17 April 2010
Phuc Dat Hotel, Vung Tau, Vietnam

Hotel
VNDong $400,000
10°20'50.49"N
107° 5'42.51"E
1 Room

Apr 2010 approx A$23.00
After staying at the magnificent Sen Viet hotel, the Phuc Dat could not have been more of a disappointment if it had tried to be.

We took Thuongy and her flatmate Dolly for a nice relaxing weekend away - whilst we enjoyed the weekend, the hotel put a bit of a dampener on everything. It had been kind of, sort of recommended to us and has an official 2 star rating, so how bad could it be? Besides, the 2 hour journey took more like 4 and it was very late when we got there, so there was no chance of finding elsewhere. We had discussed taking the laptop - only there for one night - but there was always the fear that Peter would not be able to find anywhere showing the Man Utd Man City game (which apparently was on of the most important games of the season), and if worst came to worst, we could always stream it as the hotel had free WiFi.

We were put in adjoining rooms, basic but clean. The bed and pillows were clean enough, but as we later found they were amongst the most uncomfortable I've ever come across. Also in the room was a writing desk, a mini bar and a TV which I think showed only local Channels. All in all, it was basic, but would have been OK for one night, Outrageously expensive for what you got, but it was only a couple of blocks from the beach and had a magnificent view of the sea. Then came the problem. I couldn't get the internet to work in the room. Or the corridor.

Internet access is apparently only available on the 1st and 4th floor. During check-in, we talked about Wi-Fi and asked if a password was required, so why on earth they put us on a floor that had no internet access is a complete mystery to me. The two staff on duty didn't speak English, I have no idea what we would have done without the girls.

Easy solution, I suggested. It was obvious by the number of lights on in rooms and a few other tell-tale signs that there were very few people staying in this fairly large hotel. We didn't need adjoining rooms. Move us to the 1st or 4th floor and everybody will be happy. We could go to dinner, Peter could find somewhere to watch the football, the girls could go to bed and I could settle down in front of the computer. Easy, eh?. Or so you would think. 'Room cost more'. VDN500,000. Why? 'Because they do'. Why? Shrug. Internet? Shrug. Better room? Shrug. Peter said we'd just take it and word out in the morning - I'd already decided I wasn't going to pay extra 25% for 'free' WiFi, but wasn't up for an argument so I said OK. I'm sure just to make a point, they put us in a triple room rather than a double. No problem - triple rooms have one double and one single bed. We only used the double bed, we only used 2 towels and we didn't use their cheap and nasty toiletries as we always carry our own. That was argument enough as to why we shouldn't pay more - as well as the fact that we were pretty much the only people staying there. But an even arguement that that was was one of the worst internet connections I've been on for months. Slow as you can imagine - and I mean S.L.O.W. and it dropped out every 5 to 10 minutes. The hotel card said ADSL Wi-FI; they are either being taken for a ride by their ISP or telling fibs, because I've had faster dial up connections. I gave up in the end and went to bed.

I ended up being last up the next morning and Peter had already paid the bill. If the argument about us not using it as a triple wasn't strong enough, the totally useless and just about unusable internet access was. Much discussion took place between the girls and the lady behind the desk, who finally agreed to talk to her boss. We got our VDN100,000 back, but if it hadn't been for a lot of insistence and the help of native Vietnamese speakers going in to fight for us, we'd have had no chance.

We didn't look around at any other hotels, but I'm quite sure that there are many hotels in Vung Tau which are much, much better and much better value than this one, and I suggest you look for one of those. In all good faith, I could not recommend this hotel to anyone.

I honestly have no idea how it got or retains it's 2 star status, becuase this is something you can really rely on to be accurate in Vietnam.