Hôtel de l'Opéra Hanoi

The Hotel

Hôtel de l'Opéra opened on 9 December 2011 as Accor's MGallery flagship in Indochina — the contemporary-but-period-styled boutique that completed the Opera-House five-star cluster (Metropole, future Capella, l'Opéra) on the diagonal of central Hanoi between Ngo Quyen Street and Ly Thuong Kiet Street. The architectural commission was Singapore practice WATG with interior architecture by Hong Kong-based Joseph Pang Design Consultants; the brief was for a contemporary-build that read as Belle-Époque-restored — and the result is a successful theatrical staging of the period without the maintenance burden of an actual heritage building. The lobby reads as an early-1900s opera-house antechamber: red-velvet drapes, antique chandeliers, painted-ceiling motifs, and a deliberate decorative-camp register at odds with both the Metropole's authentic heritage and the Capella's Bensley maximalism.

The 107 rooms — including 14 suites — are arranged across the building's 12 floors, with the principal architectural decision being the strict period-decoration in every category. Standard "Classic" rooms at 28 square metres are smaller than the Metropole or Capella standard tiers but include the full theatrical decorative treatment; Premier categories at 38 square metres add a sitting area; the Diva Suite at 65 square metres is the milestone unit, with a free-standing bath in the bedroom and an Opera-House line of sight from the upper floors. Bathrooms are travertine; bath products are Cinq Mondes, MGallery's signature.

Café Lautrec is the named all-day brasserie — a deliberately-themed Belle-Époque French café operating on the ground floor, with a contemporary Vietnamese-French register and a service decoration that includes period-costumed wait staff. The Cigar Lounge runs the after-dinner programme on the lobby mezzanine; The Bar handles the cocktail and aperitivo register. The Le Spa programme runs four treatment rooms; the indoor heated pool is on the basement level, smaller than the Metropole's outdoor courtyard pool but year-round-operational. The 24-hour fitness centre is on the lower-ground level.

The Trang Tien position is the booking proposition. From the front door it is 90 seconds to the Hanoi Opera House, two minutes to Sofitel Metropole, two minutes to Capella, three minutes to Hoan Kiem Lake, six minutes to the Old Quarter, and twelve minutes by car to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The price tier sits below both the Metropole and Capella by approximately 30-40% per category; for travellers wanting the central Opera-House address with the period-decoration register but without the heritage-grand-hotel or Bensley-design premium, this is the right boutique answer at the four-star-plus tier.

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