my visit to Vietnam this year.
As I felt during my stay in Hanoi last year, it was difficult to choose a hotel in a big city in Vietnam, perhaps because I was caught the hotel rates in Japan before surge of foreign tourist, which was too low. Of course, there are many inexpensive hotels in such large cities of Vietnam, but they could be very different one another, hard to pick right one. Moreover, I am not good at hotels with poor sanitary facilities, so it is necessary to choose hotels carefully even though this was my first overnight stay in Ho Chi Minh City.
I first tried to book a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City for my Vietnam trip, but due to my complete lack of familiarity with the area, I could not find the right balance between location, facilities, and price. After endless searching, I made a reservation at a Japanese-owned hotel near the center of the city, which was almost newly built and seemed good price.
After that, I looked for a hotel in Hue where was my main destination, but I decided only on the basis of its location and style. Hue’s Perfume River has a bridge designed by the Eiffel architect office, who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and this colonial hotel is located at right in front of the bridge. Moreover, even a river-view room did not seem to be that expensive. Even though there are many nearby hotels in the same price range where were built in the recent years, I came to believe that the hotel must be a good old-fashioned place.
With this in my mind, I forgot the serious research I made when I first looked for a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. I felt that a colonial hotel with a river view would be nice choice.
Once again, I looked for a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City along its Saigon River, and found a nice hotel called Hotel Majestic Saigon. It is a luxurious and historical hotel. There are river-view rooms with balcony, but they are expensive as expected in the high-class hotel market in Ho Chi Minh City.
The style of the hotel was probably influenced by the investment at the time of construction, but I thought that the hotel’s day-to-day management is affected by the current owner’s rate setting. If building is old, it will take more time and efforts to maintain service level which is highly likely impact to their sell rate. The hotel in Hue was inexpensive for such maintenance needs, and I had a feeling a bit uneasy about it. A luxury hotel on the last day seemed not a bad option. Still, if I think calmly, a newly built Japanese-affiliated hotel would be better option.
Although I pondered for a while, I still could not come to a calm decision. In the end, I decided to change my reservation to Hotel Majestic Saigon. Even better or worse, I initially booked a non-river view room but changed it to a river view room with a balcony at the last minute. I conveniently forgot that one night stay in Ho Chi Minh City was more expensive than two nights stay in Hue. As I stayed in a good old-fashioned hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, I wished to see good old Saigon.
It turned out, the first hotel I stayed in Hue was ok. It was not as bad as I had feared, nor not that good either. I thought the old-fashioned building would shine if there are more cost spending on maintenance, even if the price was higher. In the end, hotel rates are probably influenced by market, not by the maintenance itself.
Majestic Saigon, on the other hand, was wonderful.
When I arrived the hotel, main streets around were closed for vehicular traffic and the hotel staff was waiting in line. They even had a bouquet of flowers. I assumed that high-ranked government officials would visit that night.
I initially thought to make a gesture of accepting the flowers, but I knew they would not get the joke and it would embarrass them. This is probably the first and last time I made a calm decision regarding this hotel.
Speaking of bouquets, there is a flower market in Ho Chi Minh City. I enjoy going to local markets in Vietnam, but this was my first time at a market specializing in flowers.
The next morning, I got up early and took a Grab to the flower market. Although I might be a little late from its peak time, the market was colorful. After that, I visited two old-fashioned markets surrounded by modern buildings.
Staying at a good old hotel and visiting good old markets. To be honest, I was not too interested in the modern and chaotic Ho Chi Minh City, but my stay gave me a slight remainder of Saigon as it used to be.