Review: Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi Airport (HAN)

After a short night at the VATC Sleep Pods Terminal 1, it was time to fly Bamboo Airways’ Boeing 787-9 business class from Hanoi to Frankfurt. While I’ll be reviewing the flight in the next installment, in this post I wanted to review the Song Hong Business Lounge, which is the lounge in the international terminal at Hanoi Airport Terminal 2.

This is an excellent contract lounge, with great views, lots of natural light, charming decor, and an extensive selection of food and drinks. It was quite a contrast to the Le Saigonnais Business Lounge I visited the evening before at Ho Chi Minh City Airport.

Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi location

Terminal 2 is the international terminal at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport (HAN). To find the Song Hong Business Lounge, you’ll first need to clear security and immigration.

Once airside, turn right, and follow the signage in the direction of gates 20-28. Near gate 28, you’ll see escalators and an elevator leading up to the terminal’s lounges.

On the upper level you’ll first find the Song Hong Business Lounge, and then behind that is the Vietnam Airlines Lotus Lounge.

Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi hours

The Song Hong Business Lounge is currently open daily from 6:30AM until 2:00AM, so it only closes briefly at night, when the terminal doesn’t have any flights. This should cover all eligible departures.

Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi entry requirements

The Song Hong Business Lounge is used as a contract lounge by many airlines, including Asiana Airlines, Bamboo Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Southern, EVA Air, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and Singapore Airlines. If you’re a premium passenger on one of these airlines, you can expect to receive an invitation.

On top of that, the lounge is open to Priority Pass members, as that membership comes with many premium credit cards.

Lastly, access to the lounge can be purchased online.

Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi seating & layout

The Song Hong Business Lounge consists of one large room that’s broken up into a few zones, with very high ceilings. The buffet area is in the center of the lounge, with seating scattered around it. As you enter, there are couches, dining tables that each seat two to four people, and communal counters with seats.

There are more tables and couches over by the windows, with amazing views of the apron.

Hi, Bamboo Airways Boeing 787 (though not the one that I’d be flying)!

The other side of the lounge has tons more seating, with some cool lampshade-like fixtures that add some personality to the lounge. It’s rare to see a contract lounge put so much effort into design, but I was very impressed here.

In the very back of the lounge there’s a bar area with some stools. There wasn’t anything on the bar, so I’m not sure if that was just because it was early in the morning, or if that’s not actually used nowadays.

The lounge has a few other amenities, including massage chairs, a business center, lockers for luggage storage, and a smoking room.

Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi food & drinks

During my visit, the Song Hong Business Lounge had an impressive selection of food and drinks. Most things were self-serve, aside from a staffed pho station.

As far as drinks go, there was a fridge with soda, water, beer, and milk, a soda fountain, several types of wine and liquor, filtered coffee, and an espresso machine (though that didn’t seem to be working).

When it comes to cold food options, there were packaged snacks, desserts, cereal, fruit, sushi, a salad bar, rolls, cold cuts, and more.

There was also an extensive selection of hot options, ranging from rice, to sausage, to chicken, to veggies, to pho.

Contract lounge food selections don’t get much more extensive than that, and most of the stuff actually looked pretty decent. Staff were constantly refreshing and cleaning the buffet, which was nice to see. There was clearly pride taken in what was being offered here.

Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi bathrooms & showers

The bathrooms at the Song Hong Business Lounge are like the Emirates A380 shower spa compared to the bathrooms in the sleep pods, where I spent the night. 😉

The bathroom had a couple of stalls and a few urinals.

There was also a shower room in the back of the bathroom. I’m not sure if they clean it between uses and it just wasn’t ready, or what exactly was going on, but there was a big pile of towels in it.

Bottom line

The Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi exceeded my expectations. I liked the lounge’s design, from the thoughtful decor, to the high ceilings, to the amazing views. On top of that, the lounge had a large selection of food and drinks. This is a pleasant place to spend some time before a flight.

What do you make of the Song Hong Business Lounge Hanoi?