Since this seems to be a general post on all things Golden Circle, I would like to know if anyone has seen any differences between licensed Shangri-La properties versus owned properties.

I hads never stayed at a Shangri-La until this year, but now I have spent >20 days in the past three months at the Taipei Far Eastern (licensed, as far as I can tell) with a stay at the S'pore Traders in between. I am not seeing anything special in Taipei but I just loved the Traders ^ .

The Far Eastern seems to confuse luxury to mean elegant inconvenience. In fact the weird little things at the Far Eastern are more annoying than anything else e.g. no pens - only pencils, a metal room key (but it acts like a key card), no alarm clock just that cheap "control" panel, etc. It is not as wacky as the Grand Hotel in Taipei, but it is close.

Is the Far Eastern comparable to owned Shangri-La hotels?