milfweed20

Hey guys,

Will be visiting Taipei for the first time in September and would like to hear what are your thoughts regarding the Shangri La from a tourist standpoint. I will be there for 2 days, and would like to be centrally located in order to be able to visit as much as possible during the 2 days. Would also like to hear your opinions regarding the service.

yellowmamba

It's been around for a while and some parts of the hotel is showing age. We head down to Tainan often and prefer the Silks Place instead.

Edit: woops I apologize, thought you were asking in regards to the far eastern plaza in Tainan.

strife

I stayed at the Shangri-La Taipei in a Plaza Suite last year. I have no status in the loyalty program. My stay was only for one night so I cannot speak too much as far as the service, although a sizable fresh fruit spread along with a few snacks were waiting in the room as a welcome amenity. I did like the hard product which is certainly at luxury levels. The suite had a spectacular view of Taipei 101 (but be aware, not all Plaza Suites do - more on this below) and I prefer this more-distant view to the view from closer hotels such as, say, the W in Xinyi.

Location would be my primary concern for a first-time tourist visitor. Location is not good for MRT access as it is halfway between stops on the slow Brown Line (about 10-12 minutes walk to the two nearest stations) so I would plan on taking taxis to most destinations. The Shangri-La itself is on top of a gigantic mall (the Far Eastern Plaza) and thus the vicinity might be considered somewhat sterile, although the mall does add convenience for groceries and the like. As long as you are OK with taking taxis everywhere, I would not worry too much about the location.

My only real gripe with the property is that they do not segment the Plaza Suites into those that have Taipei 101 view and those that do not. Even when I asked FD staff and suggested paying more to guarantee the view, I was told that only if a specific rate type is loaded will the view be guaranteed - but they do not load these rate types year-round. Only at specific times and special holidays (i.e., NYE) do they load them. It is crazy to me that they do not segment this room type, especially as they do so for other room types.

strife

OP is referring to the Shangri-La in Taipei - are your comments regarding the Taipei property or the one in Tainan? During my stay at the Taipei property, I thought the room condition was good and I did not notice any signs of aging or wear. I believe the property has been renovated within the last couple years.

milfweed20

Thank you very much for the detailed description. I don't mind taking taxis since I will be staying a short amount of time and from what I've researched the prices are very acceptable.

strife

Yes, taxi fares are very low in Taipei. From the Shangri-La to Taipei 101 for example should be under $4, pending traffic.

milfweed20

A little off-topic, but since you seem pretty knowledgeable about Taipei, I would really appreciate if you could name some must-sees during my 2 days there?

strife

I would recommend checking other threads on FT or tourist websites as what you will want to focus on is largely up to personal preference. I am a bit spoiled in terms of experiencing Taipei since I visit quite frequently, and two days is not a lot of time! In terms of tourist activities that are most distinctive, I would recommend the National Palace Museum, Taipei 101, and a sampling of Taiwan's many night markets. The choice of night markets will again depend on personal preference as they widely vary in size as well as tourist crowdedness.

Other possibilities include the CKS and Sun-Yat Sen memorial halls and the Taipei Botanical Garden. I am also a fan of Dongmen market for both food and shopping. The Taipei Zoo is also excellent (and very inexpensive) but probably a lower priority with your time constraints.

milfweed20

Thank you for the great info.

sinoflyer

Taipei resembles Tokyo (not a coincidence) in that the city layout doesn't have a definitive "center." Far Eastern Plaza is in the southern part of Taipei's traditional city proper and IMO is not ideally located for tourists, except for going to the zoo, Maokong tea estates, and Wulai hot springs area. National Palace Museum is in the far north part of the city and will be quite expensive to reach by taxi from Far Eastern Plaza. IMO a hotel like Regent Taipei is more centrally located for a wider array of activities, even though there isn't much to see in its immediate vicinity.

strife

I have stayed at the Regent and do not see it as being a superior tourist destination. Relative to the Shangri-La, it is only significantly closer to spots like Ximending and old Taipei and Shilin night market. The Far Eastern Plaza is not my recommendation either for reasons I gave above, but at least it is much better located for travel to Xinyi area and the Taipei 101 and all the other tourist areas on the eastern side of Taipei. You are also quite overstating the additional cost of taxi to the National Palace Museum, as it is only a few kilometers difference - probably around US$3. I am fairly certain most tourists are not going to care much about the difference between a $9 and $12 fare.

The Shangri-La also has better hard product (the Regent is not bad, but I found many small design annoyances), and I did not think the service at the Regent was good.

Admiral Ackbar

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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. .

clubeurope

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!!).

gengar

I've actually found Regent service to be pretty abysmal especially given the very high price point, and this is pretty consistent dating back even to when the property was an FS nearly two decades ago. I only continued to stay there OPM as the coordinator for events I'm occasionally invited to has a relationship with the hotel and would put me up there during the events. But my last stay (~2017 IIRC) was so bad and with nonexistent management response that I refused to stay there even while attending those events. I typically stay at the W now, so it says a lot I'd rather pay my own way to stay at the W over staying OPM at the Regent (although to be fair, the W Taipei does have much better service than any other W I've been to). If anything, the service at the Regent is too Japanese.

Agree F&B at the Regent is excellent. I still usually visit for a buffet at least once every time I go to Taipei. Lan Ting, Silks, Milan Honke are all great and so is the traditional stuff at azie. But unless a guest can't leave the hotel at all, on-property F&B really shouldn't be a priority in Taipei.