Well-

Much to my sadness and horror,my one favorite place to stay while visiting has been laid to waste. Its like a family member on life support with no real hope of recovering.."oh poor ole aunt connie,what should we do,continue tube-feeding her or just pull the plug"?...*please note there is no aunt connie and she is not ill,this is just a analogy of how i felt upon return.

So,lets get right to it,shall we?..so after 24 hrs travelling across thailand in cramped buses i was a walking zombie and i had a travel buddy i was excited to show my favorite place to.
The embarrassment i felt when the room door opened,good grief!..i think i was more upset
than they were...we had to switch rooms 3 times and the a/c was leaking water onto carpet

I asked what happened to the room i remembered so fondly?...the tea kettle,the tea cups?.
THE TEA?!...only one glass,no tub stop,dirty tub,no floor towel,filthy shower curtain/moldy!
The room reeked of mold/must,the wallpaper hangs off the walls,i only had half a curtain and no bulbs in the lamps,2 lights operated on one switch and couldnt turn one/other off!

They used to have free breakfast,no more,the rest next door is in shambles,empty..i mean
i can go on and on but it is in my opinion after looking around a good bit that it has been sold
and the previous owner took everything with them,even down to the kettle and the lightbulbs

Maybe im just sad of losing my favorite place to stay,but its time to take her off life support!!

good service ,very good staff , very nice room .
Name Salina Boutique Hotel , i recommended .

Old hotel (possibly not long for this world), & some of the staff slightly disengaged in that Lao way. Rooms small, musty. Wifi often so slow it's barely worth using.

But cheap ($15 special on now) & 5-10 min walk from riverside. And quiet (mainly because there aren't many other guests).

BTW: If you are coming to Vientiane to check out its famous river vistas, put that plan on hold for a while. The entire riverfront (maybe 4km) is mud & construction. Dust blowing everywhere.

Its actually my 2nd time staying here...came for a visa run/Thai and stayed here with a friend,as it was off-season and it was cheap 400/baht=$12usd in 2008,and it seemed ok.

You can def. find better places and worse ones here,but the location is good,there is a bkk grill downstairs as well.Living in asia i think i have learned how to deal with people here,as to some reviews of the staff...they were helpful to me and i had no problems.

some things i noted: reg room was quoted at $25 usd and i got it down to $20 if i skipped
bkfst,i had free wi-fi,a/c,fridge,free H20,tea kettle,and daily maid service..so thats good..

now,some bad things..yes its an old hotel but i like the weird charm of it,the walls have a few dings in there,the curtains are busted,i saw from ants about but this is asia,the carpet is well worn,the beds are old,but i like them,comfy/soft compared to most asian beds..

Also the rooms in the back are by a school,otherwise nice and quiet,which is hard to find in asia at this price,and i had HBO and plenty of english channels to watch...

So im ok with it here for a night or two,but i do wonder how they stay afloat......?