Apricot Hotel, Hanoi

Location

The Apricot looks across Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake - right in the centre of town. It doesn’t get much better from a location perspective. Most of Hanoi’s sights are in walking distance -the old quarter, French quarter as well as bars and restaurants.


Review

If what we read about Hanoi’s inflated real estate prices are half true, developing the Apricot Hotel’s prime downtown location must have cost a bomb. This is prime of prime Hanoi land. So expectations for the locally owned and managed 123 room hotel are high.

The Apricot Hotel is owned by the people behind the successful art galleries of the same name in Saigon and Hanoi. It’s too early to say how this ambitious downtown project will play out - when we visited it had only just opened - so the inevitable opening hiccups will no doubt be present through 2015. As we’ve said though, you can’t beat the location. And the pricing looks to have some opening awareness built-in.

The hotel itself is a neo-classical creation - of the kind that is popular with Vietnam’s new wealthy class. The interiors also carry that sensibility. There are plenty of samples of Apricot Gallery art lining the walls too.

The lead-in rooms look inwards. For the best experience of the location, spend a little more on a room looking out over the city. And if you feel like some extravagance, take one of the rooms with a deck looking over the lake.

There’s a rooftop pool - also looking over Hoan Kiem Lake - as well as massage rooms and a gym.

Things didn’t feel completely finished when we visited in July 2015 - so we’ll be heading back later in the year for a better look.

In the meantime, opening pricing is good for the location and quality of the hotel and should easily cover any opening fumbles you might encounter.


Brief
Pool, restaurants, massage, gym, free wifi, spa


Disclosure
Rusty Compass listings are always independent. We show you the stuff we think you should know about. We have not stayed in the Apricot Hotel - however we inspected the property. We have received no inducement financial or otherwise to publish this listing.