📍Novotel Saigon Centre: An Honest Hotel Review 2024.

Our Room. – Superior Room.

✔️ Pros.

• The rim lighting on the oversized headboard/artwork panel was a unique and elegant centrepiece and did an excellent job elevating the luxuriousness of the room.
• Even though the wooden accents were prominent, I appreciated that it didn’t overpower the room.
• The TV/table unit provided plenty of bench space, and the wardrobe next to the window had lots of hidden and open storage space and window and a neat place to put luggage.
• On the far side, the couch was super comfy and the table attached to it was great so sitting and having a snack.
• I loved the floor-to-ceiling windows capitalising on the view and allowing plenty of natural light to stream in.
• There were not many tall buildings right next to the hotel so the view didn’t feel enclosed.
• The bathroom was gorgeous and I adored the split barn doors, not just for their unique visual appeal, but also because they occupied less space in the hallway when open.
• The shower included my favourite feature, a glass window looking into the room. Only instead of having a curtain to pull down for privacy, this one had a switch that turned it from see-through to frosty which was much cooler! Plus, it had a two-way shower.
• I also loved that the mirror above the sink shared the same halo lighting that the bedboard had, maintaining the design principles between the two spaces.

❌ Cons.

• As the couch was open-ended on one side, I felt like it should have been facing towards the window so it could capitalise on the view, while still providing a seating area facing inwards, as all I wanted to do was relax on it and look outside.
• It is also a little cramped on that side of the room.
• The view outwards was nice, but looking down at street level wasn’t the most appealing part of the city.
• The toilet was only the second of the twelve hotels I stayed at in Vietnam that didn’t have a bum gun, so if you like them, this place doesn’t have it.

Semi-Indoor Swimming Pool.

✔️ Pros.

• This pool is unique. It seems more like an indoor facility and is decorated so, but it’s actually simultaneously an open level between floors, which is a confusing concept. So while most of it is undercover, a sixth of isn’t, so when the sun is directly overhead, there’s a sunny spot, and when it rains, it has its own water feature! Plus, you can look up through the hole to the hotel’s other levels, which is cool and unique.
• There are lovely views overlooking the street.
• It has a separate shallow wading pool for kids.
• There are rinsing showers in the pool area and proper showers and toilets in the bathrooms.

❌ Cons.

• The water was cold! Even though Ho Chi Minh City was obnoxiously hot, the water wasn’t getting any of the heat! It was easily the most unpleasant to get into and took me a while as I am reasonably temperature-sensitive. Another lady tried repeatedly to hop in but couldn’t get past her knees! This can be attributed to it also having rained heavily which may have cooled it down more than usual but I can’t say for sure. All I know is that when I was staying at Ibis Saigon Airport, I was able to comfortably get into their rooftop pool shortly after sunrise and stay in for a while, which is a stark difference.
• The bathrooms have low ceilings for some reason.
• One day, it smelt terrible. We found that someone had left the seeds from an eaten durian on a seat there, which is not the hotel’s fault, but it wasn’t pleasant none-the-less.
• Because of the way the pool occupies the space on the level it’s on, only one of the three lifts goes to the correct level. The others go to the level above, and then you can make your way down there, which is a bit confusing.

Food Exhcange Restaurant.

The seating for the regular restaurant was closed. To compensate they made a makeshift restaurant in a spare area. Because of this, some of the offerings may have been limited from their usual offerings, but I can only go by my experience.

✔️ Pros.

• Breakfast: Reasonable amount of Western & Vietnamese dishes.
• Dinner: They didn’t have any vegan options on the menu but were fabulous about catering to my diet. When they made a mistake they were very good about making amends and even though I eat soup on occasion, it’s not one of my favourite dishes. However, this one was the best dish of the kind that I ever had, so kudos to the chef!

❌ Cons.

• Breakfast: Not many vegan options. Had to ask which dishes were suitable for me.
• Dinner: Some of the options weren’t available.
  

OnTop Bar.

✔️ Pros.

• Gorgeous rooftop bar with gorgeous open-air views overlooking the city!

❌ Cons.

• Accor Live Limitless members of a certain status get free welcome drinks, but they wouldn’t let us use them at this bar.

Other Resort Pros & Cons.

✔️ Pros.

• They began refurbishing the reception during my stay. Luckily, the noise didn’t permeate through the floors, so the restaurant, pool and my room were also quiet.

❌ Cons.

• The refurbishment caused slight inconveniences catching the lift, where I would have to catch two lifts to go between the ground floor and the other floors.