Hobart

I have stayed many times at the W Taipei and many other hotels in Taipei. I prefer the Le Meridian Taipei. The rooms are bigger and the bathrooms nicer with lots of marble. The lobby is the only downside as it is plain and looks like an office building, but I still prefer it to the W Taipei as I feel when checking in there the lobby is too pretentious and tries too hard to be cool and carrys over to the elevator the rooms and so on. Le Meridian is just a more elegant hotel and not so concerned with being cool. I believe it is also a Starwood hotel for those that care about those things.

sink

LM Taipei also wants to be cool in their own way. Just look at what they boast as their art collection. The "standard" rooms may be larger than a regular room (wonderful, spectacular, fabulous) but the junior suites are quite small in comparison to the Marvelous suite. I am not sure if LM junior suite still offers complimentary minibar (it used to back in 2011, haven't been back since). Hate the layout of the lobby, the only seating area is near Latest Recipe. LM try to be an art gallery, that is good for them, I certainly don't appreciate it.

Sam P. Goodman

Spent 5 nights at the W Taipei last week and I’m ready to sign up for their fan club. I’m not a huge fan of the W brand. When it launched, I loved the fact that the rooms didn’t look like every other hotel room, but have grown less enamored with it as I’ve aged (at 37, maybe I’m getting too old for it). If they were all run like the W Taipei, I’d love them. I booked an award reservation with my 35% off Platinum gift and applied SNAs for a Marvelous Suite, which cleared five days prior to check-in. We had a late night arrival at TPE with our toddler so I splurged and booked the hotel BMW 730d ahead of time for 3,000 TWD. I know there were much cheaper options, but after a long flight with a little one, it was a nice luxury. We were greeted by someone from the hotel with a signboard with our name who quickly grabbed our luggage, called the driver, and escorted us to the car. The drive in was quite comfortable—the back was filled with snacks and waters, there was free wifi, and an iPad available for our use.

Our suite was very large and stylish and we enjoyed it, though I would say it exemplified form over function in many ways (like the giant lamp that hangs 3 feet off the ground in the living room). My real concern was the lack of storage for clothes. There was a double closet with plenty of hangers and two small drawers, one of which was taken up by the safe. Perhaps we dress too casually and don’t bring enough clothes that need hanging. Minor complaint about an otherwise very nice room.

We chose breakfast at Kitchen Table as our amenity and it was great. Plenty of options and wonderful staff. The chef and manager were always circulating, talking to guests and we had several nice conversations with them. We really enjoyed the ability to sit outside overlooking the pool. We followed this stay with a trip to the W Hong Kong and both had to admit that Hong Kong’s breakfast spread was a notch above Taipei’s, but that’s more a testament to the breakfast at W HK than a knock on W Taipei. We were never charged for our daughter’s breakfast, which was a nice touch.

They have SPG Happy Hour every night from 5-7. There was a special menu to choose from that included a few spirits, some cocktails, beer, and non-alcoholic options. This was a really nice feature, especially for a W.

The staff at this place were fantastic. Everyone from restaurant management down to the cleaning staff were outwardly friendly and seemed to genuinely care. This seemed to mirror our experiences in Taipei in general, so maybe that’s part of it. As an example, one afternoon I took our daughter for a walk and came back with her asleep in my arms. Two hotel staff noticed me enter the lobby with my hands full, ran over to me, asked if I was headed to my room, called the elevator, and one of them escorted us to our floor. Something tells me that wouldn’t happen at most Ws and I’d probably get an eye roll for having the nerve to bring a kid.

Count this as one of my favorite hotels and definitely my favorite W. W should be sending hotel managers to Taipei to see how it’s done.

sink

Very glad that you have enjoyed your stay at W Taipei. It is my favorite SPG hotel period. Anyhow, child under 3 dines for free at Kitchen table. Is your daughter under 3?


Did you call SPG to apply SNA? I can't do it online with the 35% off platinum gift award booking.

whitesol

I hope it's everything you guys bill it out to be, I booked a cool corner room for 22,500 points for this december.

Lappe

You need to call / chat to use the 35% award, and I believe that makes the rate " an unusual or complex rate or set of rates associated with the reservation in question."
I applied for SNAs on my 35% (+5th night free) reservation on the chat.

Sam P. Goodman

We applied SNAs using chat. Kid is 2, but sometimes it seems she has the appetite of a (very messy) grown man...

flagler1

So I'm looking to stay at the W Taipei this summer. I really like the look of the Fabulous rooms or the Cool corner rooms. However, I'd also like to have a Taipei 101 view. Yet this only seems to be for the spectacular room (which is basically a wonderful room with Taipei 101 view -- no spa tub and separate shower?). Anyone know if there are fabulous rooms or cool corner rooms with 101 views?

Also -- anyone know how much breakfast costs at kitchen table? Thanks.

lcpteck

All rooms comes with separate bathtub and shower, so just book the spectacular rooms.

flagler1

Thanks for the reply. I did notice that. But it seems to me only certain rooms have the standalone "spa" tub, while the others have a more normal tub.

Want this: http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/med...a/w-taipei.jpg

Not this: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...cular-room.jpg

I know to some it might be a minor detail, but I'm hoping I can get the spa tub with the view. I will perhaps just contact the hotel to ask what the situation is?

lcpteck

I see what you mean, yeah best to check with the hotel.

Academic

Do they also include wine on the menu? I assume this is in the bar rather than a Club Lounge

Sam P. Goodman

Don't remember if they had wine on the spg menu. There was an option of WooBar (in the lobby) or Yen? (on the top floor). We only visited Woo. There isn't a club lounge.

lcpteck

Yeah, only Club lounge that exists in a W Hotel is the W Guangzhou.

Lappe

Wine, bubbly, beer, drinks, non-alcoholic options. Somewhat limited one page list but covers the categories well. Available both at the Woobar and Yen bar.
The timing is a bit early for Taipei, one hour later would be better if in town for business, but then again this is also a slow time at the bar.