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H
anoi is one of few Asian cities
that ranks on the Trivago list,
which pooled reviews from
over 140 tourist websites.
Others included Bangkok, Singapore,
Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Tokyo.
Of these, only Tokyo joined Hanoi in
the top five.
The result has come as a surprise to
many people, especially because many
big capital cities ranked at the bottom
of the list, with Rio de Janiero, Copen-
hagen, Paris and Amsterdam languish-
ing above London, which took the bot-
tom spot.
“This is amazing, but not unbeliev-
able,” said Pham Ha, CEO of Luxury
Travel. “Hanoi is home to many world-
famous hotel brands, such as Accor,
Starwood and Hilton. The most remark-
able are Metropole Legend Hotel, Ho-
tel de L’opera Hanoi, InterContinental
Westlake and Sofitel Plaza Hanoi.”
Ha points out that there are hun-
dreds of hotels in Hanoi, each serving
a different kind of guest. This, he be-
lieves, means the capital can satisfy the
massive number of visitors and their
diverse demands. “Compounding the
city’s success is its very reasonable hotel
pricing comparative to quality,” Pham
Ha added.
The optimism of Pham Ha is shared
by Hoang Thi Diep, deputy director of Vi-
etnam National Administration of Tour-
ism. “This is a robust study,” she said.
“The quality of hotels in Hanoi is improv-
ing all the time. Some five star hotels in
Vietnam are now recognised as amongst
the best 100 hotels in the world.”
Luu Duc Ke, director of Hanoitour-
ist, also has faith in the survey, having
experienced hotels in many countries.
“You cannot buy the guests’ rankings
and ratings. In my experience, Hanoi’s
hotels are better than those in many
cities.” Ke’s travel agency also gathers
feedback from guests after tours here
and he says the most common rating
given to hotels is ‘very good.’
While Trivago commented on the
ranking of top place Dresden and bot-
tom placed London, they refused com-
ment on Hanoi’s position. This only
helps to reinforce the opinions of the
many dubious people who question the
accuracy the result.
Pham Quang Hung, director for the
northern region of Viettravel, a leading
travel agent, is unconvinced. “The result
is very good for Vietnam’s tourism, but
it is not objectively true,” he said. “It
may be true for luxury hotels managed
by famous international hospitality
groups only, but not for the segment of
four-star establishments and lower, the
quality in general is rather poor.”
Tran The Dung, vice director of
The He Tre travel agent is also un-
convinced about the result: “Hanoi is
known for traffic jams, tiny streets and
being over-crowded. On some streets,
buses are not allowed, so guests have
to drag their luggage along the street
to their hotels.”
Agree or not with the result, it can
not be denied that the study will im-
prove the image of Hanoi in the eyes
of tourists.
29
timeout
UPDATE
HANOI HOTELS SHINE
on world stage
Metasearch website, Trivago, has revealed Hanoi’s
hotels rate second only to Dresden’s. Some might
argue their aggregation of 34 million reviews is
cause for pride, but others are sceptical of the
authenticity of the result. By
Hong Nhung