My husband and I stayed at this hotel in June this year. As I always do, I reviewed hotels on TripAdvisor in order to decide where to stay. All reviews for Hanoi Elegance 2 were positive and I am writing to add to that. This hotel provides exceptional service. I think its listed as a 2 or 3 star hotel but know that as a patron here, you are treated to 5 star service from their staff. Prior to travelling to Vietnam I needed visas for there and for Cambodia. I was going to do the Cambodian e-visa online but couldn’t scan photo image. When we found ourselves in Beijing running out of time before leaving for Vietnam and still no visa, I thought we could either go to Vietnamese embassy in Beijing or ask hotel Hanoi for advice, I took a chance and emailed the hotel manager Mr Van Dam. He could not have been more helpful or attentive or reassuring. He said they would gladly arrange for the visas in timely fashion--we're talking about a week's time--and for a very reasonable fee. We gladly paid the fee and able to print out the visas to present at Hanoi airport. We had absolutely no problem. Once at hotel, the staff were extremely courteous, patient and ready to cater to our every request. Our friends had highly recommended we do ginger junk cruise on Halong bay and when I mentioned to Mr Van Dam prior to our arrival there if he could advise me on particular tour agency, he told me he could also arrange that--and the price was way better than any other website for these cruises. When we needed American dollars, they gladly provided the exchange for nominal fee but given how difficult it is to find American dollars in Asia, we were thrilled they could help us. Since my husband and I were travelling for 3 months and had lots of bags with us, the hotel held our bags for us while we went on cruise and upon our return, had our bags and room waiting for us. The breakfast is small and nothing to rave about; you're better off doing breakfast across the street at tamarind cafe which had fantastic meals. The hotel recommended Little Hanoi for great inexpensive and authentic meals and they were so right. By far, it was the most authentic tasty meals on our trip. The lake and its charming little cafes were nearby as were other tourist sites. The hotel rooms were pretty spacious, your basic toiletries were provided although I didn’t use them. While AC took a while to cool down the room, it made the room much more comfortable and a great escape from the searing heat outside. The 2nd hotel room they put us in had balcony facing the bustling noisy street. I thought noise would be issue at night but although its heavily congested street, at night time, the noise isn’t as bad and we were able to sleep well thru the night. I highly recommend this hotel to anyone staying in Hanoi.