Hotels in Vietnam hub pamper visiting APEC officials

As the o­nly three-star hotel selected to serve APESOM II delegates, the Bong Sen Hotel offers free swimming pool and sauna facilities as well as high-speed and wi-fi internet services to the guests.

They can also deal with their check-in formalities from their rooms instead of at the front desk.

“Since the APEC officials are very busy we have to prepare the best facilities to help them save their time,” Dao Phuong Dung, head of Bong Sen’s sales department, said.

The five-star Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel housed seven of the 21 visiting APEC ministers, Le Hoang Vu, assistant sales manager, said adding the hotel had installed a separate Internet line for them.

The hotel also made halal food for the Muslim guests and set aside a solemn and quiet place for them to pray.

The Majestic Hotel had prepared 45 rooms o­n three floors for APEC officials and focused o­n their security, hotel deputy director Le Dung said.

The hotels have also been instructed to supply 2,000 maps featuring shopping places and 2,000 leaflets o­n restaurants and places serving food specialties.

The visitors will be served food without pork or pork fat as a consideration to Muslim delegates.

The Bong Sen Hotel has three chefs who were trained in Malaysia ahead of the 2003 SEA Games.

The international cooks at Park Hyatt are also trained in making Muslim-style meals.

The Rex Hotel will have more than 40 cooks preparing for the banquet at the Reunification Palace to serve 300 diners.

The Majestic Hotel also has a program to teach wives of visiting officials how to make Vietnamese food like banh nam (steamed rice cake with shrimp paste), cha gio (spring rolls), and goi (salads).

It will hold an Asian Food Program with focus o­n Vietnamese specialties for its guests o­n Thursday.