Hotel Lobby & Check-in

The Intercontinental Saigon is right in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, just a few minutes walk away from places like the Independance Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and a load of high end shops. The hotel itself is quite an imposing building, made up of two towers. One is the hotel tower housing 305 guest rooms. The other is a smaller tower housing serviced apartments. The main entrance and lobby is located in the foyer where these two towers connect.

As soon as we arrived a helpful attendant took our luggage, which would then be delivered straight to our rooms. Check-in was pretty standard, but we did get two free drink coupons for being IHG members which was nice. The lobby isn’t overly grand like some 5 star hotels but it does have a certain charm. I’m not overly familiar with design aesthetics, but it gave me 1960/70s vibes.

The Room

We stayed in their standard “King Classic” room and it was very nice. The size is a bit small, but design and furnishings are top notch. Everything feels high quality and it basically has all you could ask form. The bed is comfy and very wide with large, soft pillows. There’s a desk and ergonomic office chair if you need to work. The tv is large and modern and the floor-to-ceiling windows provides panoramic views of the city.

They also have all the amenities you could want including a safe, iron + ironing board, dressing gown, slippers, loads of closet space and a well stocked mini bar. I was also excited to see Tyrells crisps at the mini bar, a fancy British staple. The room was also very clean throughout and nothing felt to old or rundown. So overall can’t really complain. More or less the perfect room for a city hotel.

The Bathroom

The bathroom was also similarly well equipped and also surprisingly spacious. The fittings throughout were high quality with a hint of art deco design (I think). Walking in you’re first greeted by a large bath. Seperately there’s a large rain shower. It’s also very well stocked with toiletries. Providing items I don’t see very often in modern hotels like a dental kit with a 45ml tube of toothpaste (enough to last a few weeks). There’s also other stuff like shaving kit, shower cap, nail file etc.

Again the bathroom was very clean. The towels were high quality, soft yet absorbent. The toilet was just a toilet, but also very clean. Just a very luxurious feeling bathroom overall.

Pool, Gym & Spa

On the third floor you’ll find the spa, gym and outdoor pool. I didn’t actually use any of the facilities at this hotel but I did have a quick look around for the review. The gym is large and has a pretty wide range of equipment. The spa seems fine and has quite an extensive list of treatments. You’ll find the spa menu here, an 80 minute massage costs VND 1.7m (~£58). Which is cheap for a 5 star hotel, but on the pricey side for Vietnam.

Restaurants & Breakfast

There are 4 restaurants at the Intercontinental Saigon. Yu Chu for Cantonese, Basilico for Italian, Market 39 for a seafood buffet/international and finally The Library for more snacky food. I didn’t have a chance to try any of them but from what I’ve seen it’s a relatively good selection. If you can’t be bothered to leave the hotel these would be a good option. But personally I prefer eating out when in a new city, both for the new experiences and because hotel restaurants tend to be overpriced.

Breakfast is served in the Market 39 restaurant on the ground floor. They have a massive selection of food from a variety of global cuisines. Of course there are plenty of Western options so you can have a continental or Full English breakfast if you want. I went for the Vietnamese breakfast though and had Phở Bò (beef noodle soup). Unsurprisingly it wasn’t as good as what I had at the amazing Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn in Hanoi, but it was still pretty good. Everything I tried for breakfast was also nice. They also serve coffee in a phin filter, which was my preferred way to drink coffee even before going to Vietnam, so that was nice.

Final Thoughts

For $186 / £150 per night I think the Intercontinetal Saigon is a pretty good deal. It follows a template laid down by many high end city hotels, so don’t expect anything different here. However, everything is done well and the Vietnamese photography throughout keeps you from getting this hotel confused with any other Intercontinental in the world. The room was very nicely done, if a bit on the small side. The breakfast was great, and location is hard to beat in Saigon.

Whilst it’s not quite as luxurious as some of the most high-end hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, it is still extremely good. For example, the Reverie Saigon and Park Hyatt Saigon are certainly more opulent and probably overall better hotels. But these both come at a hefty price premium, starting at about £250 per night. I’m not convinced they’re worth paying extra over the Intercontinental Saigon, especially if you’re just here for a short amount of time.

More from me…

Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:

• The Pullman Danang Beach Resort – Perfect location for a trip to Da Nang & Hoi An
• Singapore Airlines Economy from London to Singapore – As Good as People Say?
• Vietnam Airlines Economy Refreshing Airbus A321 Trip Report

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