The Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi held its official grand opening with a spirited bash for some 600 people late last month, just as this exotic city begins preparations for its 1,000th birthday next year. The 154-room hotel had executed a soft opening in December 2008, and its Mangosteen restaurant debuted to rave reviews in early February. Now, with final touches applied to its suites, and the christening of its health club and massage rooms on the third-floor level, all systems are go.
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Entrance to the Movenpick Hotel Hanoi |
The Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi has assembled for guests an eclectic mix of styles and accoutrements, both modern and retro, that together create a singularly hip, harmonious space—from the public areas to the private rooms and suites. The neo-colonial façade, which opens to a somewhat formal foyer dominated by a baroque, crystal chandelier, soon gives way to the cool, modernist décor of Mangosteen, whose rich mix of whites, browns and purples recall its namesake fruit.
The hotel’s guest rooms come in three grades: Superior Deluxe (30 square meters in size), Premium Deluxe (37 square meters) and Junior Suite (60 square meters). Many feature two-tone floor schemes where the entryways and bathrooms are underscored by a slate-colored, faux-wood ceramic, while the main spaces feature walnut. In most rooms, a giant glass monolith predicates the open bathroom design, providing privacy whilst lending the entire room an open, airy, ambient quality.
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Guests can choose their individual mattress preferences |
The Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi also prides itself in the personal touches, which include:
• The fleet of cars available for guest use, featuring a 1959 Citroen touring sedan, two BMWs and a Land Cruiser.
• A collection of female business traveler rooms where the decor and amenities (powerful hairdryers, padded hangers) are as well conceived as the location: same floor as the health club and massage rooms, to mitigate the travel back and forth in a robe or workout attire.
• Mattress choice: Guests can choose their preferred resilience at check-in. Indeed, at the Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi, entire floors are specially designated soft-mattress and hard-mattress.
• Conference rooms with a unique difference—windows.
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Conference rooms with windows are a big selling point for business travelers |
While many of Hanoi’s top hotels are located far from the center of town, the Mövenpick couldn’t be more centrally located—on lively Ly Thuong Kiet, right next door to Pacific Place, one of Hanoi’s most prominent business/residential buildings and home to local headquarters of IBM and HSBC.
Hanoi Tower is a mere two-minute walk from the hotel’s front door. Quan Su temple is just around the corner. Hanoi’s famed Opera House, Old Quarter shopping district, myriad embassies and central train station are all located a mere five-minute taxi ride away—something tourists, not just business travelers, will appreciate when visiting the city tomorrow or next year, on the occasion Hanoi’s 1,000th birthday.