Azerai La Residence, Hue has landed a coveted spot on Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2022, earning the No. 4 ranking in Southeast Asia and emerging as the only hotel in Vietnam to be recognized on the closely watched “best-of” list.
Now in its 35th year, the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry.
“Our selection as the No. 1 hotel in Vietnam by readers of the US-based travel magazine reinforces to us that our warm and personalized service, unique sense of style and place, and range of immersive local experiences do what the best travel does: they create extraordinary moments,” said Phan Trong Minh, the General Manager of Azerai La Residence, Hue.
The 90-year-old Azerai La Residence, Hue offers sophisticated accommodation in 122 guest rooms and suites set amid a timelessly stylish art deco design. The colonial mansion at the heart of the hotel was built in 1930 as part of the residence of the French Resident Superieur. The mansion’s distinctive façade, its long horizontal lines and nautical flourishes are hallmarks of the streamline moderne school of art deco architecture.
“The same nautical moderne architecture that makes the villa so charming is reprised in the two modern wings, which were added during a thorough yet sensitive renovation of the original building so that the place is pure Indochine,” the editors of the magazine wrote.
The hotel, with 200 meters of frontage on the fabled Perfume River, is surrounded by rich history and abundant natural beauty in central Vietnam.
Earlier this year, Azerai unveiled a menu comprising more than 40 new and thoughtfully redefined experiences including unique local culinary activities and excursions that explore historical sites from the Nguyen Dynasty, which ruled from 1802 to 1945. Just across the river from the hotel—and visible from guest room balconies and the riverfront swimming pool and garden—are the iconic Hue flagpole and Imperial Citadel.
The editors of Condé Nast Traveler wrote that international travel is again on an upswing following pandemic-related closures, with Asia particularly in focus among travelers who are “drawn by the allure of the melting pot of destinations and lavish hotels that await.”
“Despite the setbacks and the delays and just a little bit of trepidation, 2022 was the year we really embraced travel again after pretty much two years of enforced abstinence,” the editors wrote. “And from the responses to the questionnaire that accompanied our Readers’ Choice survey … it’s clear that (travelers are) intent on making up for lost time.”