Chaluenxay Hotel

Choosing a hotel is a complex art. Issues like the stay’s length, the available budget, the daily amount of time to be spent in the room and the required facilities create an ever changing equation demanding a significant fortitude of spirit and some planning. In the mid-range of Vientiane’s hotels, the Chaleunxay is an excellent choice for short stays in town. Inconspicuously standing nearby the Morning Market, the Chaleunxay Hotel building is an almost new keepsake from a different era. It is hard to ignore the resemblance of this blocky structure – unusually big for Vientiane – to the massive rectangular buildings built in Eastern Europe during the Communist Era. A few concessions were done here to the Laotian culture surrounding it, but the message is clear: nowadays Laos is one of the counted Communist countries still left in the world.

The wide balconies seen from the street and the cavernous lobby create expectations which are not fulfilled once inside the room. Rather boxy and small, the rooms offer – nonetheless – one of the best deals in Vientiane. The air-conditioning was a must during the hot season and the hot water showers were an indispensable luxury which sometimes can be hard to find in this part of the world. The excessive furniture made it a bit difficult to move around the room, especially the armchair that ignored the room proportions. A telephone with IDD was featured, but the prices were not competitive with those of the VOIP services scattered around the town. A television and a small refrigerator completed the list of facilities.

The hotel offers also a restaurant, room-service, airport transfer, laundry and Lao massage services. Despite its name, the Lao Massage is strikingly similar to the traditional Thai one. The laundry service turned out to be fast and efficient and it was surprisingly given as a complimentary service. Located next to the lobby, the Chaleunxay Hotel restaurant serves Laotian and adapted Western dishes. Despite their efforts it would be almost impossible for them to compete against the astonishing restaurants in downtown Vientiane.

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