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Travel to Ho Chi Minh City

 
 

The Italian job

1 May 2019

Haute European design meets Dubai levels of bling at The Reverie Saigon, where luxury has no bounds

Occupying the top 12 floors of Sông Sài Gòn this five-star stalwart occupies one of the most coveted addresses in Ho Chi Minh City. Opulent and unapologetically flamboyant, the hotel’s no-expense-spared design comes to the fore in its seventh floor lobby, clad in the finest Italian and Bolivian marble.

Crystal egg chandeliers, a solid silver front desk and a 1,000 kilo Baldi clock, valued at a cool half a million dollars, all vie for attention. But the real conversation starter is the bespoke five-metre-long sofa by Colombostile, of Burj Al Arab fame. The luxe furniture brand, along with preeminent design houses like Roberta Giorgetti and Alfredo Colombo, have injected the 286-room property with molti Italian swag.

With 12 room categories, even its standard accommodation pulls out all the stops – boasting walk-in closets, complimentary mini bars and jazzed-up Japanese smart toilets. Its upper-floor corner rooms rival the Bitexco Financial Tower’s helipad bar for sweeping city vistas, thanks to wraparound windows. At the touch of a button, your television stylishly sinks into a console for an uninterrupted panorama, whilst textured wallpapers, velvet upholstered headboards and 400-thread-count linens feel as decadent as they look. Come nightfall, a sweet spot to soak up that skyline is the bathroom’s sunken tub, lathering up with the holy trinity of toiletries: Chopard, Hermès and Aqua di Parma.

On peeling oneself off the leather chaise lounge, synchronise your laps to the outdoor pool’s underwater sound system. Or, robe up and reboot at the 1,200-square-metre, two-level spa; decked in white marble, rose carpeting and hand-laid golden mosaic tiles. Its Himalayan salt-charged steam room and fusion massages are a soothing tonic to Ho Chi Minh City’s deliciously chaotic street life. The hotel even has a solution to the city’s throbbing traffic – a fleet of Mercedes-Benz S-Class (customised in ‘Reverie blue’), Bentley, and Rolls-Royce Phantom Dragons, ensuring la dolce vita is savoured right up to the airport terminal.

From the concierge

Curtain call
If artisanship makes you go weak at the knees, check into the Provasi Suite (one of four designer suites), featuring drapery by Rubelli, the fifth-generation Venetian company behind Bolshoi Theatre’s historic final curtain.

Shop up an Italian storm
The first three floors of Times Square Tower are dedicated to select furniture showrooms like Salda, Venini and Villari, enabling guests to literally take a piece of The Reverie Saigon home with them. Shop for those 400-thread-count Frette sheets, Poltrona Frau’s trunk-like saddle leather minibar, or the Presidential Suite’s iconic Chesterfield sofas.

In the neighbourhood

Colonial heritage
The Reverie’s District 1 location puts you in spitting distance of landmark sites like Reunification Palace, the city’s neo-classical Central Post Office and French Colonial Opera House. The hotel also straddles fashionable Dong Khoi Street, home to contemporary restaurant Vietnam House.

Words:Sarah Freeman
Images: Matthew Shaw

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