eethan

What Hyatt lacks is a more moderate Hyatt in Taipei. Sometimes, you don't plan to spend much time in the room. You won't really use the lounge. You won't eat much breakfast (saving your appetite for restaurants outside). Then, why do you need to stay at a GH?

Now that the two SLH Taipei properties are leaving, I count only the GH left. (There is a Hyatt Place but in New Taipei.)

Hmm... if I don't need the Hyatt EQN, I will rather stay at the Regent or Kimpton (both of which cost noticeably less). Any Marriott suggestions?

zoneflyer

I just created a new thread, Episode Daan Taipei will open soon in May which is JdV brand and likely costing less than GH. Moderate option in Taipei and great location.

ChocolateFactory

I just stayed at the Kimpton and the GH.
Liked the location of the Kimpton, but it was otherwise not a great hotel. Very basic.
The GH was amazing.

168

Location
Descent Spa/sauna
Elephant Mountain hike and view
Food court in TPE 101 basement
Direct bus to airport (if you are not in a hurry)

iluvdoco

Please explain! Most of the posts on this thread seem to suggest the GH is merely mediocre?

ChocolateFactory

Yeah, I didn’t get that at all.
The location is great, next to Taipei 101, there’s a direct bus to the airport in front of the hotel and it costs just $5 or so vs. $50 for a taxi. (I ended up taking a taxi anyway because the bus only departs once per hour though.)

Service was excellent and the staff spoke very good English. They have great restaurants - I was extremely frustrated since there seem to be almost no nice restaurants in Taiwan. The Taiwanese simply don’t seem to care about atmosphere. Granted, the food is good, but I would prefer eating somewhere else than a mall basement, and a tablecloth would be nice.
They had a buffet one evening and it was wonderful. Lots of different food options.

The club lounge was great, too. I had read so much about screaming and running kids in the lounge, but it was super nice when we were there at least (not during the weekend).
Large gym - it was a bit crowded, but that was just because they tried to offer as much equipment as possible in the space they had, which I appreciate.

I really don’t have anything bad to say about the hotel. Even my travel companion, who doesn’t like dated hotels, liked it a lot.

Seriously, just stay there. I highly doubt there are better hotels in Taiwan.

SP03

You lost me when you said there aren’t many nice restaurants in Taipei. There’s a Michelin guide in Taiwan. And there are 35 restaurants with stars in Taipei.

ChocolateFactory

Read my comment again - the food is good. The atmosphere absolutely sucks by Western standard (unless you like the atmosphere of a food court or high school cafeteria). Except when go for fine dining maybe. The Michelin guide also only rates the quality of the food, not the atmosphere.
There are almost no mid-level restaurants with a quiet, nice atmosphere and/or nice view. This was also confirmed by the GH concierge as well as friends living in Taiwan. According to them, the Taiwanese care about the food, not about the atmosphere.

eethan

I have heard it said that:

Japanese food is about presentation
Korean food is about quantity
Chinese/Taiwanese food is about taste

WaterBottle18

Stayed here for 5 nights in early April (including on the day of the Hualien earthquake ) and really enjoyed my stay (even with the earthquake)! Applied a SUA to get a Grand Suite King - large master bathroom, 1.5 bath, but no dual vanity unfortunately. Nice soaking tub and large comfortable shower. Didn't get any additional upgrade as a Globalist, but it looked like the hotel was fully sold out, which seems to be the norm in peak season. I was really hoping for a 101 view, but you'll get plenty of 101 views when walking from the hotel to the subway station anyways

Our flight landed at TPE at 5 AM and we were at the hotel by 7 AM or so, and as mentioned above, no room was available. We asked if there was anywhere for us to take a shower and we were directed to the unisex locker room near the outdoor pool. Locker room area had about 4 private shower stalls which was nice, but was surprisingly busy for 7 AM on a Sunday - also, the sinks were outside and "public", so felt a bit weird brushing my teeth there and such.

What I've gathered is - don't expect the hotel to have availability if your flight lands at TPE early You should book the night before if you'd like to have a place to rest/shower when you arrive.

The lobby was a fantastic place to hang around for a while though as it was pouring the morning I arrived. Huge grand lobby, and a very beautiful entrance area with tons of staff. They have nice branded umbrellas that are completely free to borrow - you don't even have to sign them out or anything, the staff just give them to you! Definitely a big difference between Asia and the US.

Overall, really enjoyed my stay here. Elevators were always quick and plentiful, convenient to get to the nearest subway stations (<5 minute walk), breakfast was delicious in the buffet area (though very busy), and the cash rate was relatively cheap (<$200). I was surprised that so many people mention how dated the hotel feels, as I didn't really get that. It's certainly not the newest hotel, but I think they've done a good job keeping it modern feeling. Certainly better than some older GHs in the US. The one small con is that the area is quite sleepy and there aren't that many food options nearby (compared to most places in central Taipei), especially later at night.

If you're curious, the hotel handled the earthquake very well! A few things fell in the room but nothing bad - quite a bit of ceiling/wall plaster fell onto the floor from the main quake + aftershocks, but housekeeping did a fantastic job of cleaning up each day. As someone who lives in the Midwest and is not accustomed to earthquakes, it was truly shocking how everyone in Taipei was business as usual moments after the main quake.

BeyondTalk

Does globalist get to eat breakfast for free at the restaurant or only at the lounge?

jbeckett

Either, your choice.

olouie

Was about to book an extra room when travelling with family, but since they have kids the hotel wants 100% per night extra (around $200 USD) for 2 children (around 4-6 years old). That seems pretty steep to me. Has it always been this way?

projectmaximus

Just had our first staycation at the GH Taipei last weekend. I wouldn't mind do it again in the future, but I'm not sure I will since I don't consider it great value. In this case I had an expiring cert which was not possibly going to be used anywhere else.

We live about a 5 minute walk from the hotel and I probably pass by it 1-3 times a week. Was having a big lunch meetup with some friends and family just past the hotel, so I decided to check in on the way to the lunch, around 12:45p. Had been upgraded to a 101 King View room (saw it in the app the previous morning) and the room was ready. All other suites and room types had already sold out the day before (I assume that's when they did the assignments and upgrades). Very efficient checkin. I forgot my physical credit card, and they told me no problem...if I want to charge something to my room I'll need to bring my card beforehand, but otherwise no issue not running my card first for incidentals. Proactively given a 4p checkout. They took my luggage up to my room and I went to lunch.

Room was nice enough, quite sure it's been renovated as it didn't feel so bad to call it aging or worn down. View of 101 was quite good although (probably true for all parts of the hotel) it wasn't designed properly to maximize the views (GH pre-dates 101 by a number of years) The lounge is a very nice environment with good service, although cocktail hour offerings are several tiers below the Asian standard bearers. Pool area is also quite enjoyable. The spa is really a standout imo, although it feels a little dungeon-y and can get overrun with people (much like the rest of the hotel)

Due to issues with the kids and grandparents and other things, I probably came and went from the hotel at least half a dozen times, so I must say that I really like the lobby lol. It's very grand.

Due to prior commitments we didn't have a lot of time for breakfast, but the restaurant breakfast seemed sufficient. Not the best in Asia but nothing I'd complain about. However we did go on the early side for a Sunday (around 8:15a) so maybe it wasn't the madhouse that it turns into later on (it was already extremely busy just not overly chaotic). Returned to the hotel at 1p with my kids, as they had a playdate with classmates who were also staycation-ing at the Hyatt due to an expiring cert lol. What are the chances. The 4pm checkout turned out to be very useful and we definitely enjoyed our time at the hotel.

All of that said, I look very forward to burning expiring certs in the future at either the HR Jinshan, Alila Yilan or the other properties in Taichung and Kaohsiung. The GH is a nice enough staycation but I'd rather a change of scenery that's farther than 500 meters

Yeah it feels steep as you might as well book yet another room. The base rooms all allow for one extra child, so the fee is really just for one small child. Not sure the justification. If you are by yourself (or just 2 adults in your room) I'd just tack on the extra child to your room even if they're actually going to stay in the other one.

olouie

Thanks, this is super useful and I did just that.