Find Hotels in Muang Xai, Laos

the charming lao hotel is the best "budget" hotel in all my travels in southeast asia and especially laos - spotless, nicely designed and decorated modern structure in the heart of commercial oudomxai in northern laos. free wi-fi, complimentary breakfast, complimentary massage for one guest per room, beautiful garden/dining courtyard with good food and live music in the evening. the rooms are a standout especially for the price. the beds are exceptionally comfortable, the room spacious, mini bar, ultra modern bathroom. the views of the mountains surrounding the city are beautiful.

Arriving at the Xaysana hotels I was moved around between 1, 2 and 3 because the staff of each wanted to avoid the work of having an extra guest. The staff at 2 said that 3 should accept me because I had paid for wifi and they didn't have any. But 3 told me to go away because I had no booking. So I stayed at 2 but visited 3 in the evenings to get wifi. The staff at 3 were unfriendly to the point of never speaking to me, even to say Sabaidee. Before explaining any more, I should point out that these are Chinese, not Laos, hotels, and except for the manager, the staff have no Laos or English. The manager has a very small amount of English. The room was nice and comfortable. The bed was good and the linen was clean. The bathroom had a small water heater and a dirty toilet. The toilet seat was a mess of cigarette burns and other material. Although the rooms are non-smoking, most the guests probably couldn't read the signs in Lao and English. Or didn't care. Breakfast is included. But the first morning I got there at 10 minutes to 9 and almost all of the food was gone. There was stale bread and coffee, and those were taken away at 9am. The next morning I arrived earlier and asked if there were eggs or vegetables. The head of the kitchen staff rudely told me no, laughed and waved me away. The bread was even staler, so I just had coffee. Overall, I'd say that the rooms are ok, but everything else is a disaster unless you are a Chinese smoker who doesn't want wifi. 4/10 for the room and 1/10 for the service.

The hotel advises that English is spoken, but that wasn't evident to me. The same guy was on the front desk for the whole time I was there, and to be fair we were able to sort out what minor problems arose, but it would have been much easier in a common language. I thought the Sengalee was a bit far from the centre of town. Facilities were fine by Laos standards. The bathroom shower wasn't well positioned, so that every use of the toilet required walking through the shower area, which was wet after use.