kawoh

it does stop at the hotels, but a few locals catch up on the way to taipei. Last time i took it, it drops you right on the side entrance of the hotel - definitely easy and u get to hang out with locals who were travelling too on the bus. it's a longish bus ride, but agree it's about the same as getting a cab + 20 mins.

yyy

Hotel cars are typically 50% more. If you have friends in Taiwan, you can see if they have any contracted limo service. Cost-wise it's comparable to taking a taxi but you get a Lincoln or a Mercedes. The one we use is about ~ $1100NT for pickups at the airport and $1000NT for drop-offs.

YY

Fruit

I took the bus last time I was there. Like everyone said per person is about $3 USD. The ride is about an hour give or take some of the traffic. Bus is one of those travel buses (i.e. Greyhound). My bus driver spoke a little english so getting your point across at which hotel you wanted to stop at shouldnt be difficult. Bus will drop you off directly at the side entrance.

One thing that did annoy me the most was the cabby driver that lined up in front of Sheraton. The majority of them wants to pickup airport passengers only. They get really nasty with their attitude when you go a short distance but they cant refuse the passenger since it is mandatory they drive you to where ever you request.

I find that if your going local short distance just walk all the way out and flag a cab on the street. Its less hassle then dealing with the attitude. I know we can complain about it but honestly if your there trying to have some fun then you dont want to deal with issues like that.

gfowler-ord-1k

Exact change is generally required for the bus leaving from the Lai Lai Sheraton. It is on the order of NT$90-100 so make sure you have a little small change on you.

Fruit

I brought the ticket at the counter in the airport. I was able to give them a $1000 NT bill for 3 ppl's bus fare. Got the change w/o issues. Unless your talking about getting the ticket at the bus stop?

TerryK

I think gfowler-ord-1K is refering to the return trip from the hotel to airport. There is no counter at the hotel to sell you tickets. You must get your ticket on the bus where you need exact change. You cannot buy a return trip from the airport as tickets are only valid on day of issue.

gfowler-ord-1k

I am talking at the bus stop at the side door of the Sheraton, when going to the airport. I have had no problems at the airport bus terminal.

Elite Addiction

I'd be curious to learn the answer here as well. To me there's should be no question, the diplomatic suite is the first level suit, so it should be the standard suite.

Adding to the confusion, the Sheraton Taipei has both executive and non-executive rooms for basically all of its rooms, including deluxe, premier, director, and diplomatic suite. Best available room loses its meaning here, what's better, the executive premier or the non-executive director?

I got the run around at check-in again, where they tried to tell me that platinum members only get upgraded one level... add that to the long list of excuses I've heard this past year. To me, the non-executive diplomatic suite would fulfill what is owed to a platinum member. If not available, then the next choice should be a executive director.

Keith009

Updated my TR with a review of this property:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...8&postcount=15

myperks

(I'm writing this in a new thread because the other threads are not specific to this hotel and seems out-of-date. Please merge if necessary.)

I just had two stays (2 nights and 3 nights each) at the Sheraton Taipei Hotel in the past two weeks and this is what I’ve experienced. Hope this helps:

Check-In

First stay, very pleasant lobby. Arrived from the USA on an red-eye flight. Landed at 5am and arrived at the hotel at 7am. Greeted by the bell desk and took my luggage and directed me to the front desk. Front-desk said that check-in time was 3pm but would be happy to accommodate my check-in needs and gave me a Platinum upgraded Director’s Room on a SPG Floor.

Second stay, arrived at 10am and was told that I can check-in to a club level regular room as reserved. Further inquiry about a Platinum suite upgrade yielded me an Executive Level Diplomatic Suite but had to come back in 2 hours as it was not clean yet. I waited in the lounge while the room was cleaned.

Accommodations

Director’s room is a junior suite with a sitting area and two twin size beds (the twins seemed like doubles for some reason.) Although it says the beds are Sheraton Sweet Sleeper beds, I highly doubt it is the standard Sheraton Sweet Sleeper bed because it is definitely firmer than the ones in the states. Standard amenities include tea set, and LCD tv. Bathroom had L’Occitane amenities. The bathroom had a deep-sunk-in tub and separate showers.

The Diplomatic suite was a one bedroom suite with living room with guest washroom. Everything was the same as the director’s room except it had a separate living room.

Overall the accommodations were top-notch. Daily fruit presentations and bottled water replenishments. Not sure, but I believe the housekeeping staff make-up the room three times a day.

Club Lounge

One of the better ones in Asia (and better than any lounge in the states or Canada.) The lounge is on the 17th floor of the West tower. The club entrance is manned by at least one club personnel asking for room number (or if you are there enough, they don’t even ask.) The lounge is fairly large and spacious with lots of tables and two TVs, computer lounge, and meeting rooms. Food presentation happens three times a day, breakfast, afternoon tea, and happy hour, although, you can access the lounge for drinks throughout the day.

Breakfast = the basic continental with an egg station, traditional Taiwanese breakfast selections, Japanese selections, etc.

Afternoon Tea = open bar, fruits, snacks, sandwiches, and desserts

Happy Hour (or dinner) = open bar, pasta stations, lots of Taiwanese and Japanese dishes, fruits, desserts, sandwiches.

Overall take, the lounge is very nice. The service staff is also very nice.

Fitness

The fitness center is located on the 17th floor of the Atrium tower called the Sheraton Club. The fitness center had the basics machines with individual TVs and weight machines. There is a sauna and squash court. The outdoor pool is on the 18th floor which is really nice during a hot Taiwan day.

Restaurant

I’ve only used the restaurant once at the hotel. I think it is called Kitchen 12. Serving a buffet style meal during lunch. Lot of selections. Pretty good at about $25/person USD for lunch.

Transportation

This hotel is located on the Bannan Line of the Taipei Metro System (MRT). The station is Shandao Temple Exit #2. Very convenient, less than a 2 minute walk after you surface from the underground station. The hotel is also accessible from the Taoyuan airport via Airbus for about 90 NTD, although it TAKES FOREVER to get to/from the hotel/airport as it takes you on a city tour of Taipei and then Taoyuan city before getting you to the airport. It takes about 90 minutes. Taipei Main Station is one metro station ride away or a 10-15 minute walk where you can catch other metro lines or the High speed railway.

Overall impression

This hotel is very nice for leisure and business stays. The service is top-notch and the prices are reasonable. There are lots of things to do in Taipei. Hope this helps as this thread is pretty old.

TerryK

That seems to be more of the norm than exceptions. Not sure what benefit you are refering to, but in some properties, I have been denied free internet on the executive level because I was upgraded to it.

More discussions here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=868683

myperks

The executive level benefits are the ones that are listed on www.sheraton-taipei.com which includes:
* Free in-room internet
* Limited laundry service
* Free local calls..
etc...

Aircoco

You can get free wifi at the executive lounge, can't you?

docbert

Agreed! I stayed here a few weeks ago, originally for 2 nights and was given a standard SPG room (14th floor).

After the 2nd night I decided to stay another night on points, but told them I would only do so if they could give me a room with a Sweet Sleeper bed, which their website seems to imply are only in some rooms, including the executive floors. This caused some confusion, and eventually they came back to me and told me that my current room was a sweet sleeper!

They did move me to an Executive room (15th floor), which had exactly the same bed - unlike any other Sweet Sleeper I've ever seen...

mjcewl1284

Here's a complaint for the Sheraton Taipei workers reading this board.

In the past year I have stayed at this property almost 10 times. This property is pretty friendly towards SPG members. But on 3 occasions, I have been checked into a room (twice of the 3 on SPG floors) that are marked non-smoking that clearly smell as if somebody had smoked in them. The staff was very professional in solving this problem and re-assigning me to another room promptly, but I can't help but think that this Sheraton property has such a hard time patrolling this? Guests in the United States would pay a huge fine if they had smoked in a non-smoking room.

With the 1/11 law effective in Taiwan (virtually) banning all smoking, hopefully things are better?