GateGuardian

Going to be in Taipei for 2 nights. Can anyone recommend a Marriott property that is close to some good food and tourist attractions, not looking for night life (clubbing)? Will most likely be taking the subway from the airport.

Looking at Courtyard Taipei Downtown right now.

theOtherHolmes

myperks

sambagrrl07

claimui

Le Meridien and W are the only ones with significant tourist appeal. Both are in Taipei's biggest and nicest shopping district, and close to Taipei 101 and Raohe / Tonghua Night Markets.

Sheraton is centrally located with easy subway access, but the immediate area is more of an old government district. Courtyard Taipei Downtown is a little less convenient and in an even more uninteresting area, but a short taxi ride (relatively cheap in Taiwan) can get you easily to most places. Courtyard Taipei is way out from the city center and near a business park / convention center -- it makes no sense unless you have business nearby, or unless you are using it as a base to take the high speed rail to other parts of Taiwan.

EDIT: For foodies, I should add: The Marriott is also in a remote and uninteresting area (but not as bad as Courtyard Taipei), *but* it does happen to be near a few of Taipei's nicest restaurants: RAW, Tairroir, and Ryugin. The Sheraton also has two excellent Chinese restaurants.

GateGuardian

Thanks for the heads up. I just booked the Courtyard and may change to one of the other ones, but for a CAT3 reward hotel, it looks pretty nice!

sambagrrl07

I've heard third hand that it is nice, and the lobby was certainly impressive when I visited it last year. But claimui's report on its surroundings is accurate, so keep that in mind. I'd agree with claimui that the W and Meridien are better located, but of course not CAT3. It's about 22 minutes on the Bannan line of the MRT to get from the Courtyard Taipei to Taipei City Hall station, which is where the W is.

I did take the HSR one time from Taipei Main to Nangang just out of curiosity, and it was really empty since I guess most people will opt for the cheaper MRT. But in US dollars it's still pretty cheap.

theOtherHolmes

GateGuardian

Good point. I traveling solo and over the holiday so don't mind the 10-15min walk to the subway. Don't care about lounge access as I heard horrible experience with kids running around, especially over Christmas time.

Brucemcdou

Stayed at the Sheraton three nights at the start of Chinese NY's last year, and agree with the above comments. Very large hotel. I don't think I'd ever stayed at a Sheraton before, coming from the Marriott side, but I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the rooms, the level of service, and was happy with the Club - which was busy with families but I chalked that up to the holiday period. Was upgraded to an "executive suite" as a Platinum Elite. The rooms and halls were definitely recently refreshed/updated but with a retro-70's feel to them, which I liked. The gym was odd, on two levels with a relatively large space but very dated, rusty equipment crammed together. There's a subway entrance at the end of the block from the main entrance that I used to get everywhere I needed to go.

Salisbury5

What about the new Renaissance?

shawneve

I will be in Taipei next week for 2 days as part of a layover for a family trip to SE Asia.
I booked two rooms for 2 nights on points (Cat 4) at the Renaissance because of value, because its a fairly new hotel and also because it is walking distance to Shilin Night Market which is one of the main things we want to do during our short visit.
It is also close to the red MRT line so just a short ride to the core of Taipei to visit some other sites on our list like Ximending, Chiang Kai Sjek memorial and maybe get over to Taipei 101.
I just had some SNAs clear for my rooms and I am now in a Premium Balcony room.
I will report back on my experience when I get a chance after our stay, but I think we will be satisfied with my choice.

paolo64

Chihster

It is one of my favorites in Taipei because of its newness and decent value. It is about 5-10 minutes walk to the MTR and shorter distance to the main road with multiple bus lines. Rooms are nice and gym is decent. I personally prefer the front-facing rooms where you look out to green mountains. If you get a back-facing room, you are looking at the next building, which is quite close. We used to like the lounge there a lot, but it has gone downhill since earlier. The evening selection is very poor and they didn't have any bubble water (Perrier and the likes). Only cold drinks available are soda and beer. At least now you get to have breakfast in the main restaurant. I would still choose the Renaissance most times if you can get a decent rate. Just hope they can get the lounge back up in quality.

Vince Chan

Can anyone tell me how is google's business rating system of hotel works?

For example, in Taiwan, the limited service property indigo, kimpton(with out pool or executive lounge) is rated as 5 star in google, while full service with pool Renaissance is 4 star?

And frankly quite old Sheraton Taipei is rated as 5 star while the more expensive marriott is rated by 4 star in google search.

Google said its information is collected from multiple research and third party page while I continue suspect its accuracy. When you tell me that Kimpton with nothing and not even a tub a 5 star and Renaissance with everything as 4 star , I was like: you gotta be kidding me.

And again there are 2 Westin, I've visiting both , but one is rated 4 star and the other is 5 star in google and be frankly I don't see the difference and again why I never using android or other google service except mail and map.