Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 8 Sep 1992 10:11:56 -0400
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS/VN: Hanoi Metropole

09/06

Hanoi Metropole

Copyright, 1992. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By DENIS D. GRAY
 Associated Press Writer
   HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- In colonial days, dashing French officers dined at the
Metropole. During the years of war and privation, Soviet commissars drank vodka
at its decrepit bar while attendants chased the rats away.
   Now, the rejuvenated hotel hums with talk of joint ventures and credit risks
by Western and Asian businessmen savoring the first oasis of luxury in one of
the world's last communist capitals.
   Some old Hanoi hands may be disappointed. Gone is the atmosphere that,
despite a creeping seediness, reminded them of the Metropole's colonial heyday.
   The original exterior remains, the dark wooden floors were retained in the
109 rooms and pedaled trishaw taxis still wait outside instead of limousines,
but the interior exhibits little tradition or distinction.
   What a 15-month, $11 million renovation program created inside the Metropole
is an international luxury hotel that could be anywhere. It has the standard
furnishings of such an establishment, in-house videos, air conditioning that
works and the customary prices.
   At $140 to $270, the daily room rate is roughly equivalent to the annual
income of an average Vietnamese.
   When the Metropole was built in 1911, the French were masters of Vietnam and
the rest of Indochina. It ranked among the best hostelries in Asia during the
1940s and early 1950s.
   In 1954, communist forces defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu. It was the
death knell for the colonials, and nearly for the Metropole.
   Communist economics and the war with the United States took their toll. In
1975, the Metropole was renamed the Thong Nhat, or Reunification, to honor the
reunion of North and South Vietnam after the communist victory.
   The recent rechristening as the Hotel Pullman Metropole caused one Vietnamese
journalist to wonder in print whether the name change indicated the country
would fall prey to colonialism once again.
   The Metropole's rebirth in March resulted from a joint venture between Hanoi
Tourism, a state-run enterprise, and a French consortium. A 15-year management
contract went to Accor Group, the giant French hotel and service conglomerate.
   "We were booked solid from day one," said Patrick Fournier, the hotel's
marketing director. "There's no competition."
   Foreign businessmen fill about 80 percent of the hotel's rooms on any given
day, with the French and Japanese leading the list.
   Nightly, they meet in the hotel's Le Club bar, which has become Hanoi's "in"
place for making deals after hours. The adjacent restaurant features French food
prepared by a French chef.
   Hanoi has only a few hotels, unlike Ho Chi Minh City, where several were
built when it was called Saigon and served as the capital of South Vietnam. In
Hanoi, only the Metropole is in the four-star category.
   More foreigners are taking advantage of Vietnam's new "open door" economic
policies, and tourism is increasing. Air France, Thai Airways International,
Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa and other major airlines either fly to
Hanoi or plan to do so.
   In October, the Metropole plans to begin work on a 140-room extension
designed in the same style as the original hotel.
   Fournier said his company has good relations with its Vietnamese partners,
who give Accor a free hand in running the hotel while they deal with the
elephantine, sometimes corrupt, bureaucracy.
   Following a practice that irks many foreign businessmen, the Vietnamese chose
the hotel staff, presenting 1,000 candidates from whom the management chose 250.
   Businessmen say the practice allows Communist Party security services to
investigate those who will work for foreigners, and enables influential people
to slip their friends and relatives into relatively lucrative jobs.
   The Metropole chose a young staff rather than holdovers from the old days of
strict socialism. The service is pleasant, but not always efficient.
   "Older hotel employes had bad habits, like spitting and sleeping on the job,"
Fournier said.
   "At first it was hard to get across the idea that the guest comes first, and
some of our recruits left. The staff we have now may make some mistakes, but
guests know they are new and forgive them when they smile."
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