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Review: Hanoi Hilton Opera
The deals at the Hanoi Hilton Opera are hard to beat. Yes, the hotel is showing its age, no it’s not the most luxurious you can find, but the location is unbelievable and the price is even better. Walk out any door of the hotel and you’re in it. Hanoi is a walking, biking, hustle, bustle, 24/7 city that has a fantastically strong pulse. AND THE FOOD. Go there with great appetite and little inhibition and you’ll leave with great culinary satisfaction. Hanoi puts the Eat in Street food, and The Hanoi Hilton Opera gives its guests a front row seat.
Here’s what we paid. I’m a Hilton Diamond so both rooms also were given Club Floor Access and full breakfast.
A little aside on this rate. Our trip was a bit more fluid than most people would book. Since this was the case, we needed to book flexible rate rooms. Had we been able to pre-pay fixed dates with no refund, we could have booked The Hanoi Hilton Opera for about $80 a night plus taxes and fees.
Check In
Quick and easy with status being recognized. The one thing I was pretty surprised about was the lack in legitimate upgrade. There were suites available at the hotel, we were only staying one night, and instead we were told that we were upgraded to the executive floor. Cahmonnnnnnnn, this Monkey wasn’t born yesterday. That’s a given, not a bonus. I didn’t argue the upgrade, or lack thereof, and just took the keys to our room. We’d been on a long drive from Ha Long and were eager to explore the city. Had we been more keen on enjoying the luxuries of the hotel I’d have made an issue out of it, but it just wasn’t worth it.
This is my ideology in regards to one-night suite upgrades. If the suites haven’t sold out for the that night or the following ( taking into account late check-out and turn around needs) then why wouldn’t the hotel upgrade it’s top tier elites? It frees up a lower level room that has higher odds of selling compared to an expensive suite, and you ingratiate yourself with elite members. Anyways….
The Deets:
- Where: Hanoi, Vietnam
- When: January 2017
- Loyalty: Hilton Honors
- Status: Diamond
- Upgrade: Yes
- Amenities: Club Floor Access, Buffet Breakfast, Premium WiFi
I was interested to see what it would be like staying here vs. the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake. Night and Day. The Intercontinental is a destination hotel for those looking to stay away from the action and get pampered. The Hilton Hanoi Opera is a plug your nose, jump into the pool, and start swimming experience. The action is all around you.
Our rooms were on the Executive Floors.
Hilton recently gave extensions to their Diamonds. Thank YOU! Club level is the single perk I love most about elite status. I also received my 100k bonus from the Hilton Surpass sign up ( if you’d like this card, that’s a 100k link) around the time we stayed. Things were just lining up nicely. BYAH!
The Room:
The hotel is older, but the rooms were spacious and clean. You can tell that this was a quite beautiful hotel in it’s heyday. Now, you stay here for the perks, location, and price. I looked at this hotel and the Sofitel Metropole (currently running a buy 3, pay for 2 special). Entry level rooms were over $400 a night. The location is essentially the same and no matter how much I’d love to stay at the Metropole, it wasn’t worth the premium.
We basically tossed our bags down and headed to the club lounge for a quick snack and drink.
The Executive Lounge
The attendant wasn’t there when we arrived so we just entered without checking in. However, if you’d like reservations, assistance, etc this desk will provide a more personal and expedited service.
We caught the evening spread with free booze and snacks. The spring rolls were excellent as was the Vietnamese beer.
It was a decent spread, and my bestie Shane loved it. Miles and I saved our appetites for the street food.
Some Street Foods highlights:
Shane and his sister departed early the next morning. Dave and I hit the buffet at Ba Mien
It’s located on the 2nd floor of the hotel and has a very happy, sunny, fun vibe.
The buffet has extensive hot and cold options.
Let’s take a look at the other amenities of the hotel. To get to the gym you have to go through the Sports bar
You’ll then find the gym amenities which overlook the pool
The Pool
A few other looks at the hotel
View of the Hanoi Opera House
Overall:
If you can snag this beauty for a great rate you won’t be disappointed.
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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
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- 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
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $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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