Probably just like many others I was tricked and taken to this dump by the airport mini bus racketeer.
They were OK at first and said they were a sister hotel of the Freedom hotel (which I had phoned from Hoi An) around the corner and that the Freedom was full so I would be staying here.
The rate was the same and shortly afterwards it all went wrong. One of the staff said they saw me talking to the tour company people next door and started hbuttling me about why my wife and I didn't book a tour with the hotel.
We'd had a coffee next door and chatted with a guy we met in HCM city but being our first few hours in town we hadn't talked to anyone yet and even if we did it wasn't any of the nosey receptionists affair anyway.
I told the nasty receptionist to mind the way they spoke to my wife and that I would book where ever I wanted to.
Then they said they would double our rate and intimated that because we had given them our pbuttports we were in trouble.
We went into the tour mob next door and asked what the go was and apparently this mob are at it all the time and most people fall for it.
The tour mob next door to them ( the kangaroo cafe) gave us the tourist police address & we went over to see them.
The Vietnamese Dept of Tourism guy came straight over & the hotel staff couldn't have been more kissy.
Naturally after getting our pbuttports back we left, went to the real Freedom hotel, didn't have to leave our pbuttports with them, checked in and the rest was great.
One last bit though, while having breakfast at the cafe next to the rotten hotel we saw the Halong bay mini bus turn up to pick someone up at the hotel and a big argument broke out with a guy claiming to have been driven around Hanoi for the last hour and a half. Lots of bullpooting took place from the mini bus people, the hotel staff and the bus took off again with everyone on board looking sad while we finished breakfast.
It could have easily been us.
All's well that ends well I suppose, for us anyway.
Again, please stay clear of the Nam Phuong Hotel at 16 Bao Khanh St Hanoi.
Dennis and Helen
