Amanda Hotel

I will summarise my experience in five main points, which were written to the hotel as well but received no response (the first one might not be that bad, but read on to find out how absurd the hotel really is): 1. Early check-in charge: I placed a request in advance for early check-in on the day of my arrival, but received no confirmation whatsoever by the hotel. According to the hotel's description on Traveloka, Amanda Hotel offers a complimentary room upgrade upon request. I did not request for any room upgrade but I believe the least the hotel could do was to accommodate to a small request of an early check-in (of just merely about 3 hours) without any additional charge. Anyhow, I was charged an additional of VND 120,000 during check-in, which was simply explained as "30%" (which I don't understand how this rate was come up with). Also, my request for a receipt for the additional payment by cash was ignored. 2. Provision of complimentary drinking water: I was shocked to find out from a local friend who spoke to the front desk on my behalf (since all the staff at the front desk clearly could not understand nor speak almost any word of English at all) that I actually have to personally go down to the front desk to request for drinking water. Throughout my stay (as of 7 May 2018) I have yet to see the drinking water in my room being replenished since checking in to the hotel on 3 May 2018. I had to reach for the extra drinking water in the bar fridge as the communication barrier and miscommunication with the hotel staff were driving me insane. I was even more appalled to understand only afterwards that I would be charged for consuming the drinking waters in the bar fridge, which were not replenished anyway. 3. Irregular and awkward housekeeping timings: It is annoying to have the housekeeping staff knock extremely loudly on the door at weird timings throughout the day asking to clean up the room - they sometimes come after lunch, and sometimes early in the morning. I have been woken up several times by the staff as they would knock on the door just to let them know that they will have to do it later since I am still resting in the room. I am surprised that the hotel does not have a standard time for housekeeping staff to do their job, or at least have them trained to have basic courtesy and not to knock on the door so extremely loudly when there is obviously someone in the room (with the television turned on) that is not available to answer the door and is still resting. 4. Insufficient basic supplies: Toiletries such as the bath gel are replenished in any way that the housekeeping staff likes to - sometimes it is refilled to the brim, while only refilled by a little on other occasions. I still recall that there was no toilet roll provided in the washroom on the day of my arrival at room 801 and I had to call to ask for one, before I requested for my room to be changed to a simpler room with just one bed instead of two. 5. Miscommunication and inability to communicate in English: I believe that the front desk staff should at least be skilled in basic English conversations especially since the hotel is listing itself on reservation sites such as Traveloka which connects the hotel with many international guests who are English-speaking. It really frustrates me to communicate with the staff in the hotel throughout my stay. I remember being told that the breakfast service ends at 10 a.m. during check-in but when I went down at 9.30 a.m. on one of the days, I was surprised to be told that I was "too late". So, if you are looking for a comfortable place to rest your tired body, I would not recommend you to choose this place unless you enjoy going insane and having no one understand your frustrations. I would advise that you give yourself and your soul a break and pay a little more to find somewhere much better.