I paid us$35 for a room at the rear of the property after talking myself out of the $55 riverside rooms.
I would say that it was very overpriced for what i paid given other properties in the vicinity that were better at almost half the cost.
Whilst the hotel has a nice foyer and friendly staff and restaraunt i would say that i was almost dissapointed with my room as the shower felt like small drops of water and toilet did not flush properly and also had a flimsy lock on the door.

We were in transit to Luang Prabang and decided against advise to choose Inter City as a rest stop after a long and continuous journey from Singapore by air and train. Like an oyster, its nondescript industrial facade hid a beauty of sorts within its walls. We got transported into ancient Laos as we entered the hotel corridors that are carefully lined with magnificent antiques & crafts. We stayed on the 3rd floor overlooking Asia'a most romantic, Mekong River's sunset. The wooden floor room was cozy enough and fortunately the aircon works very well to counter the sunshine heat from our balcony. The hotel serves a marvelous steakhouse where we had our lunch & breakfast. But unless you're desperate to being upmarket, check out the night market strip just outside that serves great local dishes and other day time options as well as shopping. The service staff were friendly and we were always greeted with smiles. In highlight, we would like to give accolades to a hotel staff called "Deen". In that morning rush to catch a waiting bus at Northern terminal about 45 mins away we entirely forgot about our passports. When we got there and realized too late we panicked so bad but overcame that quickly when Deen approached us unexpectedly to return our passports. He got to the bus terminal earlier on his bike and was searching every passenger until he spot us! Thank You Deen, we are truly grateful. In summary, we have about everything to like about the hotel and the location that we would certainly recommend to our friends.

The hotel is located along the Mekong River which has good range of different bars and restaurants, as well as outdoor eateries. The lobby was tastefully decorated. The room was very clean and tidy, although the interior design could have been better. Overall good hotel for budget price.

After reading the reviews on here I booked a room and was looking forward to a relaxing weekend away with my wife. I paid extra for a supposedly bigger room with a river view.

The room was very small, but we did have a view of the river (which is nice at the moment as it is full of diggers and trucks taking all the sand & gravel away for construction projects.

The staff seemed lazy and didn't even direct us to the lift, let alone show us where our room was. The doors look very 'rustic', but are a pain to actually use as doors unless you're very thin and have no luggage. And to top it all, the hotel is located next door to one of Vientiane's major night spots, so I eventually drifted off to sleep enjoying the thumping bass lines and I awoke at about 4am to the sounds of an amplified acoustic guitar.

Back to the Mali Namphlu for me as this place would only appeal if it cost half as much.