Introduction Hello, I thought I'd just share a quick review of the reasonably new InterContinental Kaohsiung in Taiwan, which does not appear to have been covered much on FT. But just some background:Since our flight departed from Kaohsiung, we decided to spend a couple of nights there, having not properly visited the city in nearly a decade. Obviously, the hospitality scene has changed a lot, with the recent openings of a few big names: IHG with InterContinental and Hotel Indigo, a Marriott, as well as the Silks Place (operated by the owners of Regent Taipei), among others.The choice narrowed down between the IC and the highly-regarded Silks Club. But having stayed at another Silks hotel during this trip, I decided to check out the IC, which apparently was a big deal when it opened in Kaohsiung. Check In and Location We took a taxi from the Shin Zuoying Station, which lies on the outskirts of the city and remains the sole high-speed rail connection to the rest of the island. Having not been in Kaohsiung in a long time, I was surprised by how quiet the city looked compared to other large cities in Taiwan. In fact, the area surrounding the hotel (the Sanduo Shopping District, which supposedly lies in the city centre), was largely devoid of any pedestrians barring 2 or 3 people. There are two department stores nearby (Sogo and Mitsukoshi) along with a shopping mall nearby, as well as a small street-side night market, all of which were likewise very quiet during our weekend visit.The hotel itself is located in the lower part of a residential skyscraper, which was surprisingly not marketed as an InterContinental branded residence.InterContinental Kaohsiung FacadeWe pulled up at the hotel after a ~30-minute ride, and a hotel associate went and took our luggage. After handing our luggage tags, we were directed to the check-in desk. When we checked in, it felt like there was a language barrier which made the entire interaction feel rather indifferent. In spite of that, I appreciated that we were assigned a room immediately (we arrived at ~13.00), unlike other hotels during our trip, in which we had to wait close to the check-in time. InterContinental Kaohsiung Lobby Room RoomThe hotel is relatively new, and so everything still had that new room smell. I was initially quite impressed by the spaciousness of the room, especially for an InterContinental. However, that positive feeling quickly vanished when it stood out to me how hot the room was. The issues lies with the air conditioner system, which appears to be kept at 25 degrees by default whenever the room is unoccupied. Any heat from sunlight was theoretically repelled by the automatically closing black-out blinds (whenever the room is unoccupied), yet the room felt a lot like a greenhouse whenever we entered. In fact, it had to take the whole night for the room to completely cool.I can't imagine how hot it would be in summer.Premium RoomPremium RoomI thought that the room itself looked rather drab for a new hotel, likely due to the excessive use of grey. I’m not sure if it is deliberate, but the wallpaper by the bed looks as if it were installed very poorly (notice the swollen bits). What I really disliked about the room though, was the complete lack of storage. There are two minuscule drawers within each bedstand (one of which already occupied by a flashlight), and one small table by the sofa which acts like a desk. The low headboards also made it difficult to sit on the bed comfortably, and the placement of the television meant it was difficult to watch it from the sofa. Mini BarFacemasks and various sanitising gels were placed in the room, which I thought is a nice touch. There was also a Chinese tea set, along with some traditional teas, which is a very nice cultural addition in a hotel that otherwise didn't evoke any Taiwanese culture or style.There are a lot of name-brand amenities in the room, such as a Dyson hairdryer and a Smeg kettle, among other things; this was complemented by a lot of leather soft furnishing (like mug coasters and catalogue covers). Additionally, I suppose the hotel must have had a history of guests stealing things since there are not just one, buttwo lists of prices for various non-consumable objects in the room—one in the room information catalogue and the other on the last page of the minibar catalogue. It details the prices of everything, from things like pillows, towels, bathrobes, and the Byredo bath amenities, to everything else not built into the room, like every leather-clad item and all electronics. These lists, to begin with, do seem to be a bit in poor taste, reminiscent of low and midscale hotels.Bathroom The bathroom area takes about half the size of the room, which made it spacious in itself. It is laid out in the traditional Japanese manner, in which the toilet is contained in its own area, separated from the bath.ToiletRight next to it is the entrance and the relatively small closet/luggage rack combination.The bathroom itself looked impressive at first, but it soon became obvious that the room itself built with materials that aren't lasting. The bathroom, which looked like a full marble bathroom in pictures, is actually clad in what seemed to be marble-patterned printed layers of plastic-like material. While I didn't mind the increasingly popular wood-textured vinyl flooring of the room, the fake marble look of the bathroom certainly made it feel very cheap.The amenities came in large, refillable Byredo Blanche bottles, which I only learnt is the new standard for InterContinental. Frankly, I was not fond of its waxy, almost synthetic smell and very much favoured the refreshing smell of the past Agraria Lemon Verbena amenities. I did very much like that the towels are still very soft and fluffy. BathroomBathroom Dining Our rate included breakfast, which is served from 06.30 - 10.30 each morning at the SEEDS Restaurant just by the reception. The restaurant has a rather long and narrow layout, accessible from the lobby bar. The staff here seemed very professional and friendly, contrasting the staff elsewhere in the hotel. The food spread too was great, featuring a live kitchen, a hot-food buffet spread, and a variety of viennoiserie and cold items. It was a nice mix of local dishes and international choices and was of high quality. Very good. SEEDS BreakfastSEEDS Breakfast​​​​​​​SEEDS Restaurant Service I felt the service at most areas of the hotel to be rather indifferent, at best. Service was neither proactive nor actively hostile for the most part (which I think is rather sad for an upscale brand like InterContinental)… and feels at best like a run-of-the-mill Marriott in the US. The service was definitely reactive rather than proactive, which I guess should be the expectation from an upscale but non-luxury hotel brand like IC.While I acknowledge there is a language barrier, I feel this is not something I would easily ignore in a Western chain hotel, particularly not in a hotel marketing itself with a motto like, 'Live the InterContinental Life'.One exception to the indifferent service would be the SEEDS Restaurant, which had some of the friendliest and most proactive people in the hotel, and actually spoke good English. Amenities The hotel has a pool and gymnasium which was located in a distinct part of the hotel, requiring one to take two different lifts (first, by going to the guestroom level 6, before walking to the end of the hallway and taking another lift down a few levels). As soon as I entered, I was requested my room number. That did strike me to be quite interesting since a non-guest would have issues going there anyways (given that all lifts require a keycard to operate). I asked to see the pool and was pointed to go past a door on one end of the gym/spa reception. The door led to a changing room with lockers, showers, and rubber slippers. Behind it was the uninspiring indoor pool.PoolThe ceilings were rather low and that made the area rather claustrophobic and the dark theme of the pool area didn't help. I didn't get to see much of the pool before being stopped and verbally rebuked for wearing my shoes to the pool area. This really caught me off-guard as I was not informed of the requirement at the gym/spa reception, nor was there any signage about it. Again, this might have been another issue with a language barrier, but the tone and the way I was reprimanded for this small issue did make me feel unwelcome and disappointed. Overall Overall, between the mostly indifferent staff and the hot, poorly designed room, I didn't have a good stay at this hotel. I know that InterContinental is not a luxury brand, but even with my toned-down expectations, I just felt the stay to be rather disappointing—especially for a relatively new hotel that has been open long enough to work out its kinks. If I had the need to come back to Kaohsiung, I'd probably elect to stay at the Silks Club just round the block instead.