My Sofitel Hanoi Review

Sofitel Metropole Hanoi Review

I just finished a three-night stay at the Sofitel Legend Metropole in Hanoi. The video will give you an overview of what my room looked like. (But note I am uploading this from behind the Great Firewall of China so I am not sure if the video will come through. It should, but I can’t see it myself from Shanghai.) Overall I enjoyed my stay and my review of the Sofitel Metropoole Hanoi is positive, although in hindsight, I probably could have stayed in a cheaper hotel in Hanoi that was still pretty nice. Here is my review and my pros and cons of this luxury Hanoi hotel:

Pros of the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi

• Lovely and plentiful staff for the most part. When I checked in, there were about 10 people waiting on me. It was kinda crazy. Also, I had my own BUTLER. So that was totally awesome.
• Great food. The afternoon tea in the lounge! (I paid extra for the club floor.) The chocolates! The petit fours! And I don’t even like chocolate!! Amazing, really. Tears, actually. There was this one chocolate thing with cream inside and it was….it was…it was dreamy. Honestly, the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi gets a positive review from me just because of the afternoon tea in the lounge.
• Spa on site. I had a very nice 90 minute massage for about 90 bucks USD. I’m okay with a dollar a minute, although of course, I would prefer it to be cheaper. Check out the spa menu here.
• For a hotel of this caliber, the laundry service was CHEAP. $2.50 USD for underwear. That’s a good value, even though it still kills me to say so. Along with my Pringles Index (TM), I am also announcing the creation of the Drawers Index (TM). (This is where you report the price of your minibar Pringles and your hotel laundry underwear cleaning from various locations around the globe.)
• There is a secret  bunker under the hotel that you can tour! The shelter was constructed during the Vietnam war. Rumor has it that Jane Fonda has stayed here??!!

Cons of the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi

• My personal butler organized a wake-up call for me for Friday at 6:30 am. Only problem? It came on THURSDAY at 6:30 am. “So sorry, so sorry.” Not a problem really because I was pretty much awake then anyhow — Asian jetlag is a killer —  although then I got all worried that the hotel thought I was leaving on Thursday and not Friday so then I had to sort that out. Multiple phone calls, etc etc.
• When I was reviewing my departure with one of the lounge concierges, I was checking on how long it would take to the get to the airport and what time I should leave. She kept saying “You should leave 2.5 hours before your flight” and I kept saying “So I should leave at 7:50 am?” To which she would reply “No, 8:30” and I was getting really confused. (My flight was at 10:20 am.) I must have said 7:50 am one too many times because she got more than a bit of an attitude with me to the point where I had to say, “Don’t get mad at me. I’m just trying to understand what you mean and it’s not adding up.” I finally got out a piece of paper and wrote it down to clarify, at which point she realized her mistake and was very “So sorry, so sorry.” But at a hotel of this caliber, she should not have an attitude. Also, once she agreed that I should leave at 7:50, she said “7:30, it’s safer.” BIZARRE.
• The club lounge, for me, had too much European food and not enough Vietnamese food. I missed the mix at the Intercontinental in Saigon.
• Location: Although it’s a nice area to walk around, I think I would have preferred to be in the old quarter. I took a lot of taxis in Hanoi.
• Cons: Hermes bath products. I hate this stuff. Makes me smell too much like a dude. It’s all musky and shit.

My Sofitel Metropole Hanoi Review

So…would I stay at the Sofitel Metropole again? Overall, my review is positive but I’m also open to exploring other parts of town. That being said, if I found that those other places weren’t to my liking, I would come back here. The Club Lounge and the Spa were pretty great. And I never even made it to the Sofitel’s pool!! (The weather was pretty gray and drizzly during my visit.) In short, if you like the finer things in life, you will like it here.

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