Emerald Ho Tram Resort

Hotel with good location, nice beach, new building but no bus shuttle from ho chi minh city center.

It may have just been the time we chose, but the resort was FULL of children. And unfortunately parents were doing nothing about them running around and screaming: in the restaurant (one kid was so close playing tag he knocked cutlery off our table), in the early morning up and down the halls, and at night. Not the resorts fault, I just wished they could do something when parents clearly wouldn’t. Unfortunately it’s also some distance from anything to do in Ho Tram other than the Pier. And with no viable self-drive option (reception told me they have no hire scooters), you’re left relying on taxis. But there’s not much to do in this area anyway. We strolled the nearby town market and were legitimately stared at and pointed at, as westerners. Would be fine to just stay at the resort except for the children issue, and that the delivery against their menu wasn’t great. The food quality of Vietnamese dishes was quite poor, compared with everywhere else we went.

Overall the resort was lovely however the staff (excluding reception) have almost zero English and there was a huge group team building activity there so the entire resort was overrun with kids and loud families. People yelling in the hallways at 5:30am walking around, the pool was chaotic at all times and the buffet was a night mare due to the pushy people.  There is nothing to do during the day if you can’t use the pool to relax (see above for unruly kids and families) and even trying to get some quiet time in the lobby was impossible with kids jumping on couches and no parents stepping in. As I sat in the massage chair I was hit with a ball… inside! We cut our trip short as Google said that there were markets and night markets in Ho Tram Township but there was nothing except the local market which we visited but found to be more suited to locals only.  The township was too far away to head in for local food options also, so we were forced to order room service. The mini mart on site also didn’t stock bottled water which was odd.  We would have stayed if we could have found quiet spaces at the pool and if there was better room service options but the large group booking over running the entire place made relaxation impossible. The staff were lovely, it just wasn’t what we were expecting.

Very peaceful, such a good getaway place. Food is really good.

10/10 for the room with ocean view, breakfast, areas, staffs and services. What could be added is Netflix on TV. Highly recommend.