THE BASICS The infamous “Hanoi Hilton,” where Senator John McCain spent five and a half years during the Vietnam War, has been largely demolished. Only a small museum remains of the Hoa Lo prison, involuntary housing for 300 American pilots captured in the conflict. The Hilton Hanoi Opera, open since 1999, takes pains to not celebrate a connection to Hoa Lo, even if the hotel’s Web site is www.hanoi.hilton.com . Tourists still drop in to ask if the prison was located there, or at least nearby but none of the guests, the concierge assured during a recent stay, confuse the hotel with a prison.
THE LOCATION The hotel is in the downtown commercial district, a short walk from the French-colonial cafes and architecture of Old Town. Even closer is Hoan Kiem Lake, the bustling moped racetrack at the center of everything.
THE BUILDING The hotel curves around the nearly century-old Hanoi Opera House (now known as the Municipal Theater). The Neo-Baroque facade is designed to mirror the loggias and high plinths of the opera house itself, and it does it well, even down to an identical colonial-yellow paint job.
THE AMENITIES Like many foreign installations in developing countries, the hotel can seem culturally and economically removed from the balletic chaos of its city. English is the only language needed inside the three-story lobby, which, with its gilded columns and ornate iron ceiling, somewhat resembles a bank. And anyone familiar with Hanoi will be aghast at the prices compared with those in the city at large. One night in the Hilton can get you a week at a hotel in Old Town. And a bowl of pho, a rice-noodle soup, in one of hotel’s three restaurants costs $4.50 plus a 5 percent gratuity and a 10 percent value-added tax; just a block away, a similar bowl costs about 15 cents.
THE ROOM You’ve been in this room before in Chicago or was it San Diego? That’s deliberately part of its appeal. The carpet, the tapestry behind the beds and the heavy striped drapes are Vietnamese green, cream and a red so deep it’s almost crimson. In a watercolor painting near the beds, a peasant family shares a meal, their faces shaded by conical hats. A beautiful armoire features a heavily lacquered painting of the Vietnam countryside. But that’s about it for local color. The television picks up HBO and ESPN. The minibar is stocked with Western comfort snacks like Oreos, Kit Kat bars, California pistachios, Pringles and four brands of beer, only one Halida that’s Vietnamese.
THE BATHROOM Brown. Earthy brown tile lines the floor and walls. There’s a brown stone countertop supporting a generous white half-moon sink. Next to the sink, a green vase holds a red rose, a Vietnamese symbol of life.
ROOM SERVICE An order form for breakfast listed omelets and chicken soup. We ordered both only to be awakened by a call the next morning reminding us that, as we suspected, no eggs or chicken will be available until the avian flu scare runs its course. The fish, cold cuts, cereals and fruits featured at the buffet in the main restaurant are a better choice, anyway.
THE CROWD Jazz musicians from California, executives tapping on their laptops in the lobby and the occasional homesick backpacker of means.
THE BOTTOM LINE The Hilton Hanoi Opera feels hermetically sealed off from Hanoi. In the lobby, eating a salami-and-cheese sandwich as Billy Joel crooned over the sound system, we couldn’t hear the motorbikes zooming outside, their horns forever honking not in warning but as a general announcement of their existence. The hotel advertises a good night’s sleep, which is rarely guaranteed in Hanoi. After two weeks in the country, the Hilton provided our first night of deep sleep. It has 269 rooms, with doubles starting at $85 a night. The Hilton Hanoi Opera. 1 Le Thanh Tong Street, Hanoi;(84-4) 933-0500.
Source: The New York Times
