SELENE
The previous article covered the hotel; this one is only about its lounge. On the same five-day Ha Long Bay trip we sat in the Club Lounge twice, once in the afternoon and once in the evening. In November 2025 the resort had been open barely four months, and to my eye the lounge was the most finished part of the whole property.
The Space: A Wall of Glass Above the Bay
The lounge takes a whole wall of floor-to-ceiling glass on a high floor: a communal table with turquoise chairs, a bar island that always carries fruit, and a row of two-person round tables along the windows. Afternoon light bounces off the water into the room, and the space needs no further decoration — the karst islets outside are the wall art.
Afternoon Tea: Two Three-Tier Stands
Afternoon tea arrives as two three-tier stands at once: macarons and petit cakes on top, seafood and beef savouries in the middle, scones below — including a charcoal-black one. It is generous for two; we took it slowly with white wine while the light outside turned from white to gold.
The Evening Buffet: Small, but Every Station Tidy
In the evening the lounge switches to a buffet: the dessert station leads, the cold station carries cheese, cold cuts and salads, and at the far end a whole ham leg stands with bread and olives. Hot dishes come out on long plates — skewers, big prawns and beef — just right with white wine. The selection is not large, but every station is kept immaculate, which is rarer at a buffet than it should be.
Judged on its own, the lounge gets 90: not dazzling, but steady and complete. I gave the hotel itself 93 — that was the resort in its opening days. I hope the lounge's composure outlasts the rest.
