It's about 10 people in room, mixed male and female, with just curtain partitions, bit scary for solo traveler like me but I didn't had any problem as most people will just sleep there and leave day time, though loud snoring of others can be an issue. The shared bathrooms and toilets are clean and the buffet breakfast is okay for its price.
I like the location as it is 10 minutes away from Ximenting. However, I do not like its toilet as it is too dim, you simply can't do your make up in the toilet as there was no lights around the mirror. We paid $121.28 per night for a double bedded room.
Travel in off peak season and get room upgrade (9/F, top floor).
Staff very nice and helpful, 5 minute walk from Taipei airport express, room is clean w/ windows (after upgrade). Not noisy at this floor.
1. TV channel is analog only and no TV guide, difficult to find channel
2. No hot/red tea in breakfast/lobby but coffee (many choices) and (cold) green tea. Wonder why no tea bag as I need hot tea every morning.
3. Bathroom water pressure is very strong, may consider to turn down.
As most reviews have already mentioned, the hotel's main selling point is its location. It's a brief walk to the Taipei Main Station which also doesn't feel long if you take the underground tunnel (via the Z10 entry) through the Taipei Metro station mall. Ximending Night Market was also just a few minutes walk away. The rooms we got (330 & 331) were OK...the rooms were kept clean during our 4 day stay and we were supplied with water everyday. The staff were helpful (e.g. directed us to where we could change money at 9:00 PM) and accommodating. Breakfast was the hotel's only weak point since they did not even serve basic western fare like bacon and eggs. For the price we paid,it was okay.
For this hotel, the main thing is that is is in a good location, 2 traffic lights from Taipei Main Station, and about 8mins to Ximenting. There are eateries around the place in case the breakfast is not up to standard (typical taiwanese hotel buffet breakfas). The rooms are not really sound proof, you can hear your neighbours coming in late at night, probably best to take rooms away from the lift. Overall a good stay.
For people who like to go there for books, there's a line of bookstores just 1-2 min walk away from the hotel, and this is the greatest point that I like for this hotel.
Location is pretty convenient as it's a mere 10 minutes walk to Taipei Main Station and you can always take the underground shopping street to it so at least it won't be too boring while walking there. It's also pretty convenient to walk to Ximending from here as well, it's about a 20-25 minutes walk at a leisure walking speed (if I didn't remember wrongly).
The breakfast is different from the franchise branches in Ximending as I've stayed there before (the ones in Ximending would give KFC vouchers instead so you have to redeem the breakfast there), the breakfast in this hotel is a buffet which includes the usual western breakfast with bread / egg / jam etc, and also some of the Taiwanese specialty (minced meat rice - must try, it's really very nice and you can eat as much as you want, nobody is stopping you here :D), and other Chinese food stuffs like dim sum, rice, noodles, side dishes to go with.
This hotel is actually quite popular, so be sure to book earlier because I wanted to book for my upcoming trip and the rooms are already completely booked. The benefit of this is the hotel gives off a pretty lively atmosphere, at least you definitely wouldn't feel like you're the only guest here (which sometimes bring about a feeling of awkwardness and creepiness =P). The downside to this is, there are always a lot of people queuing to use the washing machines, so if your'e planning to use their laundry services, be prepared to stay up till quite late in the night, there is just too many people and too little machines here (the washing machine is free and they provides detergent).
Overall in conclusion though, I really like this hotel as I think it is good value for money, so would definitely come here again =).
