we were recently in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. In Viantiane, we stayed at the Riverside Hotel and were not impressed. We paid $25/night for the VIP room. The walls of the room and headboard had a lot of grimy hand prints on them and the formerly white towels were badly discolored and threadbare. I would not stay there again. so this is more of a "place to avoid" note. *i should mention that the only VIP thing about the room was the Very Impressive Pressure (water and from the concierge).

in luang prabang we stayed at My Lao Home (v. close to the river) for $35/night and it was very nice. The room was on the small side, but it looked clean and included breakfast. we did not have an opportunity to look for hotels/guesthouses much because we were there for pii mai and most of the rooms were booked. i am certain that if you looked around, you could find something comparable for what we got for much less.

i don't think you need to book ahead in Luang Prabang at this time. you should go, walk around town (small to go on foot), find a suitable place and stay there. i hope you have a great time! we did.

Hi Folks
I have moved this into the Laos forums.

regards
Anthony