On A Different Level: Review of the InterContinental Landmark72 in Hanoi

In the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, there are not one but two InterContinental hotels. One of them is located on the West Lake at the northern end of the city centre. The other is a bit further out, but much more spectacular: The InterContinental Landmark72 occupies floors 62 to 71 in the second-tallest building in the country.

Travel-Dealz editor Felix stayed at this hotel in February 2024, together with his fiancée. Here he describes his impressions of the hotel over in the clouds:

Booking

During my first visit in 2017, the bustling Old Town of Hanoi with its hundreds of thousands of scooters, cafés, and restaurants did already captivate me. An impression I was able to deepen in September 2023, leading to the decision not to wait that long for the next visit. Soon the next trip to Vietnam was planned and booked.

This time we planned two visits to the capital: First, two nights after our arrival from Hong Kong. And a second one with four more nights after our tour with stops in Cat Ba, Haiphong, and Ninh Binh. For the second stay, I booked a hotel in the Old Town again. For the first two days, I decided on a hotel that I had not considered last time only because of its poor location for our plans: The InterContinental Landmark72.

I booked a reduced rate for travel industry employees. The two nights together cost US$223 (~€208). In addition, as an InterContinental Ambassador and IHG Diamond Elite, we took advantage of the following bonuses:

• Guaranteed upgrade to a higher room category (Ambassador)
• Free breakfast for 2 people (IHG Diamond Status)
• Access to the Club InterContinental lounge (reward for staying 40 nights in IHG hotels in 2023)

A whole range of high-quality benefits, that were also necessary to convince us of the InterContinental. After all, there are plenty of decent accommodations in better locations in Hanoi for US$35 (~€33) per night – including breakfast.

Location

As hinted at in the previous paragraph, we begin with the biggest downside of the hotel. While it is undoubtedly incredibly spectacular to take a bath stay on the 66th floor of a skyscraper, the skyscraper itself and its vicinity doesn’t convey any of the city’s unique charm.

The Landmark72 Tower is located on the outer ring road of the city and is surrounded by poorly maintained sidewalks. A walk here – along twelve busy lanes – is about as much fun as wet socks on a cold winter day. However, if you veer off the main road, you will be promptly rewarded.

Nearby, there are well-planned out residential areas. One is full of Korean pubs, restaurants, and supermarkets. The other offers a much more Vietnamese scene with street cafes and restaurants. However, both seem downright sleepy compared to the bustling Old Town, which unfortunately is a half-hour taxi ride away.

Also, depending on the traffic, it takes 30-45 minutes by car to get to the airport. After our arrival, we ordered a Grab (the Southeast Asian Uber), which took us to the hotel for ₫218,000 (~€8). Public transportation is still in its infancy in many Vietnamese cities, which is why we often use the inexpensive (compared to European prices) Grab rides in the country.

Since not only the most beautiful and interesting part of the city is rather far away, but also most tours, buses, and trains to nearby and distant parts of the country start there; I would advise against this hotel to anyone who wants to explore Vietnam. However, those who are travelling for business or prefer to stay in their InterContinental bubble and appreciate a spectacular view will be more than satisfied.

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Check-In

Our driver had barely stopped the car when two uniformed hotel employees approached us, opened the doors, and helped us unload our luggage. There is a small counter on the ground floor, behind which more hotel staff lurks for arriving travellers in need of assistance. After making sure we were guests of the hotel, we were asked to go to the reception on the second floor. As I approached the escalator, I was directed to the elevators.

There, I realized that I had misheard. A sign told me that our destination was not the second, but the sixty-second floor. I’m not sure the escalator would’ve have taken me there in time to check out. The actual reception is connected to the entrance on the ground floor by four elevators. Two of these elevators also stop on the 5th and 7th floors, where the pool and fitness centre are located. The others shuttle between the 62nd floor and the ground floor. While the ride takes some time, there were never queues in front of the elevators.

After being pleasantly overwhelmed by the view behind the reception desks, we handed over our passports. There were no queues – and even if there were, we could have used the separate check-in for InterContinental Ambassadors. After finding my name in the system, we were asked to use the elevator again. Since I have access to the Club Lounge, the process continued there. On the 71st floor.

The lounge, as well as all rooms, are connected to the reception by two more elevators, which can only be used with a room key card. Upon arriving at the lounge, we found a place by the window and were served Vietnamese coffee and paperwork by the extremely welcoming staff. The staff was absolutely friendly, professional, and accommodating, which is neither a surprise for the brand nor the country. The process was quick and smooth and gave no reason for complaint.

Room

I had booked a standard room with a king-size bed, which was already advertised with an impressive 46m². Through the upgrade, we stayed in a deluxe room with a king-size bed on the 66th floor with 56m² of floor space. The room seemed huge to us as expected, but had a peculiarity that I dislike in larger room types. It felt like a large room where someone had placed the same furniture that would fill a significantly smaller room. This simply creates a lot of empty space – which I haven’t appreciated for almost 20 years, as I stopped playing football in hotel rooms around that time.

Otherwise, there’s not much to complain about in terms of equipment. You enter a hallway, from which the bathroom is located to the right. The bathroom has a bathtub, a sink, a floor-level shower, and a toilet with a hand bidet. The marble surfaces were all in good condition.

In the main room, there is a sideboard with a TV on the left side and a huge bed on the right side. After about three by four meters of space for football, there is a desk with a classic IHG office chair (encountered in every chain from Holiday Inn Express to InterContinental) on the left side. On the right, you’ll find a fairly comfortable chaise longue with a side table. This is ideal for reading or chatting, but not for watching TV. For that, the TV is too far away and at an inconvenient angle.

Desk and chaise longue are positioned in front of a floor-to-ceiling window front, whose view over the city is naturally the absolute highlight of the room. In our case, unfortunately, the view faced westward and thus away from the city, which did not diminish the visual enjoyment in any way.

The window front can be darkened with opaque curtains. However, the bigger issue is that in the west of the hotel, there is not only little to see (though the view is still fantastic), but rather the aforementioned eight-lane road with a four-lane expressway. I have no idea how they managed to still have us hearing honking and engine noises on the 66th floor, but it’s a masterpiece of poor sound insulation. Thanks to the bed being far enough from the window, we were still able to sleep without any problems.

There are ample opportunities to charge electronic devices at all essential locations (the desk, bedside tables, and sideboard). The outlets in the hotel have international adapters and can be used with American or European plugs without an adapter. The outlets are usually accompanied by one or two USB-A ports.

Apart from the incredibly good view, the room did not particularly stand out to me, neither positively nor negatively. It was clean and well-maintained, and the furnishings were appropriate for a five-star InterContinental hotel, without being overly flashy.

Breakfast

With one exception (InterContinental Madrid), breakfast buffets at InterContinental Hotels have consistently impressed me. Especially in Asia, where I would like to highlight the IC Seoul COEX and the IC Saigon, there was an excellent selection of high-quality food.

This was also the case in Hanoi. There were three stations alone for freshly prepared dishes, which were:

• Egg dishes
• Noodle soups (including the regional speciality Pho)
• (Vegan) Sushi

In addition to this, there was a daily changing selection of:

• Savoury, warm Asian dishes
• Savoury, warm Western dishes
• Pastries and dairy products
• Fresh fruits
• Raw vegetables
• Warm desserts
• Hot and cold cereals such as muesli, porridge, or congee

All the dishes I tried were at least good and often even better. The food was served at several counters, which stretched almost 20 meters along one side of the breakfast restaurant. Baked goods and dairy products even had their own small room with a window front. The arrangements were impressively varied and appetizing, not endless rows of metal trays keeping the food warm.

The selection of beverages was also impressive; ranging from plain still or sparkling water to freshly squeezed fruit juices, sugarcane-kumquat lemonade (also prepared freshly in front of the guests’ eyes), and various types of milk. For hot drinks, there was a wide selection of teas and Western coffee specialities. Of course, our beloved Vietnamese coffee was also available. As a bonus, there were coconuts with InterContinental branding and straws, which we had encountered several months earlier at the InterContinental Saigon. So far, so overwhelming.

However, there are two other aspects that make breakfast at this hotel truly special: Firstly, the breakfast restaurant is the only public part of the hotel from which one can see to the east. In this direction lie the city centre and the West Lake.

Secondly, the excellently trained staff, whose authentic friendliness is hard to beat. In Asian hotels, I often get an uneasy feeling because many hotel employees seem overly submissive or in constant fear of making a mistake. At the InterContinental Hanoi (as with its sister in Ho Chi Minh City), this is not the case. There isn’t a single case I recall where the right tone wasn’t struck.

Furthermore, the staff’s helpfulness and hospitality often exceeded anything we’d expect, even in a five-star-hotel. One example particularly stood out for me: On the first day, we were asked to fill out a feedback form. My fiancée had already answered and returned it before I came back from the buffet with what was probably a well-filled plate. Aside the very positive feedback, she had noted that, if available seasonally, mangosteens would be a good addition to the fruit selection.

The next morning, the restaurant manager awaited us at breakfast and warmly greeted us. He informed us that there were currently no mangosteens, but he had other local fruits obtained from the market for us to try. This is not only extremely attentive but also shows that the feedback form obviously did not go straight into the trash.

One more note for others who’ve completed their playthrough of the IHG One Rewards loyalty program: In this hotel, access to the Club Lounge does not entitle you to visit the breakfast buffet. If you want to visit it, you either have to pay for it or choose it as a welcome gift (for Diamond members). The latter is highly recommended.

Club Lounge

The Club Lounge of the InterContinental Hanoi Landmark advertises itself as the largest lounge in Asia – which isn’t a stretch, given its impressive size. It is located on the 71st floor and is open from 6:00 to 22:00. Like most lounges, warm dishes are offered three times a day:

• Breakfast from 6:30 am to 10:30 am
• Afternoon tea from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
• Happy hour (dinner) from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

During happy hour, alcoholic drinks are served. Non-alcoholic drinks, tea, and coffee are generally free during the lounge’s opening hours.

For breakfast and dinner, you can choose from à la carte dishes (various egg dishes for breakfast, canapés in the evening), which you can easily order from the staff. In addition, six different hot dishes are offered alongside cold dishes and bread at a buffet. This Club Lounge is the only one I know of that offers both à la carte selection and a wide range of hot buffet items. Previously, there was either one or the other. There is no buffet for afternoon tea; cold and hot dishes are offered in sweet and savoury varieties, which can be ordered from a menu.

In terms of size, the lounge is indeed huge and occupies about 1/3 of the entire 71st floorspace. Next to the entrance to the lounge are two washrooms and a gym. Since you can only access this floor with the elevator if the lounge access is registered on the room card, this facility seems to be reserved for guests with lounge access. There is another public gym on the 7th floor.

When entering the lounge, you pass by two desks, at least one of which is always manned by a staff member. Here, check-in, check-out, and concierge services are handled. Access control is done by politely asking for the room number as guests pass by. Then, on the left side of the large room, there is a wide corridor that leads to the three seating areas of the lounge, which are separated by walls. These are located between the corridor and a floor-to-ceiling window front, which offers a magnificent view.

Regardless of whether you’re seeking diversion, relaxation, want to work alone or in a large group, or are just around to eat: Here, everyone will find suitable seating for what they are looking for. There are both chairs with and without tables. Those sitting near the partitions or the window front also have no trouble finding an power outlets. During our stay, even at peak times a maximum of 25% of the seats were occupied. When I worked there in the morning, There were instances were I was alone with the service staff in the huge room. However, even then, I didn’t feel uncomfortable due to the warm atmosphere.

As for the staff, the trend from breakfast continues seamlessly here: The employees are friendly, attentive, and highly professional. Having a personal conversation about the city, country, hotel, and building is also possible outside of meal times.

Public Areas

Because the lobby is located on the 62nd floor of the tallest building in the city and can essentially be visited for free, there are naturally many opportunities for visitors to benefit from the spectacular view. For those who feel guilty about getting a free peek, there are plenty of opportunities to order a drink at the lobby bar and sip a coffee or cocktail while enjoying the atmosphere and view. Wi-Fi works well in all areas of the hotel. It is fast and reliable enough for working or streaming.

As mentioned earlier, there is a fitness centre on the 7th floor of the building. Here, you’ll find not only the usual treadmills and weightlifting options but also an indoor track covered with tartan. So, you can jog here without straining your knees, although without fresh air and daylight. The hotel’s pool is also located on the seventh floor. However, we didn’t get to see it as it was undergoing renovation during our stay.

Review