In Ho-Chi-Minh I booked the Ibis at Saigon Airport, and the free shuttle was waiting for me when I came through to Arrivals. It’s so close you could walk there in about 10 minutes if you only had hand luggage like me, but they insisted on providing it so I felt obliged to take it. I paid for a Deluxe Suite, all of which are on the top (15th) floor. I emailed the hotel to ask for an airport facing room and even getting to the hotel at 9.45am, it was ready and waiting. £46 a night for two nights. Studio King 1211
Spotting from the room is easy as you have a panoramic view of about half the airfield, but nowhere near as interesting as BKK. The two main players in Vietnam now are Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet - who have a way bigger presence on the aviation scene there than I knew about. By the end of the first day in SGN it was obvious that (a) a lot of aircraft are based in Hanoi and weren’t going to visit SGN anytime soon & (b) a lot of both airlines' Airbus narrow bodies are stored (in SGN & HAN)
Spotting is best from the Ibis Hotel just across the road from the terminals, but new ramps mean stored stuff is out of sight. This is a photo taken with a 400mm lens… Sadly windows in the room were locked with a key, which meant the SBS aerial had to stay inside and this meant aircraft would only appear on the box around 2500ft inbound. FR24 works though, but doesn’t include reg’s until the flight is underway, so no way of now future flights if you’re chasing a particular frame.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/h91HwQVADSyG6xRe8
Credit Dave Broome