We stayed here for 3 nights in early Jan 2012.
We liked the rooms - they were spacious and clean, the beds were comfortable. There was a fridge in every room, no computer but nice furniture etc. My double room had an enormous bathroom but the other double room had a tiny bathroom.

The only really bad part of staying here was a Vietnamese guy called Tony on front desk every evening. He had an ego and an "International Tour Guide" card and thought he knew everything. He organised a day tour of the handicraft villages for us - charged us US$45 each (v. exp. for Vietnam) and it was terrible, disorganised and a waste of a day. I'm sure Tony made a nice profit from that too.

We decided to do Cat Ba Island independently. I knew exactly what to do and needed to Tony to book an open bus return trip to Cat Ba. He became very obstructive and argumentative as he wanted us to do a group tour of Halong Bay he would book for us (i.e. make a profit from). Tony told us we would be bored and cold on Cat Ba. It took me half an hour of insisting he book the bus tickets before he finally complied. Well we weren't either and were very happy we hadn't done what Tony tried to bully us into.

Well some Vietnamese are nice but some aren't and this guy Tony is a perfect example of a try-hard hotshot who is only out to make a buck.

Other than that, Little Hanoi Hostel is a pretty good value place to stay.

We booked this hotel online before coming to Hanoi. We read all the excellent reviews on tripadvisor about the staff and amazing service and we weren't disappointed.
We arrived in Hanoi on an overnight train from Sapa and were at the hotel at 6 am. Night porter let us in straight away and offered us free breakfast and free internet to use while we were waiting for the room. They also allowed us early early check-in, which was great.
The room itself was a disappointment. When we walked in it smelt of mould even though it was just cleaned. The plaster was coming off the walls, the lighting was terrible and it gave the room a dreary look. The washroom has a bath but it's only just for show as all the water goes right thru and into a drain beside the bath. There was a small side window in the room facing down to the hotel's canteen. There was always noise and music coming up the shaft into the room.
All in all the staff were amazing but if they put a tiny bit of that effort into to their rooms it would make for a perfect hotel.

Partner and I stayed here two nights. Were very happy with the room. Hotel has a cheap restaurant on the bottom floor with pretty good food. Staff were amazing! they knew us by name and were extremely helpful, friendly and chatty. Really enjoyed talking to the staff. Only complaint was that the hot water didn't last long enough for 2 people. I had to shower in the morning while my partner showered in the evening. This was really qutie annoying but everything else made up for it.

We stayed three nights here. The lady at reception was very helpful and not pushy at all. She told us about their tours and recommendations. We booked a day trip to Halong Bay and a day trip to Nin Binh from here and they were both very good. There was a couple of choices for breakfast, basic but definitely enough. Complimentary tea / coffee available. Room nice too. Tv, fan, air-con and ensuite was a good size. Bed very comfortable and free fruit left in our room for us each day. Free pick-up from the airport as we had booked for three nights was definitely worth it as we arrived late at night and it was quite a distance from the airport to the centre of town. We were also happy that we were able to book our onward bus ticket to Hong Kong from here. Location also good, easily able to walk to St. Joseph's Cathedral as well as the Lake. Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here.