Sofitel Metropole Hotel

We booked 2 rooms and all of us simply loved it. We are given complementary drinks at the restaurant or cafe. We loved the design whether its interior or exterior. Lotion, shampoo were of good quality. Even the service was so good except for the waitress in the international/Vietnam restaurant. Went there twice n it's proven.

Unique Quality: This hotel is slightly out of the old quarters. Out of the noisy irritating motorists horns.

The rooms are cleans, and its really a nice place.

There is nothing you can complain about the hotel. It was a perfect stay. restaurant and bar, pool , massage were all great. The place was a highlight and absolutely recommend to everyone.

Unique Quality: The most historical hotel in the city

If you are on business travel, and your boss is kind with you (or he does not know about Hanoi), this is the hotel where to settle down for a week, enjoying luxury in the centre of the city, five minutes walk from the Hanoi old quarter, two minutes from the Hoan Kiem Lake; there is no more convenient place, close to many museums, shopping areas, restaurants, opera and other places to visit.
Hotel Metropole is an old French establishment (and still is run by French), with just what is needed as colonial charm, very nice rooms, (all usual luxury amenities, in an old fashion way), decorated with discerning taste, as are the nice halls and good cafes and restaurants; it fits exactly with what many hotels promise in their brochures (and are very far from holding), about comfort, exotism, cuisine, very good and helpful staff. . . In a few words: exotic old fashioned luxury. But this has a price, and better be sure your budget meets high standards or your boss will pay. . . . . . .200 U.S. per night which is expensive for Asian standards, but after all in Europe when you pay that price you have half the comfort and service. . . if not less.

Directions: 300 meters East of the southern end of Hoan Kiem Lake

This hotel is beautiful!! It is in the old town city center.
Everyone at the hotel, except the front desk staff, was marvelous. As I checked in I found my reservation had been "lost." They did agree to charge me $235++ instead of the slightly higher fee of $240++ they wanted to quote me. I continued without problem, but later found out that my credit card that guaranteed my reservation was still charged as if I had never showed up. After returning home I contacted the hotel multiple times, by e-mail and telephone to no avail. It took a harshly worded e-mail to the hotel manager to get some response. I was also charged a "joiner" fee for having a guest. Instead of insulting my guest, I signed an agreement to pay for an entire cost of one night at the same room rate($230++) At check out I complained to the manager and he agreed on charging me a lessor charge of $140++. For a hotel of this stature I would expect concise information regarding guests and of course that they handle reservations properly. I would recommend being very careful about reservations and I WILL NOT STAY THERE AGAIN! There are to many luxury type hotels in this wonderful city.

My wife and I stayed here Sept 28 to Oct 2, 2006. It was exquisite, private and just downright classy. Not hustling and bustling as some of the bigger hotels in Asia is. We stayed in the "old wing's" Classic Room...as you can see in pic, very high ceilings with a matching ceiling fan. 5 star facilities all around, if I were to nitpick maybe it's that I wish the bathroom had a separate shower stall and that we had a view, but that would be nitpicking.

Unique Quality: It's an old building built in 1901, well maintained and recently refurbised.

Directions: Near the Hoan Kiem Lake, right in the Hoan Kiem district, every cabbie should know. However be sure you mention "Metropole" as there is a separate Sofitel Plaza Hotel.

This was my second time staying there, the last time it was years ago in 1998. Back then it was the only luxury hotel in Hanoi. There is competition now (2005), but not much has changed. Over-all, it is a very good hotel. The rooms in the Opera Wing were large, modern, and clean, but a bit dark. Service was not bad, but also not spectacular. The location is excellent, right downtown. I would stay there again.

Update
I stayed here a third time in 2009. This time I was with my family and we went for the Historical Wing which, in my opinion, is much better. The rooms are brighter and you are closer to most of the hotel amenities, as well as the closer side to the centre of town. The rooms are large and spotless.

While it is still a top-notch hotel, we did have some problems this time around. The first was checking in. We had booked well in advance, specifically asking for two adjoining rooms, not on the ground floor. Check-in staff had us wait in the lounge while they "got things ready". What they were doing, and not communicating to us, was desparately trying to find us these adjoining rooms. Well, in the end, it took over an hour. They only communicated to us when I interrupted them and asked them what was going on. They told us all sorts of silly lies about the delay (there were no such rooms, period; there weren't any available, at any price range) and finally I started arguing with the manager, stating the obvious as how it was unacceptable that we were kept waiting like this. Finally he gave in, and magically two adjoining rooms became available, although one of them was a suite, which we got for the same price as a regular. While this was a nice "free" upgrade, I would rather have had regular rooms with no wait or aggravation.

The other problem was in the middle of the night. there was a knocking noise on the roof (we were on the top floor). The night staff were willing to come up and try what they could, but they didn't have keys to the access door to the roof, so there wasn't much they could do. Even the so-called night manager didn't have keys. So we had to fall asleep with the noise, not extremely loud, but irritating.

The pool was smaller than I had remembered, probably because this time I was with my family. It's a nice pool, but it was rather over-crowded. The Internet in the business centre was expensive, even by standards of a hotel of this quality, and it closed at 23:00.
I was disappointed with these incidents and the pool, but it is still probably the best hotel in Hanoi and I would return again if the budget was right and hope that these were one-off happenings.

Directions: Very close to the south-east corner of Hoan Kiem Lake.

I would recommend the Sofitel Metropole Hotel to anyone visiting Hanoi. You cannot beat the location for its proximity to the old town. The staff were extremely helpful - they help us to arrange cyclo drivers to give us a tour for the day (US$2 per hour per person). They have designated cyclos and the concierge does the negotiating for you to make for a hassle-free day.

Our package included the breakfast buffet which was more than worth it. There was a great variety of Western and Asian breakfast favorites and great fresh fruit. For the other meals of the day, the hotel has a good restaurant and cafe and there are many places to eat within walking distance.

You could definitely find cheaper accomodations in Hanoi, but there are few other places that you can stay in 5-star comfort at this price. We stayed in the old wing and the room was beautiful.

The Metropole is truly one of "the Best 100 Hotels in the World.' Rooms are spacious and airy; the service is first-class. Le Beaulieu serves gourmet French cuisine with an outstanding (and expensive) weekend breakfast buffet. The cafe does a good job with both Vietnamese and international dishes.

The location is also prime -- a three minute walk from the beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake and close to many of the most interesting sights in Hanoi.

Directions: A two-block walk from Hoam Kien Lake, close to many up-scale art and other shops.

I stayed in the Metropole for 9 days in May 2005 for a conference, and it is the nicest place I've ever stayed in. Admittedly, I've not been in many 5 star places, but compared to, for example, the Melia, where the conference is, the Metropole is miles better. Decor classy, service impeccable (they bring you two papers a day and chocolates in the evening) and facilities marvellous. Staff really helpful, room luxurious, just loved it. Cost $113 dollars a night for a double room, which in England would get you a very nasty hotel.

Unique Quality: Pool nice, Le Beaulieu restaurant stunning, building very attractive, must be the best place in Hanoi. If you are going to splash out anywhere you will really get your money's worth here!

I ran into a huge problem initially with the hotel. I had made arrangments for the hotel to send a car to the airport to pick me up. Upon clearing customs and collecting my baggage I approached the hotel staff at the airport. The hotel staff claimed that they had NO record of anyone requesting a car and furthermore they claimed that my reservation had been cancelled.

Upon arriving at the hotel check-in counter I was shown an email that cancelled my reservation. The email was not from me or my travel agent. I guess at this point the hotel felt bad becuase they automatically upgraded me to a suite.

The suite consisted of a separate living room and bedroom with a small room that had a mini kitchen in it.