Mandarin Oriental Taipei

I too, stayed at MO TPE back in June for 3 nights with the 3rd night free promotion.

I booked the stay with DavidO back in May, who told me that by the time of my booking, the hotel is not yet a Virtuoso member. He contacted the Hong Kong MO office and confirmed that I will receive Fan Club amenity, which includes breakfast and upgrade if available. Thanks David!

I have been looking for tickets for a sold-out concert in Taipei that weekend, and decided to try the MO concierge to see if they happen to have any connections to get the tickets.

I called the hotel directly, and asked the operator to connect me to the concierge. The operator first asked for my name, then asked the intention of this call, and then asked where I was calling from. I asked her what did she mean where I am calling from, she asked which company I am with. I've called many hotels to make requests in the past but have never been asked so many questions by a hotel operator!!! Despite this whole strangeness, she connected me to the concierge.

I told the concierge that I'll be staying in June and looking for a pair of tickets for the sold-out concert that weekend, and I'd like to know their e-mail address so I can send them more information about this. He asked me to wait, after two minutes told me their e-mail address. (I thought concierge staffs are supposed to memorize their e-mail address??)

It took them about a week to reply my e-mail, I almost thought they did not get my e-mail! After a few days of their initial reply, I received another e-mail telling me that they have located the concert tickets for me, bravo!

I stayed at MO with my sister, she checked in first, and I did not arrive till later that evening. Since she has already checked-in and all, I did not interact with the front desk, but the staffs at the door were all helpful and friendly.

One funny thing is that driveway leading to the gate of the hotel is made of cobblestones. I saw several older ladies all dressed up in long dresses and heels stuck on the driveway and almost tripped. It was indeed very interesting people watching.

We booked a deluxe room and was upgraded to a premium. I cant really determine the style of the dcor but I can only say this is probably the least MO style of the MOs I have stayed in the past. The style is luxurious but definitely not oriental. I told my friend that it feels more St. Regis than a MO, and my friend actually said he thought its more Jumeirah.

The last MO I stayed at is MO Vegas, and comparing to the room at Taipei, Id go back to Vegas in a heartbeat. Our room has a small sitting area, leading to the dressing room and double vanity bathroom. Bathroom has separate tub and shower, uses Diptyque toiletries.

One nice feature of the room is that it has a pillow-menu, and you can make your preferred pillow selection at night.

They serve evening patisserie nightly, they are surprisingly delicious.

Almost all the staff members I met are very friendly and attentive. Thumbs up to the concierge staff who found the sold-out tickets for me, and the head concierge, Mr. Steve Lin, cannot be more helpful during my stay. He even called me the day after the concert (I already checked out by the time) and asked if I enjoyed the evening.

However, while the staffs are friendly, the housekeeping service is very slow. I do not see a lot of guests during my stay, and yet my room is never ready when I came back from breakfast and even lunch. I called the housekeeping one afternoon, and had to call them again 40 minutes later to get them to come make my room.

Overall, almost everyone was eager to help, and it was also interesting to hear stories of the hotel itself from the staff members. I will cover the service at spa and restaurant in more details below.

I spent a lot of time at the gym during my stay, the gym is always empty. There were not many other hotel-staying guests, I did not spot anyone by the pool either.

Spa reception staffs were friendly and helpful. They carry Biologique Recherche products and have treatments using the line. I decided to book a 90 min treatment using BR products, and after confirming the availability and my booking of with the spa staffs, they then told me that Oh actually our therapists have not been properly trained for this specific treatment and asked me if Id like to try a different treatment. I was a bit disappointed since the staff pretty much just spent 10 minutes explaining the BR product treatment and then told me it was not available so I did not go with any other treatments.

The gym opens 24 hours and the reception is till 11pm. I almost got locked in the spa one night because all the doors looked the same in the dim-lit light and I couldnt tell which door was the door out of the spa!

Pool attendants and gym staffs are very attentive as well, but then again, I never saw any other guest during my stay.

There were 3 restaurants at MO TPE, but I only dined at Coco, the restaurant that serves breakfast. The dcor at Coco is very modern, not your usual MO style. Lots of mirrors and a huge Rhino head on the wall.

Food is so-so, if breakfast is not included in the room rate, I wouldnt bother to come down for the breakfast at all, there are way more great breakfast options in Taipei.

Included in Fan Club amenity, there is the continental selection buffet, and you get to order one main course (Chinese/Western style both available).

Me and my sister ordered Chinese style, food is mediocre but very large portion.
My sister does not eat meat products in the morning, and we do not see vegetarian option available on the menu. She ordered porridge and informed the waitress that shes a vegetarian. To our surprise, she was served plain rice porridge without any vegetarian sides to go with the porridge.
(Usually in Chinese style porridge, there are several different sides to go with the porridge, and in my sisters case, she cannot have meat products and yet the restaurant does not give her any sides at all!)

I went and dined at Coco for lunch one day, and really surprised to find that the restaurant empty for breakfast in the morning, is completely filled with non-staying guests during lunch. Again, very mediocre food, and the service is very slow, we waited 15 minutes to get our check. There are so many great food options in Taipei, Id recommend go elsewhere.

Front staff indicated that we have taken something from the mini-bar and has a charge on our room bill. After we told them that we did not take any mini-bar items, they took off the charge.

It was not until check-out that the front staff informed us we had a USD100 hotel credit. My sister told me that they never told her about this benefit upon check-in, and I regretted not getting a spa treatment then!! I understand that as a rather new hotel, they probably are not too familiar with the benefits from different booking channels, but I wished they wouldve told us about that upon check-in.

Overall its a nice hotel with a lot of friendly staffs. The style is not your typical MO hotel, but again I guess its personal preference.

Honestly, other than the top-notch concierge, it was not a memorable stay. The hotel is not located close to the tourist sites either. If youre visiting Taipei for leisure, its probably easier to stay at W Hotel or Le Meridien.