Positive feel, good ambiance, friendly crew
What we loved the most about Lao was its ambiance. Overall it presented a positive feel. Rooms were average in size and had all the necessities in place. The attached bathroom too was average which had all the basic things. Yet, even on an average setup, this hotel won our heart because of its well mannered and helpful crew. Going to the grounds there was is beer garden with two fountain pools. The restaurant is also on the grounds only that served us good delicacies. With all the amenities I would rate it average but because of its staff, it can certainly be rated higher.

Hotel Lao! The jury is still out on this hotel for me. I try as much as humanly possible to find the positive in any situation and so I will share the aspects of that with fellow travelers. My first encounter with Hotel Lao was ironic/ fated to say the least. The initial plan was to join up with my fiancé as we moved around in our travels. We had booked the hotel due to its very reasonable rates of US $26 per night and its Central location as we always prefer to be in the hub of the activity. Due to my fiancé’s job he was called away to work and so I decided to simply cancel that leg of our travels and meet up again at some other point. It is then I called the Hotel a few days ahead to cancel that I was informed I would be charged the entire booking cost. Needless to say, I felt hard pressed to continue my plans of being there, rather than pay for something I couldn’t be present to enjoy.

On arrival, I was met with amazing friendly staff after being collected from the Airport by the Hotel’s pick up service, a fee of which I paid US $6. My first few days were spent, walking around, checking out the surroundings as I had to abort many of the plans that were made based on being a couple. Some activities just would not have been the same going solo. I visited a few of the bars that were in walking distance but ended up spending a lot of time at the hotel of itself. Aesthetically I think that the court yard dining area setting was a bit too; shall I say harsh, for my taste. Though very open and spacious, it lacked any feeling of “warmth” apart from the shaded trees and the pond of fish. The room interiors; with its wooden floors, minimalist décor and plain white clean walls however, made up in warmth for the exterior .I think straight laced , no frills types would find this hotel to their likings.

The food was average and the smoked tea from the small gift shop is a must buy. I spent a lot of time in my room making full use of the hotel’s fast and friendly room service. After all I felt lonely sitting out in the court yard in that entire wide expanse on my own. I think it just drew attention to the fact that I was alone. All in all it was an average, and just average accommodation. Would I have enjoyed my stay thoroughly if my fiancé was there? Yes! However I am not sure that had he been there, that he would have enjoyed it anymore than I did. There is room for improvement here. Maybe some refurbishing on the outside, something to soften the overall outlook of an otherwise great concept of an open air dining experience.

I stayed agin at this hotel and had a much nicer deluxe room with more space. Its a place of character with a nice garden and pond. The food is pretty good though staff have adopted the Lao PDR Please Dont Rush attitude, which makes for a relaxing time if you are on holiday; so dont expect fast food here or anywhere else in Laos for that matter.

On the negative: The worst about this hotel is that the rooms don't have a fan, just air conditioning! This can make the nights quite uncomfortable (unless you like sleeping with the airco blasting on you). As of Dec 2010 there is construction going on nearby (so you don't need to set your alarm clock) ;-) Walls thin as paper, but then again the latter is standard for Laos hotels. On the positive side: The breakfast isn't bad and the staff is really nice.

I think that for the same price category there must be nicer places in Vientiane.