Essence Hanoi Hotel & Spa

The location was great if you want to be right in the middle of Old Town. 5 minute walk to the lake. And surprisingly quiet for a hotel that's smack in the middle of everything. Staff (especially Jane and Phoebe) were excellent and super helpful.

We chose a hotel in the Old Quarter, so we knew space and natural light would be tight, but really, it was worse that NYC. We stayed at the hotel 3 different times and stayed in 3 different sets of rooms. All were clean and safe and quiet and worked for our family of 5, but the rooms were very small and had zero natural light. It was a bit like being in a cave. Made for good sleeping because it was very dark and quiet, but it made being in the room unappealing except for sleeping. The last time we stayed there they "upgraded" us to a different set of rooms that did have windows, which helped, but one room literally only held a bed and these rooms had 1 bathroom instead of 2. Definitely trade-offs. I would stay there again -- food was good, staff was great, location was great. But I would look around a bit at more options first, especially given the price.