I stayed one night at Best Western Vientiane in January 2012. The hotel is in a good location of Vientiane, next to the Mekong river, things you will want to see and there are many restaurants nearby. The hotel lobby is very nice as well as the bedrooms however the bathrooms are very outdated. There also seems to be an ant problem, little ants in the bathroom, bedroom and on the walls in room 311. I made a reservation over the phone, the front desk person I spoke with was hard to communicate with so he thought I said one person in a standard queen size bedroom, the rate was $62 per night. Upon check in they noticed two people were checking in and said nothing, at check out my rate was $72, I asked why and they said because there were two people in the room. In conclusion the only thing the Best Western has going for it is the swimming pool, there are honestly much better places to stay in Vientiane such as Lao Orchid for the same price and has much better accommodations. I'm giving this hotel a poor rating because of the price hike for another person for no reason and not informing me until check out.

Avoid room 211. It is beside the cleaning room. It has no views. During my stay some people were working from 8 am to late at night 11:30 pm. I complained to reception but just got a smile back.

Best Western hotel, formerly known as Tai-Pan hotel, was our choice for a two-night stay in Vientiane (en route to Luang Prabang). This hotel is really good value for money, as it was less than 80 usd per night during the end-of-year high season.

The good:

- Complimentary airport pick-up service was efficient and much appreciated, as our flight was arriving quite late in the evening.

- Location: hotel is in Rue Francois Nginn, which had some nice bars and restaurants. It is safe, and within walking distance of Quai Fa Ngum, which runs along the river coast and it's where many other restaurants are located. There is a temple located 50 metres away (Wat Mixai) and many other attractions (such as Haw Pha Kaew, Wat Sisaket and the Presidential Palace) are also within walking distance.

- Front desk staff were efficient and spoke reasonable english. After checking-in, we noticed that the room we were assigned had two beds instead of a king bed as we had required in our booking. We told this to the concierge, and were immeadiately rellocated to a new room with the requested specification.

- Wifi internet was available for free, and connection was good both in the room and in the lobby area.

The not-so-good:

I don't have major complaints, but just a couple of points to be highlighted.

- Our room was clean and spacious, and had everything you would expect in a hotel of this category (flat screen TV, safebox, etc). Maintenance efforts are appreciated, but a major renewal will be required in the next couple of years or so. This can be seen especially in the bathrooms. Overall room decoration should also be improved.

- We tried the hotel's restaurant in the evening of our arrival. Food was so-so and there are better alternatives accross the street, but it's an option to consider when most of the restaurants in the city have already closed.

I would definitely recommend this hotel for someone staying in Vientiane for a couple of days. The location near the Mekong River promenade, together with very competitive prices, make this hotel a good choice. Just remember to bring some cash as credit card payments are charged 3-5% (as everywhere else in Laos).

Great location, the room was large and comfortable, bathroom ok. The helpfulness of the staff was a bit limited by their soso English but everybody was trying really hard. The buffet style breakfast was alright except for terrible coffee. Not to worry though the cafe just opposite brews the most wonderful, freshly roasted Laotian coffee. Altogether a good choice in Vientiane.