Originally Posted by
uanj
I Like the Shangri-La Far Eastern. If you are into swimming, the rooftop pool is very, very nice. One of my favorites. But do check first they have re=opened it after the virus. Beautiful view of Taipei 101 from the rooftop, and much of the city. I find the buffets at the Regent are slightly better but the pool at the Shang is better. Personally I find the Regent staff polished and professional by at the Shang a bit more casual. They are both good, neither one terribly well situated for sight seeing. But you can make do easily from both A bit of a toss up for me. .
I'd definitely agree with your opinion on Regent staff. Having been a regular at Regent prior to the pandemic, I've always found Regent staff to be very polished, and almost like service you'd find at Japanese hotels (which makes sense given their significant Japanese clientele. Regent also has great views from either side of the hotel (one side viewing Taipei 101, and the other viewing Grand Hotel and Songshan Airport).
I'd also say that there isn't really an area in Taipei that has all the tourist places - it's all rather spread out, so it doesn't really matter where you stay - as long as there is access to the excellent metro or a taxi. SL's location is near Daan and a lot more residential + office(y), and the area near Taipei 101 (Hyatt, W, Le Meridien) is rather business-oriented as well - not much to see apart from the tower and Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. Regent's location is on Zhongshan and is a high-end neighbourhood with many high end shops and department stores - and very Japanese too (Hotel Okura, Hotel Royal Nikko are also located here). North of the river lies the iconic (and some say, haunted) Grand Hotel, which I'd say has a very impressive lobby and function space but terrible rooms. There's even less within the vicinity, although it's much closer to the very large and famous Shihlin Night Market (Night markets are definitely the go-to places in Taiwan!!).