GTHQ Jaunt Journal – Hotel: Intercontinental Asiana Saigon – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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GTHQ Jaunt Journal – Hotel: Intercontinental Asiana Saigon – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Location: Corner Hai Ba Trung St. & Le Duan Bl, Ho Chi Minh; Notre Dame Cathedral & Opera House – 5 min walk

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been reviewing various hotels in Vietnam and the reviews continue. After almost 2 weeks of travel through Vietnam, we reached the former capital: Ho Chi Minh City or formerly known as Saigon. In HCMC, we stayed at the Intercontinental Asiana Saigon which was in a bustling area of the city and an IHG category 4 property. We are loving the food in this country!

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The Room

At this property, we booked a King Bed Deluxe Room and we received a small upgrade to a Corner King Bed Deluxe Room on the 12th floor. This brings up an interesting point. As you’ve seen some IC’s give upgrades and some don’t. Every IC can independently decide which benefits they will give their Platinum and Ambassador Guests when they stay on award stays or even for paid stays. Towards the end of this review I’ll point out what this property offered.

The corner room was quite spacious and well designed. It had a rectangular bed/living room combination which shared a common wall with the bathroom. We received the usual mixed fruit basket (in this case, dragon fruit, asian pear and bananas in a conical hat) due to our platinum ambassador status. In Vietnam, they call this type of hat a nón lá (leaf hat).

Besides all the usuals, the room had a reclining chair with foot rest, ipod surround sound system and a comfortable office desk to work from. The views overlooking the city weren’t too bad but there was a large antenna directly in the line of sight of one side of the room. The other side of the room overlooked the pool about 10 stories down and a view of the city.

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The bathroom was long and had enough room to dance in. One end had the marble tub while the shower was on the opposite side. I really liked the fittings which had a high end nautical feel to them.

As most hotels, the amenities included your basic water, tea and coffee. Additionally like other IC properties, there are slippers, robes, a flashlight and an umbrella in the room. Premium internet service is free for all Elite IHG Rewards Club members. We also received 2 pieces of laundry cleaned per day – complimentary.

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The Property

The overall atmosphere of this property is relaxed with a nice touch of elegance and we thoroughly enjoyed staying here. There are a total of 305 rooms and suites and if you’re a foodie, you have a choice of 3 restaurants, a lounge and a cocktail bar. We only had breakfast in their Market 39 restaurant but I was impressed that it has 7 open kitchens and the selection was fantastic.

The fitness facility was very well equipped with staff on hand to help with your workout. The 20 meter outdoor infinity pool is quite narrow and is more suited for those who like to swim laps and don’t mind getting watched while doing it since the hotel facing wall is glass. The hotel also has a full-service spa with various treatments and packages.

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The Experience

The staff was genuinely friendly but we came to expect that from Vietnamese people. The hotel is located in central Ho Chi Minh which makes it ideal as a jump off area. Taxis in Vietnam are cheap making it convenient to grab one wherever you go. We met friends in HCMC and they were kind enough to show us around so we didn’t spend too much time lounging in the hotel. That being said, we would definitely return here. The airport is only 7 kms away but depending on traffic may take about 20 minutes. As a Platinum guest they offered us: 3,000 points per stay, fresh fruit, newspaper, late checkout – 2 PM, comp internet, local phone calls and 2 pieces of laundry.

Covered Market in HCMC

Covered Market in HCMC

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Opera House

Opera House

The Good: Good Location; Extensive Gym; Normal Nightly Cost: $247 US – Our Cost: $0 + 25,000 IHG points

The Bad: Only that we didn’t have more time to explore this hotel!

The Ugly: Nothing at all

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