HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — The Reverie Saigon, one of the world’s most eagerly anticipated new hotels, has set a date for its grand opening – September 1.
The 286-room property anchors the 39-storey Times Square building in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1. Featuring incomparable views of the storied city and the Saigon River, the latest addition to the Leading Hotels of the World portfolio is a study in unapologetic splendour.
While the exterior exudes sleek contemporary appeal, the interior is an exploration of Italian extravagance, from rooms and suites individually appointed by the finest Italian decorators to public spaces both dazzling and whimsical.
“With this hotel, we have tried to create an experience of accommodation that is so singular, so splendid and so unexpected in the one-time Pearl of the Orient that the hotel becomes a place that stays with guests long after they’ve checked-out,” said Herbert Laubichler-Pichler, the Austrian general manager (and vice president of operations for WMC Group) whose roots in Vietnam go back to 2008.
Seven years in the making, the hotel heralds the dawn of a new day in hospitality for Vietnam. Where previous debuts have sought reference to Vietnam’s colonial-era aesthetics and East Asian roots, The Reverie Saigon is a transcendent gesture that invokes dreamy contemplation of palaces and chateaus.
With furnishings that pander to aristocratic yearnings, linens of soaring thread count and walls of textured Italian silk, the rooms and suites take to the Saigon stage as the most expansive accommodation available in the city. Rooms range in size from 43 – 53 square metres (462 – 570 square feet) and the suites from 63 – 313 square metres (678 – 3,369 square feet).
Three of the hotel’s restaurants – The Royal Pavilion (Chinese), R&J (Italian) and Café Cardinal (French) – are destinations in their own right, each a captivating work of elegance, each driven by lofty culinary ambitions.
Another venue – The Long @ Times Square – is a ground-floor café with a 48-metre bar counter that vaults the distance between Dong Khoi Street and Nguyen Hue Boulevard, the city’s two most fashionable thoroughfares.
The Spa spans 1,200 square metres on two floors, with 10 treatment rooms, a beauty salon and designs to establish a reputation for itself as the most luxurious retreat in Vietnam.
The hotel’s 120-square-metre gym fulfills fitness buff fantasies, with an expansive suite of TechnoGym machines and inspiring views of the hotel’s 24-metre, sixth-floor pool. Outdoor Jacuzzis and indoor steam rooms and sauna round out the amenities for the recreationally inclined.
Additionally, Times Square building is home to The Reverie Residence – 89 one- and two-bedroom, full-service, extended-stay apartments whose residents will have their own separate entrance and private lounge.
Fifteen versatile function spaces round out the collective that has become a much sought-after destination in Vietnam, including the La Scala Grand Ballroom – the largest, pillar-less ballroom in the city and aptly named for its silk and onyx-lined walls and Swarovski crystal chandeliers.
The hotel’s location in downtown Ho Chi Minh City – or Saigon as it’s still commonly called – is as exquisitely placed as its interior appointments. The city’s historic Lam Son Square, City Hall and the banks of the Saigon River are within a five-minute walk while Notre Dame Cathedral, Reunification Palace and the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City all lie within a kilometer of the hotel.
