everyone wants the metropole but me! i'm looking for very clean, good location,good service,room with windows, under US$100. any suggestions?

I don't know what it goes for now, but we stayed at the DeSyloia years ago. We loved it - small boutique hotel, great restaurant. We paid $120 I think for their largest suite.

I'm actually leaving tomorrow for Hanoi and will be staying at Hotel Elegance 4. It has gotten terrific reviews on Trip Advisor and has rooms ranging from about $45US to $95US including breakfast.

I would be EXTREMELY skeptical of any crowd-sourced (eg TripAdvisor) reviews of hotels in Vietnam. VN tourism operators seem to be especially fond of posting fake reviews. My own experience with hotels there has lead me to avoid any hotels with a name that implies luxury, especially if it also contains a number. ;-)

Kathrynj - We would be most interested in hearing about your experience at the Hotel Elegance 4 as it is one we would also consider for our May trip. Have a wonderful time and be sure to give us your trip report!

A friend of mine who has a 5* budget but prefers to stay in the Old Quarter (no 5* hotels there) raves about the Hanoi Golden Sun 4. According to her, everything about the hotel is excellent and it's only a minute or two from Hoan Kiem Lake. Even the most expensive suites are way under $100.

I stayed at the Metropole for my first trip to Hanoi 3 years ago...lovely, but a bit $$. This year I wanted to stay closer to spend less and stay closer to the action in the old quarter. I choose Maison d'Hanoi and was really pleased...a stylish boutique hotel for <$100.
www.hanovahotel.com

crusin, are the rooms quiet at the Maison or do you hear a lot of traffic noise?

Thanks for the suggestions. Re HE4-are there particular rooms that are better than others?

moremiles-- my room was very quiet as it did not have much of a view...glassbrick wall instead of a real view. That being said, the room was very stylishly designed and very comfortable.

I stayed at the new Intercontinental in the West Lake portion of the city (about a 10 minute taxi ride into the Old Town). The hotel was great. The rooms were very nice with great bathrooms, dark woods and nice views of the lake. The service was excellent and the bar was a really nice to decompress after a day in town. The hotel is not very Vietnamese and so if you are looking for a more traditional place to stay, this is not the place. It is, however, a very nice 4+/5 star hotel. The Hotel Elegances are quite nice (we were only there when the original and Number 2 were open) but they are nicely located and a number of people have enjoyed staying there. Hanoi is a fascinating city to visit and have a great time---make sure as you cross the street, however, that once you start crossing you keep going...the motorbikes will avoid you but if you stop you could be trapped!

Jemared,
Am emailing now from room 605 at Elegance 4---jr suite with balcony and the friend I am traveling with is in twin 601---very nice and less $$$ (I think it is $45 including breakfast + 10%tax). My only regeret right now is that i booked the last 2 nights at the Metropole for a ridiculous price in comparison. The rooms are very well decorated, the greeting from the staff very welcome given a day plus of travels to get her. Highly recommend it (also did an airport pick up for $16).

Hi Kathrynj - I am planning our family trip to VN (starting in Hanoi working our way down HCMC). I use TripAdvisor often for reviews. Can you tell me if HE-4 is similiar to chain hotels in the States (i.e. Holiday Inn or Best Western)? We will be traveling with our baby who will be 16 mos during our travels and need to know the hotels are comfortable. We do not want to spend a lot of money but are hoping to get great deal on above average hotel rooms? Thank you for your previous response!

My heart skipped a beat when I read MichaelBKK's reply since I had booked HE4 for our trip in early January. I based my choice on the rating on TripAdvisor but also on the trip report of one of our Fodorites, Kristina. Her excellent blog has pictures.

Kathrynj I am glad to know you also like it.

Fingers crossed I will too.

Our whole extended family did a trip to Hanoi and HCM a couple of years back. We stayed at the Guoman Hotel and liked it. It was near that nice hawker type restaurant called Quan An Ngon which we all kept returning to.

We also did a one-night Halong Bay on our own junk which was fun for everyone, and a great bonding experience for the family.

We got the odd taxi driver who talked so fast and confused us into giving him about $25 dollars for a $2.50 ride so try to get familiar with the exchange rates and don't be pressured into paying even if there are honking cars behind you.

Aussie Five,
I love Elehance 4 more each day, not just the hotel but the staff---we decided to stay an extra day and they took care of our flight change, moved us to Elegance 2, where I am writing this now, and made us feel totally taken care of. I will be posting more here and on Trip Advisor when I return home.
Ah yes, Quan An Ngon===that was yesterday's lunch and likely will be tonight's dinner if only to eat the bahn cuon again (not sure spelling is correct but wow was it amazing)
TeresaM, Elegance 4 is not like any US chain I have ever encountered on a modest price scale. You can be loved liked crazy at Four Seasons or Ritz Xarlton but these are boutique hotels that are totally dedicated to customer service...amazing for the price.

Great to know Kathrynj. Sounds like you are having a great time.