Review: VATC Sleep Pods Hanoi Airport (HAN)

So takeaway – VATC sleep pods feel like flying China Southern's A380 in first class?

@ Alvin | YTHK -- LOL. In fairness, the retail cost is a bit lower.

$50 price vaporized the value, especially considering 5000 Hyatt points (Plus Q1 promotion) is almost the same price. Usually I expect around $30 for Southeast Asian airports sleeping pods.
I probably would book the Hyatt at the spot after hearing the CC machine situation.

@ Ethan -- Fair, but in terms of value, there's also the cost of getting to the Hyatt Regency, which would likely be close to $50 roundtrip.

Staying in a Hanoi hotel in two weeks, via an OTA. Got an email directly from the property stating I must pay in cash. Not a word about it on the OTA's website. Thankful for Charles Schwab. {Did the property charge you an exact cash equivalent per the international exchange rate or was 'no change' a money grab also?}

Those bathrooms do not look to be in awful shape

@ James S -- Perhaps pictures don't do it justice, but one sink was broken, the floor was wet (and I suspect largely not with water), only one of the stalls had toilet paper, and there were no paper towels, just to name some of the issues.

@ Steve -- The rate on Agoda was listed in VND, so I was asked for that amount (it wasn't a conversion from USD).

Um, bad smell carpet, no adjacent bathroom, broken credit card/no change cash scam. You are so brave. I would have run

Once again Lucky, you took one for the team on this one. I know you're a big fan of sleep pods but man, for some reason they just gross me out and being claustrophobic doesn't help matters either. However, this one looks better to me than the previous one that you stayed in.

The elusive 2 star rating!

While I don’t wish it upon you Ben, I’m now awaiting the first 1 star rating!

You're not being a conspiracy theorist, you were almost certainly scammed.

"You will live in ze pod!"

Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF)

Can be booked direct. IIRC there's a link on the HAN airport website. Did it last summer but (thankfully) cancelled after a rerouted itinerary.

I would have gone into the city for the night just to eat some street food. Hanoi's street food scene is fire.

My wife and I stayed in one of these back in 2017 waiting for the JAL desk to open for a late night departure out of the International terminal. I think the stay was included on Priority Pass at the time good up to 4 hours or something like that. I thought our stay was fine, although the terminal was very new at the time.

She certainly kept the extra $5, and if she was good, she booked him at some kind of lower rate and pocketed the difference.

Once they did not have a credit card reader but posted shorter stays for cash - wouldn't it have been a great time to say you had $20 and wanted what they had? No cc - no pay?

Hi Ben
Having lived in SE Asia in the 80's, the bathrooms were probably top of the cleanliness line for domestic terminals after midnight compared with what used to be standard.

No bathroom seals the deal for me. Ben, I’m often jealous of your trips. Not this time.

My experiences at HAN have been always, to put it politely, way below international standards.
Hospitality is definitely not part of the culture of the former North Vietnam.

For what's it worth, the credit card machines in Vietnam are always "not working".

The reality is that the merchants in Vietnam have to pay 2.5% transaction fees to the banks, and many smaller merchants are unwilling to swallow those fees. If you were to offer to pay that difference, they would probably accept it.

In any case, it's probably due to language barrier that it's easier for her to say "credit card machine broken, cash only. ATM there"

"I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but I also can’t help but wonder if the machine was actually broken, or if this is a scheme to instead get foreigners to pay in cash, and possibly overpay, by not having change."

You fell for a common scam throughout India and SE Asia. The credit card machines are always "not working" because the merchant a) doesn't want to pay the CC fee, and b) wants cash so he can evade taxes by not reporting it. Then when you get the cash from the ATM, they claim "no change, sir" and pocket the difference. Threaten to walk away, and the CC machine magically starts working and/or they magically find change in the register.

I wonder if this is also sort of a way to get out of paying the commission. They can claim a no show but pocket the cash.

Overall this is a classic example of how tourism is taken in Vietnam, they are still busy with petty scams and undeserving good paying guests.
Can still get brushed like this in Indo too btw.

Still a long way to go to catch up with Thailand.

Did you see these pods, Ben? According to the website, they're on Level 2 of the International Terminal
http://sleepzone.sasco.com.vn/en/main.html

No bathroom, toilet or shower - no bid.

Am I the only one disappointed that we didn't get a review of "Lucky Fastfood"?

I can't speak to Southeast Asia but in Central America this is a common trick to give the corrupt tax collectors a taste of their own medicine. Credit card payments are visible to the tax man, but cash payments (particularly for services rather than countable goods) are easy to under-report. Offering to pay "the credit card commission" often brings the point of sale terminal magically to life.

This could be Marriott’s 31st brand! No food, no bathrooms = great for owners.

No conspiracy theory at all. The credit card machine not working trick is very common throughout Southeast Asia as they don’t want to pay the merchant fee.
I always tell them that credit card is all I have and start to walk away, then magically they find a way to accept my card. Works like a charm! You’ll also often see merchants charge an extra
3-5% to your bill if you choose to pay by credit card.

Ben. I love the constant variety of your reviews. From a Rolls Royce transfer, Klug and a Butler to a bunk bed, stained carpet and no toilet. Keep up
The good work !

Say it with me: the credit card machine is never broken.

But in Asia you often have to play the game, even if it’s a silly amount of face to be lost over a currency conversion. The extra $5-10 is a coffee to you, or it can be a Vietnamese family’s meals for a week. I have paid $5 cash deposits in Vietnamese hotels to ensure I didn’t leave with the towels and key.

The constant small upcharging that is done to westerners in Vietnam is absolutely annoying and usually bizarre. But it’s simply not enough money to bother arguing the principle.

Using Grab, the local Uber equivalent, would have been much cheaper than $50 round trip. And even less if you were prepared to perch on the back of a scooter. My last Grab trip in Hanoi was about a 30 minute ride for under $10.

So if you had 2, 20+ year old daughters arriving in Hanoi international airport with a 18 hours layover before their return flight to Sydney Australia would you recommend they stay in a Hotel or use the Sleep Pods. Either way they will have to get visa whilst still travelling in Italy

We have booked a pod in Terminal 2 and can't seem to find out if we actually need a Vietnam visa for the stay. We have an onward flight to Tokyo. Anyone know?

This is at Ho Chi Minh City Airport for anyone wondering, Hanoi is some 1,500 km away.