Inside Vietnam’s newest luxury hotel

The newly opened Reverie Saigon hotel in Ho Chi Minh City takes luxury to such levels that even its general manager admits it might be considered over the top.

On the streets there is the usual chaos. Your senses are assailed by the cacophony of motorbike engines and beeping horns, the smell of petrol and street food, and the throb of life in this over-populated city of 7.4 million people.

But 27 storeys above street level, in the Times Square building on Nguyen Hue Boulevard, the Reverie Saigon is a different, rarefied world of piped music and expansive marble floors, glittering mosaics and the scent of roses and orchids.

“Some might say it’s over the top, and I hear this,” says general manager Herbert Laubichler-Pichler as we sip coffee overlooking the pool at one of the establishment’s five eateries, Cafe Cardinal.

“But we are not a minimalistic hotel.

“The idea is it has to be the best in Vietnam and one of the best in Asia.”

He’s not kidding.

Consider the rooftop pool that pipes Mozart’s Requiem with perfect clarity as you swim underwater.

Or Michelin-starred Hong Kong chef Joseph Tsang, brought in to head the Royal Pavilion Cantonese restaurant.

Or the gold-plated Italian designer items in every nook and cranny, including a Bechstein grand piano inlaid with green marble by luxury brand Baldi.

The scores of smiling staff who swoop to open doors every time you venture outside.

The beds the size of football fields, the LCD TVs above the bath. The showers you could park a small car in. The sweeping views of the city and the twisting Saigon River.

The 48-metre bar that stretches the length of an entire block.

The Reverie Saigon is a newcomer to the industry-nominated Leading Hotels of the World group, an exclusive club with a stringent set of requirements.

These range from bed size and service (Does the phone ring more than three times when you are making a booking? Did staff address you by name at least three times?) to ratings by “mystery shoppers”.

The hotel is having a “soft opening” while some rooms, including the two double-level, 300-square-metre presidential suites (expect to fork out $A18,000 for a night in one of these babies), are finished.

It is expected to be fully open for business by December.

While it is never going to be the choice of the budget traveller, Laubichler-Pichler describes the Reverie Saigon as “an affordable luxury hotel” for corporate guests, families, honeymooners or weekend visitors.

“You don’t have to go to the bank and say, `Can I have a loan?'” says Laubichler-Pichler.

However he foreshadows that because of the high investment involved in a hotel of this kind, prices will go up, but that’s unlikely to be for another two years while the Reverie establishes itself.

Having arrived here from a leaking inner Sydney terrace, it took me a while to get used to the almost hallucinatory interior design.

After a couple of days of fine dining and swanning around like the Duchess of Cambridge, I craved the sweat, chaos and bustle of the street.

All I wanted to do was fight my way through the swarms of motorbikes and sit down for a bowl of pho and a $2 beer.

But in the end I must admit I got more used to life in the lap of luxury than I might care to admit.

GETTING THERE

* The writer flew to Ho Chi Minh City on Royal Brunei Airlines. The RBA 787 Dreamliner service leaves from Melbourne daily.

STAYING THERE

* The Reverie Saigon is located at 22-36 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

* Limited specials on Deluxe King Rooms (wifi and breakfast included) begin at $A383 (single) and $A421 (twin) per night. If you want to splash out on a suite, you’re looking at up to $A18,500.

PLAYING THERE

*Eat – The Reverie has a choice of five restaurants: The Royal Pavilion, RJ Italian Lounge and Restaurant, Cafe Cardinal, the Deli and The Long @ Times Square

*Drink – You can’t go past cocktails at The Long

*Get pampered – Chill out with a massage, facial or range of other treatments on offer at the two-storey spa

*Swim – Whatever you do during a stay at the Reverie Saigon, don’t miss out swimming in the rooftop pool to the strains of underwater music. Just remember to come up for air.

*The writer was a guest of The Reverie Saigon and Royal Brunei Airlines.

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