Hotels With Bar in Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam

MELIA VINPEARL in downtown Thanh Hoa is a six-star hotel, masquerading as a five-star home away from home, to re-quote a line from my previous review of my favourite KL hotel. But Melia is even more of a home away from home for a neighbouring guest like me from Asean because Thanh Hoa isn't exactly a bustling capital city as Kuala Lumpur (KL)...or a country where English or Malay (my native tongues) predominates. It's got more of a rural city countryside vibe, steeped in the soul of national history, like Jogjakarta in Indonesia, for instance.  It claims Vietnam's earliest legendary hero Le Loi as its hometown hero although he's accurately from a small hamlet nearer to its airport in Tho Xuan, called Lam Son; which apparently is being scaled upfor high-end tourism.  Back to Melia Vinpearl in Thanh Hoa. Why do I love i, rate it and recommend it without reserve?  Two reasons which are from the top, literally: 1. Its hotel manager, Robert Ngo, a hometown boy from Kon Tum (a 20-hour bus ride away in Vn's Central Highlands), now calls Da Nang home, but whose full dynamic homework is all about ensuring the energetic vibes of this gem of a hotel. You can feel the sense of being cocooned and spoiled by its A-star service and staff - from frint-desk to backend (housekeeping, room service et.al) and this energy originates from Robert (see pic of Bob and me at the breakfast buffet on the 6/f which has a fantastic spread.  The USP of Robert's theme is, well, pretty basic at its roots: pricing. The rates are horribly impossible to reject for such all-round six-star excellence.  2. Its 34th-storey penthouse-feel restaurant whose menu was curated by Robert personally when he took charge a couple of years back. He leveraged on the strongest suit of the hotel's class master chef, focusing on honing the latter's favourite culinary skillls.  A pared-down menu where each dish starts with delicious and elevates to 😋 yum 😋 excellence. My particular favourite: the boneless chicken served  with a side of mashed potatoes. Irresistible! And that's coming from a culinary curmudgeon who likes chicken least of all ”meats” despite originating from the homes of Chinese chicken rice - Malaysia and Singapore. If you wanna get the calming comfort of a long cool evening indoors dining for a couple of hours, this sky-high restaurant is the place...and sharing it with the hotel's watering hole - the Skybar - helps. The frozen margaritas ate consistently excellent and the whiskey sour, superb. As for the rest of the hotel, well, it's worth every ringgit, sgd, USD, Euro and yeah, penny you have for a trip's accommodation - go find out. It's utterly value-added worth it!  YAP, Koon Hong Malaysian-born Singaporean, who may well decide to call Vietnam home soon. 🇸🇬 🇲🇾🇻🇳

Good location and friendly staff with easy check in. However, quite a bit of noise at night from a generator? I needed earplugs.

The hotel is very clean, luxurious, friendly staff, will come back when coming to Sam Son

The newly opened hotel's decor and facilities are acceptable; however, the service really needs improvement. The most frustrating thing was the indifferent attitude of the front desk staff. Because I woke up late, I called the hotel hoping to delay my check-out, but was immediately refused; the reason given was that all rooms were booked, even though the booking platform showed more rooms available than the previous day. How can such inhumane management retain customers?! Because I needed to stay an extra day for work, I decisively booked another hotel!

One of the best places I’ve stayed at in Vietnam!!!! So beautifully designed, the food is amazing (try the fish in dongo leaf wowwww), service is very personal, I felt so well taken care of. Would recommend it again and again and again. I want to mention Hien who is a shining light and Duan who took me on a motorbike tour and made my day really special. Can’t wait to go back.

The whole family had a satisfying time with the 3-day, 2-night itinerary. The weather was nice, and the view from the villa was really nice. I think it would be a good resort getaway if you only spend time at the resort. (It may vary depending on the season, but May-October would be a good time). There were a lot of people at Samson Beach, but the resort has a private beach, so only hotel guests can use it. However, please note that it may be difficult to leave the resort. It took about 2 hours and 30 minutes to drive from Hanoi (about 170km). Breakfast... was a bit disappointing for a 5-star resort, but it was okay. Since we drove our own car, we went to a nearby restaurant in Taenghwa City (15km away) for lunch. There was no seafood buffet for dining, and it was a Vietnamese + Western style set (course) meal, but it seemed like people would have different opinions. By the way, you can have a light meal at the villa. You could use the microwave, pot, etc. to make cup ramen, Hetbahn, etc.

The exterior was very nice, but the room was average. There was no place to wash clothes, which was a problem when staying multiple nights. There was no conditioner as an amenity, so it would have been helpful if there was. The breakfast buffet was delicious, but there were no spoons, so when I asked for some I was told they couldn't be brought because they had been washed, which was disappointing. I felt that a first-class hotel in Vietnam should provide a little more training in terms of service, etc.

It is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Tanghwa, clean and the staff are bright. English communication is lacking. Use a translator.

The accommodation is beautiful but the location is not close to the nice views, attractions or restaurants. So you rely on transportation which the hotel could make more clear. They also didn’t advertise any activities and since their English wasn’t great, you’re kind of left with organizing yourself. It was also difficult to contact them bc they’re not fast in replying to emails, there’s no WhatsApp number on their website, and I couldn’t call with my phone data package. So while the accommodation is great, and Pu Luong is incredibly beautiful, the hotel staff could be more forthcoming with customer service.

The best stunning view from my room . Good food at the restaurant for lunch & dinner. Just basic breakfast.