I booked two rooms in Asean Halong Hotel for 2 nights, in Jan 2012. I must confess that even after reading the mostly positive reviews in this website, I was in for a pleasant surprise. Firstly, we were given two rooms on the tenth floor (highest floor) and the view of halong bay from the rooms was just awesome. The rooms were spacious and comfortable. The hotel lobby is especially impressive, with a huge Junk caricature displayed in the centre. Then, I could just go on and on about how great the staff were. Many of them could not speak fluent English, but their service mindset and excellent attitude just won our hearts. I should make a special mention of Mr Hua, who provided great help in organising local tours as well as providing us food as per our requirement (we are vegetarians). And not to mention that all this came for such an affordable price. I would not have minded paying more for the great experience I had here. Strongly recommend to anyone.

The hotel is a bit overpriced considering what you get...
Good points:-
1. Good of the Bay and cheaper than other bigger hotels overlooking the bay.
2. Rooms are well serviced with good selection of toiletries.
3. English speaking manager provided assistance with a day tour and taxi to Hanoi.
4. The included breakfast selection was good. Eggs (fried, scrambled or omlette) were also available.
Needs improvement:-
1. Hotel food was expensive and disappointing. We ordered roast chicken and potatoes. The chicken was bland, dry and over-cooked. Some of the potatoes were still raw in the middle.
2. Bathroom is quite small with the bath-tub shower combination (and shower curtain).
3. Slow check-in because they could not find our booking (made through hotels.com).
4. The reception staff also insisted on keeping our passports. We offered them copies of our passports but they insisted on the originals. After a long discussion and a phone call to the manager, we were told we could keep our passports with us.
The hotel is overpriced considering what you get. I would probably not not stay here again.

At $50 this hotel was an huge surprise with a massive 6 foot long jade carved boat and elaborately carved wood furniture in the entrance way.The manager was especially helpful and accommodating. The day after we left the area we call him for a phone number of a travel agent he recommended and he said we could for anything we needed while we traveled throughout Vietnam. Anytime we called for laundry, help with the wireless, trip planning in the area, etc. someone was always at our door within 3-5 minutes (sometimes two people). The rooms were really good but like every place in Vietnam there were the occasional neglected maintenance items. The front lobby and hallways were also just lightly air-conditioned (not to western standards but fine for the majority of their clientele. Hard beds but they brought extra comforters to cushion them. Vietnam as a whole lacks comfortable beds.

My friend and I stayed here for a few days in September. They had no twin rooms left so upgraded us to a family room where we had our own rooms with a huge bed each and shared a bathroom. The views from both our rooms were fantastic! The staff were more than willing to help with tours especially the front office manager Hoa, and spoke English very well. When our 'lunch cruise' on the bay was a disappointment they organised a free transfer back to Hanoi for us when we left. The only problem we came across was at breakfast when the person cooking the eggs seemed unable to speak or understand English so we were ignored when we stood in the line for omelets. But the rest of the breakfast was great with plenty to choose from. I would recommend this hotel and the staff to anyone wanting somewhere inexpensive, clean, helpful staff and great views. Good value for money!!!