The Alcove Library Hotel

Located only 15-20 mins from the airport. The hotel is not what it professes to be. It calls itself a Library hotel. I booked in to have that. But it isn't. It might have been in the past from the photos that attracted me. Could there have been a change in management/ownership? Because the ratings and photos seem like from a long time past. ROOMS My room had a mouldy smell. So did two colleagues' rooms. One of them had her allergy reactivated because of the mold. See pics of shower curtain, tap, bathroom. Toilet paper needs to be thrown into a receptacle. Not into the toilet bowl. (See advisory signage) Each room has a nice quotation and picture from a book. The room I was in was from A.A. Milne. STAFF The staff helping out in the rooms to get things like adaptors, towels, water , are really nice and helpful. They try their best with the limitations. BOOKS The books on the shelves at the lobby are not for reading. They are merely props that make it look like a library hotel. They are aging and uncared for. See my photo of the signage that says that the books are NOT to be removed. The ladder is for show and is precarious; Can't be used to reach books on the upper shelves. In fact, everything 'Library-ish" is for show. It's not real. EATING AND MEETING The previous photos shows a nice breakfast area at the roof. It's no longer a nice contemplative reading area to read, have breakfast, and have a quiet time trhough the day. But it's a night lounge called EROS painted black and decorated with red roses with some blood-leak style red paint over a bust (see pics). I took those pics in the morning when the lounge was not in operation. It's only a night spot now, apparently. Stylishly-dressed young locals in their 20s seem to hang out there. BREAKFAST It's not included, but you can buy an affordable meal from the café at the entrance. There are some chairs and tables there fighting with parked scooters for space. The scooters ride right up into the lobby. So, there's not much of a place to hang out, read books nor meet to talk with people. There was also a spot that looked like the fountain from a previous guest's photos but it's been bricked and plastered up when i visited. CONCLUSION If your looking for just a place to stay, It's ok . But I've gotten better value from hotels and even nearby at the same price point (if proximity to the airport is a must). If you're looking for a Library Hotel, this is a "Has-been & No longer is". They need to have some serious investment into reorganization, operations, refurbishment, etc if it is to be called a Library Hotel.

There's a laminated article from the Guardian newspaper in the lobby in which this is rated as one of the top 10 places to stay in Vietnam. I suspect the article is old, and that the place has gone downhill since. The entrance looks fabulous, but when I arrived having booked 2 nights (via Jetstar) for a room with a balcony at a cost of about 110 AUD, I was shown into a room that had no windows at all! After much protesting I was reluctantly given a smallish, rundown room with windows, which they wanted me to pay a surcharge for! I refused and they relented. No bar or restaurant was open in the hotel. I thought I'd booked ahead and paid a hefty sum for a delightful and colourful experience - no such luck. Having said that, the area was quite nice, with an amazingly decor'd vegetarian restaurant with delicious food almost around the corner. Also, an excellent rooftop bar was a short walk away.