Tet. Among the foreign community in Vietnam, the word summons a range of emotions that run from ‘the wonder of it all’ to downright fear and loathing.

For upscale hoteliers, the emotional response is even more complicated as they struggle to meet the demands of staff who drift from work days and weeks in advance of the holiday itself to the demands of guests who expect the same caliber of service, no matter the holiday.

Some hoteliers, like many expats, flee the country at Tet, steering for the likes of Bali and Thailand where the beach beckons. Others give in to the doldrums of a holiday that recreates the character of a Vietnamese city. Gone is the rampant go pace of life as usual and here in its place are flowers, friends and license to indulge.

“The indulging can be tough,” said Anthony Gill, General Manager of La Residence Hotel & Spa in Hue. “As a courtesy, one doesn’t want to decline a friend’s hospitality, but as a practical matter, we all have to get up the next day for work.”

And therein lies the rub. Here is the elephant in the room. If you’re male, and a foreigner, the peer pressure to mot-hai-ba-yo at Tet can be relentless. Others feign liver problems as a hedge against the inevitable demands to drink.

“I frequently suffer a relapse of the Hepatitis A I picked up in Hue in 1993,” said Jim Sullivan, managing director of Mandarin Media.

Once you move past the elephant, however, the season of Tet can be a marvelous experience. The jasmine-scented air. The glow of kumquats hung from their boughs like bulbs. The preternaturally vivid colors of cherry blossoms. And the general bonhomie of people who really do try to scrub the grime of the year from themselves and offer up a bright new version of themselves.

 “Our resort definitely takes on a little bit different look and feel during Tet,” said Albert Lafuente, director of sales and marketing of The Nam Hai in Hoi An. “We especially like to decorate the dining areas, the open lounge and the Kids Club, which as you can imagine is very popular during Tet among our younger guests.”

Because Tet is so rooted in family traditions, and home, hotels generally watch their Vietnamese clientele base wither during Tet. Vietnamese who fly in from abroad tend to put up with family, not the likes of the Metropole and the Caravelle.

 “We’re really busy at Tet,” said Gill. “Despite the sometimes gloomy weather, January and February are the high season for international travelers. Some of our guests are quite well versed in traditions of Tet. Others wonder why all the shops are closed day after day.”

This Tet will be Gill’s fifth in the country. He loves the sense of community that enlivens the season, loves to dole out the li xi (lucky money), and loves his first memory of a Tet in Vietnam when he and his wife had dinner with singer Ho Ngoc Ha in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Ms. Ha’s celebrity seemed to add some luster to the spirit of the holiday, and that luster’s never really dimmed for me,” he said.

Lafuente, on the other hand, revels more in the holiday's similarities to the ones he grew up celebrating most in the Philippines: Christmas and New Year's. Spending time with relatives. Exchanging gifts. Indulging in dishes typically reserved for one time of year. Those sorts of things.

“I find such traditions heartwarming,” said Lafuente, who is gearing up for his third Tet. “They enable me to feel a little closer to home.”