The hotel is in a predominantly Vietnamese (ie not particularly touristy) area in the old town. Only 20 or so rooms on 8 floors, but spacious and immaculate. I only spent one night there between flights. The front desk service was particularly impressive. The initial reception was just perfect and it improved from there. They advised me, I think honestly, on where to eat in the area, which meant good food and good value. Having downloaded my next boarding pass to a USB key I was unable to print it, and facing the prospect of leaving the hotel around 5 am to have enough time at the airport. On coming back from dinner I found that one of the girls, Oanh, had worked on it herself while I was out and succeeded where I had failed. She and Sophie were the stars of the front desk, but everything about the level of service was at least 4 star. This hotel lives up to its name in every way

This hotel is great. The Staff are fantastic and helpful in everyday.
The rooms are clean and comfortable, Breakfast has a few surprises that we don't have in the western world as "Breakfast Food".
I have to say I fail to see how some people complain about the Tet holiday. The whole point of traveling and visiting these places is to take in the culture and experience a little bit for yourself.
I throughly enjoyed learning about Tet and seeing them celebrate it in their own way.
I would stay here again with no question! But if you don't want to experience these cultures and places then stay at home!
Vietnam is a treasure!

My husband and I stayed at the Charming Hotel 1 in January for 3 nights. It was cold in Hanoi but the warmth of this hotel staff made up for the weather. They helped us with ideas of what to do and helped with reservations. Lien and Mr Duc were great. attenede to all our needs. While this is rated as a 3 star, we would give it more based on it feeling like home. What an interesting locatio. We felt safe and very comfortable.

It might be that we were unlucky staying during Tet holiday, but that shouldn't be an excuse. Apart from the location, which is close to the lake and in the old town, nothing was right. Staff seemed to have party every night, cooking food for themselves, which we could strongly smell in our room. Room was small and smelly all the time, had no window. Once there was no hot water so we asked for a key to another room as we wanted to take a shower and leave. We got a key to a dirty room, with no hot water anyway!!! Taxi service to the airport was much more expensive than what was offered in other places. The place where you get breakfast was freezing cold - everyone wearing winter jackets, and we were told most of the breakfast things are not available cause of Tet (however there was lots of food for the staff every day). Also, when we asked for a map we got a bad copy of the nearest area, so I asked for a bigger map, and was told I can get one in tourist office. When we got there it was closed - I think staff should be aware about things like that. The worst was the night before Tet, which all the staff celebrated in the hotel, seemed like they invited family and friends. I couldn't see any of the guests participating. We went 2 times to ask them to let as sleep, and the party eventually finished at 3am!