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Review: Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake – 2 bedroom residence
The four of us flew from Siem Reap to Hanoi and arrived pretty late. Dave and I had already processed our visas when we landed in Saigon, but Shane and his sister hadn’t. Since Miles LOOOOOOOVES to takes pics of the resort, room, and everything else before anyone has used the room – we ditched our friends and B-lined it to the hotel. We figured by the time they made it through that process Miles would be done with his pics and we could all grab a bite. The hotel isn’t close to the airport, or really the downtown area of Hanoi, but more secluded and on a lake. I’ll get to that later in my Hanoi Hilton review, but Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake is a good 20 mins from the downtown area via taxi and it took almost 45 minutes from the airport.
We were only going to be in the area for the night before we headed out to see the great Ha Long bay. I really just wanted to see a couple different hotels in the area and this provided a great opportunity. Let’s take a look at the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake – 2 bedroom Residence.
Why did we pick a 2 bedroom Residence? Great question 😉
When I was looking at rates…the 2 bedroom residence was actually cheaper than two rooms. It’s also over water, 1300 sq ft with a living room, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a washer/dryer. Pretty awesome for $300 or $75 a person. A little pricey for Vietnam standards, but definitely a lot of bang for the buck, and something I figured people in our situation could find useful. It NEVER hurts to scroll down and look at more expensive options – sometimes they actually save money 😉
The Deets:
- Where: Hanoi, Vietnam
- When: January, 2017
- Loyalty: IHG
- Status: Platinum
- Rate: $299
- Upgrade: No, but welcome fruit and free drinks at the bar
We could have used points for separate rooms, but not a residence. Not a bad deal, especially in high season when rates can go up a lot. Since I carry an IHG credit card, I would have gotten 10% back on all of these rates as well. BYAH!
Check-In
IHG elites have a separate check-in which is off to the left. It was quick and easy.
Then you’ll hop in a golf cart that will wiz you to the over water rooms/residences. Keep your mouth shut tho…it’s quite buggy.
O’er the water and past the bar
The overwater rooms and residences sit a solid 5-10 minute walk from the lobby. It was so late when we checked in that we couldn’t really see how cool the set up was in the dark. I ended up waking up a bit early and walked around. Our residence was the furtherest back and to the right.
Our 2 bedroom residence.
The whole over water part of the room is cool, but I’m not sure I would pay extra for it. In all honesty it was very buggy and a long ways away from the pool, gym, and restaurants. However, if you’re interested in space, having a fridge, kitchen, etc – the residences are for sure where it’s at.
The Residence is a mirror image of itself with the living/dining/kitchen area in the middle.
Here is the Left side of the residence
The kitchen and living room
And then the right side
And the welcome amenity
Soon after dropping our bags Shane and Wi arrived and we headed off to the Sunset bar
It’s a cool, over-water bar/restaurant that I can imagine would have amazing sunset views – obviously that’s why it’s name the sunset bar. Unfortunately, we got there with only a couple hours left before it closed. We still enjoyed a few snacks and soft drinks. The staff was very nice, attentive, and although we ended up being the last guests in the bar – never made us feel like we needed to rush.
We were to be ready for our Ha Long Bay departure by 7am, so I snuck out a bit early and snapped a few more pics. The resort is very nice. Although it’s showing it’s age a bit. When you’re talking rates below $150 for an entry level room in a place this nice, it’s pretty easy to overlook the minor creaks and cracks.
The pool looked incredible
We didn’t have club benefits, but there was a separate area for Club Intercontinental guests.
Public areas of the hotel:
The gym and spa were out front of the hotel, housed in a separate, two-story building
Overall:
I was at the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake for less than 12 hours, but would have liked to have stayed a day or two longer. I was impressed by the staff of the hotel – they were friendly, always smiling, and focused on the guests and their experience. The hotel is showing its age here and there. Walls are cracking a bit, the pathways are a little worn down, and the facade of the exterior of the building needs some work. The interior of our residence as also dated, but they aren’t charging rates that would demand everything to be newly renovated. This place is a destination in and of itself, and it’s pricing to be a deal for international travelers.
The location is the biggest downside. What I loved about staying at the Hanoi Hilton was the location. As a hotel, there isn’t any comparing this to the Hilton. It crushes it, but I’d probably sacrifice the amenities and luxury of the Intercontinental to stay in the thick of the city. Hanoi is an amazing place to be, and this hotel is more of a resort/spa hotel situated on the outskirts. With that being said, every traveler is looking for different qualities and perks. If you don’t want to be bothered by the hub-bub of Hanoi and you prefer a little peace and quiet…the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake is right up your alley.
Interested in booking a room or reading more about the hotel on its website? Go here
This review is a part of the Trip Report: Miles Traces his roots in Southeast Asia
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
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- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
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- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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