Never ever stay at the Daewoo Hotel in Hanoi! Besides being the biggest rip-off in town, it?s a 15 minute taxi ride from the center of town and offers no value. The $150+ USD/night you spend for a room in this high rise hotel complex is smaller than can be had for $30 USD in town!
With any luck this rant will find its way to a corporate level executive with the hotel chain. The high prices of your hotel don?t bother me and your hotel undoubtedly has its place as Hanoi?s corporate meeting center. I DO have a problem with rude foreign managers who treat their local staff like dirt. The local staff employed by the hotel was kind and well worth my American style tips; however one receptionist made an honest mistake when checking us in and quoting the price for an extra bed. When the error was found, we had a discussion with this unsympathetic manager who cared more about saving $6 USD (keep in mind this is a $150/night hotel) than customer satisfaction. He then threatened to take the difference out of this poor employee?s salary who undoubtedly works harder at pleasing the hotel?s customers than this high level manager.
As a traveler who enjoys helping the local economy, it ticks me off when an overpaid foreign manager plays solitaire in his corner office while his poorly paid workers get paid pennies on the dollar and are then treated with such little respect.