Friendly staff, good location, good service

I had recently a 1 night stay at this property for the first time.  Main reason to select this was the proximity to the metro system and the main station and of course to review the property compared to other Bonvoy hotels in Taipeh.

This property is huge with two towers (East and West).  It looks like it is one of the famous hotel as it was very busy during the whole period of my time - both in-house and outside guests.

The property is located quite close to Taipei Main Train/Transportation hub (I say this because here you can get different connections on different mode of transportation to quite a number of places within Taipei city and the country itself).  It is about 15 mins walking to the hotel from the the main station or a one stop metro on the Bannan Line (Blue) to Shandao temple and the hotel is just a 1 min walk away (although there are no lifts nor escalators, so if you have heavy/bulky items it could be an issue - climbing up 4-5 flights of steps).

Around the hotel there are a couple of shops and places for food and a semi-attraction, the Shandao temple.

I arrived late evening (around 6 pm) and although the lobby area was packed with people (some organized local tour groups coming to the hotel for the buffet), there was no one checking into the hotel.  

Initially the whole front desk area was empty as I approached it, but as soon as I was at the desk, within a couple of seconds, an associate was there to greet me and proceded with the check-in process.  I already saw in my app that I was upgraded to a Diplomatic Suite, which was very well appreciated.  I was given a run down of the benefits as an elite member and other facilities of the hotel.  Within 5 mins, I was given my key and was allocated a room in the East tower.  I was also asked if I needed any help with my luggage, which I declined.

The lifts to the rooms was a open one looking towards the main restaurant in the west wing - there were about 5-6 lifts available.  Using the lifts a few times, even with the number of guests, I did not feel that I needed to wait too long for it.

The room was located on the 15th floor (if I remember correctly the hotel highest level was up to floor 28).  As expected as a Suite, the size was quite large ( I would say it was equivalent to what is normally a Junior Suite size).  There was a separate living area with a bar/coffee/tea making area.  The coffee was Nespresso - not sure if this is only for higher category rooms or the norm.  In this living area, there was also a guest toilet.

The bedroom section itself was separated from the living room with a proper door.  The size of the bedroom was also reasonably big with a nice layout.  View was not the best though, it was towards the roofs of the next building, but good thing was that it was a side street which means basically no traffic noise.

All around the room, there were water bottles provided (if I remember correctly, close to 8 bottles of water placed at different locations in the room).  There was also a plate of welcome fruit (and my first - an accompanying information sheet describing the different local fruits found in Taiwan).  

There was a TV in both the living and the bed room - with a good selection of local and international channels.  Wifi in the room was fast and stable (I just had to login with my room number and last name - so not sure if it is was premium or normal speed).  The climate control was good and relatively silent (setting it to low fan mode was sufficient to maintain the temperature that I wanted).  Also what was good was the availability of international outlets.

Opposite of the bathroom was a sort of open walk-in type of wardrobe.

Bathroom area was quite large with a seprate bathtub and shower area.  Only minor improvement would be the size of the shower area which was actually quite small - I can imagine that it might be not the most comfortable for someone of size.  Water pressure and temperature control was good.  The toiletries seemed to differ to the lower category rooms, Heyland & Whittle (instead of Le Bain) - sounds like some British brand which I've not  come across before.  For me the Earl Grey range was pleasant to use.  As expected, there were lots of other amenities provided.  The toilet was in a separate enclosed area within the bathroom with a Japanese bidet function (greatly appreciated).

Sleep quality was very good with hardly any disturbance of noise and comfortable bedding.

All in all, the room was very well appointed and contrarily to other reviews that the room was outdated, I thought it was very well maintained without any clear sign of wear and tear.  

I was informed at check-in that as an Elite member, I could use the lounge located in the West wing which meant that I needed to go back down to the lobby area and transfer to the lifts on the West side.  

There was in the East tower also a lounge, but it was labelled as the Sheraton Taipei Lounge instead of the Sheraton Club Lounge - therefore am not sure what the differences between them.

There was a check upon entering the lounge located on the 17th floor in the West tower.  I was informed that for that evening, since it was busy, the only space available would be basically sharing tables with other guests.  I did ask how long the wait was if I did not want to share - and was told that they did not know and they would call me if I wished to wait.  I just took up the option of sharing the table since it did look like the whole area was quite choked up with people.  (This really brought me to reflect back on my experience at the St. Pancreas Renaissance London lounge - which was just so much more exclusive due to the limitation of use to higher level Elite members).  At the property I guess it is a mix of of 50-50 - eligible via the booking of a Executive Level room and via Elite status.

F&B options were good - with a number of cold/starters dishes, 5-6 different hot options and 3-4 different desserts - all a mix of Asian/Local and Western dishes.  For wine and beer options, they had quite a number of options.  Most interestingly for the beer options, they had a (to me) a special Taiwan Beer brewed with pineapples which I've never seen before in all my travels to Taiwan.  

Due to the crowd, dishes needed to be replenished quite often, and luckily it was done quite fast.  It was very obvious that the staff were working hard to keep up with the crowd in clearing dishes and making sure sufficient utensils were available for use.  

At this property, if your room does not include breakfast, as an Elite member, you can only take breakfast in the lounge (actually at Check-in, the associate did mention as an exception I could also take it at the main restaurant - which I declined).  During the breakfast hours, the lounge although still busy, was less crazy as the evening hours.  I found the selection to be quite good for a lounge - with the usual mix of Asian and Western options.  There was also an egg station.  

All in all, despite the crowded lounge, it was still ok - mainly if you are ok with sharing tables.  

I found the associates at the property on this short stay, from front desk to those in the lounge to be friendly and helpful.  

All in all, I was very satisfied with this property, from what I understand this is quite an old property, but I found it still very well up to standard.  Elite members are treated very well at this property, which is greatly appreciated.  If I need to be in the area again, I will not hesistate to come back to this property.

Too bad I did not have more time to check out the dining options at this property which boost to have a 1 Michelin star Cantonese restaurant and the pool/spa facilities.