Cathay Dragon 666

This is extremely sad news for me. I have developed great personal friendship with many management and staff over the years, and now every time I go there I'm treated like a king. For some reason I have never, ever, had a suite upgrade at Sheraton (despite being Plat), but I have 100% upgrade rate at Westin. I guess Marriott will be my new go-to hotel in Taipei now, but they are so inconvenient out of the way.

Good to know about how cheap FX is. I have actually stayed at FX in southern Taiwan but never in Taipei. Guess I'll give that a try sometimes. Marriott had some ridiculous prices last time I checked their rate ($10,000 NTD per night, about $350 USD).

Cathay Dragon 666

Yes. According to Taiwanese news the CEO of LeeFoo who also runs Westin personally says the hotel will "offer the best services till the last second", so you are find for Dec. 31st stay.

TerryK

Yeah, but you need to vacate your room by the stroke of midnight on Dec 31st.

SPG.com shows no room available on Dec 31st or later. You can no longer book it now.

CommentatusMaximus

I'm thinking of bringing the family for a stay there during Christmas time. I guess it's the last chance! Just hope service doesn't go down the drain in the meantime.

Cathay Dragon 666

It is more likely upon hearing the news the loyal Westin customers have all booked Dec. 31st date so they can claim they are the last customers at Westin. It happens when a place is going out of business, the last few days the business are packed with loyal customers seeking to cherish the memories.

I really doubt they will kick people out by stroke of midnight, although technically Westin no longer owns that place passed that.

Cathay Dragon 666

According to Taiwanese News, Westin only made a profit in 2 out of their 20 years of existence?!?!?!?! One major reason cited was the rent. The landlord charges Westin $490 million NTD per year, which also includes that Westin's restaurants have to make a certain number of profit or there will be a penalty of $400 million NTD on top of the rent. So although Westin takes in a total of $1.2 billion NTD revenue on a yearly basis, but their restaurants never meet the demands of the contract, so they are paying $890 million to their landlords annually!!!! A check on public financial records show that Westin, starting from their opening in 1999, only made a profit in 2 of their years of existence.

The news also reported the reason Westins stayed open because it was current LeeFoo CEO's "baby", she started her training into the business world in Westin and she has always considered Westin to be her home, and it was under her insistence that Westin stayed open throughout these years even thought it cuts into LeeFoo's bottom line. Many shareholders in LeeFoo actually said it was their relief that Westin is closing by the end of the year.

The final straw that ended the relationship was the landlord wanted to increase the annual rent from $490 million NTD to $550 million NTD and increase the penalty to $500 million NTD from $400 million NTD.

Isochronous

A penalty for the restaurants not making enough profit? ...? What a bizarre arrangement.

bocastephen

Not re-negotiating a dumb and twisted contract in 20 years....that is even more bizarre. I know Taipei well....I highly doubt that space is going to another hotel brand anytime soon, especially under such ridiculous terms, and if they tear down the hotel, what are they going to build given much of the real estate investment money from China has dried up? More overpriced condos they can't sell to anyone?

This was a great hotel....hope the landlord chokes on the building they'll be getting back.

Cathay Dragon 666

Actually to answer your question, which was also reported by Taiwan news. The contract was signed by the CEO's father (the founder of LeeFoo). Apparently her father and the landlord were "good friends" (but I guess not that good), and the contract was signed for 20 years non-renegotiable (again, not a good friend). The contract runs from 1999 to the beginning of 2019, which the landlord refused to extend a new contract (because the current CEO wants to make the contract reasonable).

The landlord which is Cathay Insurance (not Cathay Pacific and no relations) in Taiwan, plans to have a hotel of their own. The current CEO of Cathay Insurance is really into hotel and has already invested in 3 major 5-star local brands in Taiwan (one in Taipei), and he plans to convert Westin into his newest hotel establishment. It is reported he will spend extensive investments to renovate the interior and put his own footprint in the property.

illico

How very unfortunate. We just completed a stay about one week ago and our time spent was excellent. Excellent platinum recognition with a suite upgrade. The location was really good too being right at Nanjing Fuxing MRT.

margarita girl

I had a great stay at this hotel. It's a shame that it is closing.

I used 3 expiring SNAs to upgrade, but they didn't clear. However, I was still upgraded to a small suite with separate bedroom. There was a welcome gift of fruit basket, salty snack and 2 beers.

I was offered welcome amenity plus buffet breakfast in the restaurant which was excellent. The lounge also had breakfast with good selection of hot items and made to order eggs. Tea and snacks were offered all day. Happy hour is between 6-8 pm and there was free beer, wine and alcoholic beverages. I was very impressed when the lounge prepared for me a noodle/vegetable dish the first night and veggie stir fried rice the second night. This was welcomed as the lounge offerings were not very vegetarian friendly. (Apparently the roast beef was very good.)

Some of the staff seemed to indicate that the hotel is looking to relocate. Not sure how accurate this is.

IluvSQ

Same owners own the Leofoo Hotel ( which has a great Dim Sum restaurant) - maybe some of the staff will transfer there?

Cathay Dragon 666

The same owner owns the Courtyard in NanKang (full name in Chinese is LeoFoo Courtyard, but English name is just Courtyard Nankan). Would not be surprise if some of the staff is transferred there. Nankang is not as out of the way of Taipei, if you primarily hangout and enjoy yourself in in the XinYi district. The hotel literally sits on top of the subway station and High Speed Rail station and a multi-floor mall, and only 3 subway stops takes you to the XinYi district. I personally never stayed at the hotel, but have gone to the mall a few times, and it's pretty cool.

Finally, if you can book Westin on the day it is closed (probably too late now) try to do it. At the last day they will pick "33 winners" that will be allowed to literally take everything in the room with you (bed, chairs, tables, EVERYTHING).

TerryK

Interesting promo. Not sure it is of interest unless you have friends or family in Taipei who can pick those items up. Perhaps some labels as souvenir.

CMK10

I checked in last night and will be leaving tomorrow (obviously) making me among the last if not the last FTer to stay here. The hotel feels a little dated (I was "upgraded" to a Westin Workout Room which I didn't think existed anymore, my jacket is currently hung up on the treadmill) but the staff are very nice and it's a good location. Taipei will be worse off without it.