Hotel fire due to welcoming US President's delegation

Many 5-6 star hotels in downtown Saigon are fully booked during President Obama's visit to Ho Chi Minh City, especially the hotels on the list where the American delegation is expected to stay.

According to a survey by VnExpress, from May 22-24, 7 hotels expected to be on the list chosen by US President Barack Obama's delegation to Ho Chi Minh City as accommodation were all fully booked.

The manager of Park Hyatt Saigon said that the rooms will not be available again until May 26. This coincides with President Obama's visit to Ho Chi Minh City on May 24 and 25. However, the hotel manager refused to comment on whether the full rooms were related to this visit or not, only saying that it was due to the peak season so there were many guests.

Across the street from the Park Hyatt, the 335-room Caravelle Hotel is also fully booked. Staff there said that reservations for May 24 were full, from the cheapest to the most expensive rooms.

Meanwhile, Sheraton - a hotel adjacent to Caravelle, with 485 rooms, all with views of the Saigon River, the pool or the city skyline, is almost fully booked. Staff here confirmed that there are still rooms available for guests to book, but the number is not many.

At the 6-star hotel The Reverie, hotel staff said all rooms were fully booked on May 24.

“We currently have 286 rooms, including 62 luxury suites, with room prices ranging from 6 to 350 million VND, but they have all been booked,” said a Reverie representative.

Similarly, the reservations department of the 5-star Intercontinental Asiana Saigon Hotel, opposite the US Consulate, said it would not accept guests on May 24-25. Requests to book the lobby and meeting rooms at this time were also rejected. The Intercontinental is located at the frontage of the Le Duan - Hai Ba Trung intersection in District 1, with a scale of 305 rooms.

Similarly, another 5-star hotel located on Le Duan Street, Sofitel Plaza Saigon, with 275 rooms, was fully booked from May 23 to 25. According to sales staff, all single and double rooms, including luxury rooms such as the presidential suite, were fully booked during this time.

The last hotel that the US delegation said was selected was New World, the furthest from the city center among the seven hotels listed. However, this is the only hotel that has been chosen by three US presidents as a place to stay when they visited Vietnam. Staff there said that the hotel was almost fully booked.

The Presidential Suite at Park Hyatt is 192 square meters.

A senior manager of a 5-star hotel chain in Ho Chi Minh City said that 4 months ago, a preparatory team from the US came to work with one of his group's hotels. After carefully surveying everything from location, view, hotel structure, amenities..., the US side officially proposed to rent more than 100 rooms, along with some basic security requirements.

Among the 7 hotels identified as the accommodation for the US Presidential delegation in Ho Chi Minh City during the two peak days of May 24-25, the most asked question is which hotel the President will choose to stay at.

Talking about the criteria for being selected by the US, Mr. Dang Huy Hai, former Deputy General Director of New World Saigon Hotel, who directly organized and participated in welcoming all three generations of former Presidents: George HW Bush (often called Bush Sr.); Bill Clinton and George W Bush (often called Bush Jr.) to Vietnam, said that the first criteria for choosing an American hotel is security and safety, then considering the standards of amenities, services, experience...

According to Mr. Hai, the American side believes that it is not necessary to stay at the most beautiful hotel but it must be the safest place. The New World Hotel has the advantage of three independent streets, not connected to any residential areas or high-rise buildings on these three fronts. The "Bush Jr" group decided to choose New World 5 months in advance. Then the other members gradually arrived to stay according to the work progress from 7 weeks in advance.

"In fact, New World is not the newest 5-star hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, but it is the hotel with the largest area (12,191m2) and the most isolated. In 2006, President Bush (son) came to Hanoi and stayed at Sheraton, but when he came to Ho Chi Minh City, he chose New World," said Mr. Hai, adding that room rates are applied according to packages, calculated by the number of nights. There are rooms for people to stay, but there are rooms that are used only as IT rooms and business rooms for groups.

Specifically analyzing each hotel in Ho Chi Minh City about the possibility of being chosen as the residence of President Obama, a hotel director commented: The 6-star hotel The Reverie is a new, luxurious, comfortable hotel with a very classy design and interior decoration..., but it has an apartment area inside, plus it is located on the crowded Nguyen Hue walking street. Similar is the Intercontinental Asiana Saigon, with the strength of being located opposite the US Consulate, but also has apartments inside. Caravelle, Park Hyatt and Sheraton are famous brands, forming a tight triangle, but all 3 of these hotels are located near shopping areas, residential areas..., making it difficult to control security. As for New World and Sofitel, with the advantage of being quite independent, they have been in operation for many years.

However, the hotel director said that the three hotels most likely to be chosen by the US delegation as the President's accommodation are Park Hyatt, Sofitel and Intercontinental Asiana Saigon.

According to the plan, US President Barack Obama will officially visit Vietnam from May 23 to 25. Mr. Obama is expected to hold talks with Vietnamese leaders, discussing strengthening Vietnam-US cooperation in many areas such as economy, security, regional and international issues.

Upon arrival in Hanoi, President Obama's delegation is expected to stay at the JW Marriott, Hilton, Sofitel Plaza, Intercontinental, Metropole, and Grand Plaza hotels.

According to VNE