Originally Posted by taipeipeter

Here are some observations on 3 hotels. I didn’t stay overnight at these hotels, but got a good look at them and their rooms--roughly one level above entrance-level rooms. My husband’s mother has been coming to Taipei for medical treatments, and they been staying overnight at these hotels.

I also have a comment on the hotel restaurants, which are generally a serious part of the restaurant scene in Taipei, though you would never want to limit yourself to them.

W
good:
-101 views
-bar-pool area (but weather dependent)
-gym decent; pool decent but weird to swim laps when surrounded by the cocktailing masses

bad:
-generally cheap furnishings; OK for now but already beginning to wear out and will collapse in a couple of years (carpets, desks, chairs)
-toiletries: perhaps a one-off, but stiff and evidently expired toothpaste and shampoo.
-room air-con seems to turn off when you leave—room stuffy every time we returned

restaurant:
possibly the worst in Taipei. expected high prices and small portions and not disappointed, in fact the approach of getting a little for a lot is raised to new heights here. With Cantonese, I also expect heavy flavors—but here sauced to beyond what any normal taste buds could handle. Really awful at any price. Something as simple as sliced roast duck turns out liverish, and I won’t even go into the most awful dishes. Also, service was slow (which could have been the kitchen’s fault) and unprofessional.

in sum: if you want to try W Taipei, go soon and eat out

Le Meridien
good:
-room furnishing up to basic luxury standards, sense of roominess
-bathroom solid, tub tv
-big gym; and pool pretty good

bad:
-lobby is cold marble which also makes it very loud. more like a fancy office building than a hotel where you might want to sit and wait for someone.
few if any rooms have views
-gym (not just pool) closes at 11. This idiocy is just unacceptable to international travelers, and was also bad for my husband in this specific instance.

restaurant:
really not bad at all. some mildly innovative dishes and solid if loosely-defined Cantonese dishes. Returning to Taipei after several nights of banqueting in Hong Kong, I still enjoyed it.

in sum
nothing to swan about but distinctly OK; I preferred it to W.


Shangri-la Far Eastern
good:
-ambience: well, nothing could be more subjective, but the lobby feels like a real hotel lobby—of course, because this is a much older hotel. It has comfortable places to sit to wait for your business associate, date, or grandmother, or vice versa, plus a quiet place for a drink. The olde oak style extends to the rooms, which has a calming effect, at least on me.
-older but very clean
-high ceilings
-views are east toward 101 and north up Dunhua Avenue, both nice enough

neutral:
-gym was quite good: not huge, but a sufficiency of machines and weights; marimba musak a bit annoying. also…still closes at 11. changing room (men’s) was too, too cramped-making (sorry, I’ve been reading Waugh)

bad:
-instant coffee; no nespresso/nespresso-like machine in the room
-pool: 7th floor pool is small, round, and full of children—lap swimming isn’t very practical, even when there wouldn’t be children around. I was told that the roof-top pool, now closed for refurbishing, is the same size and style.
-not exactly the most happening neighborhood

very bad:
-curtains couldn’t close the whole way, letting in morning light. They did fix it the next day and offered a late check-out.

restaurant: only had breakfasts here; quite a decent spread, though nothing really outstanding, American/ Continental/ Chinese

…In sum, if the location works for you & you don't need to swim laps, I would seriously consider


Note on the not-yet-open Mandarin Oriental
From the outside, it could be a slightly Italianate Victorian public building found in any European city in the 19th century. The architect C.Y. Lee, who has done so much to uglify Taipei and other cities and campuses throughout Taiwan, has kitsch’ed it up again. Usually, he adds some painfully obvious and superfluous “Chinese” style (or 2 or 3 such elements) on top of an otherwise unremarkable but invariably ponderous building. This time he seems to have been content with incredibly busy lines to create a vision of fussiness amid the boring office towers of this (admittedly convenient) neighborhood.

Do I fulminate? Well, then, I fulminate. Couldn’t the MO have found one of Taiwan’s several younger architects who actually possess a sense of style? Lee’s other talent is to build cavernous and cold lobbies in which no one wishes to linger. Perhaps the MO’s insides will be more comfortable.


Conclusion:
Probably the best bet for most people remains the Grand Hyatt, after it reopens 22 August, but the hotels above do have their points even if all are flawed