Starwood properties in Taiwan: reviews

[Keith009]

Sheraton Taipei
Chung Hsiao East Rd

I'd initially meant to bunk in at taipeiflyer's place but unfortunately construction had proceeded slower than expected and when it became clear that his place wouldn't be ready in time, we decided to 'slum' it at hotels. Booked Sheraton for the first night.

The Sheraton has a rather central location, there's an MTR station just outside. There is another hotel in Taipei with a similar sounding name in Mandarin to the Sheraton, and on 2 separate occasions the taxi driver had driven us to the wrong one which was thankfully only 2 blocks away from the Sheraton. So best to have the Chinese address of the hotel handy.

The hotel was booked in taipeiflyer's name. However it quickly became clear that his PLT status isn't properly reflected in the reservation when no mention of PLT amenities was made. Now this serves as a reminder of why it is still useful to carry around the PLT membership card - it is not a DYKWIA thing to do, just practical and sensible. When we'd turned back to ask about the PLT amenity, the check in clerk seemed rather confused and insisted that she could only see a GLD membership number in the system. She then logged on to some other system of theirs, probably a direct intranet link with SPG and verified the PLT membership. We were then quickly upgraded to a Junior Suite, and given a choice of amenities - I was mildly horrified that he'd went for the wine instead of the 500 pts. The bourgogne was nice though - so thanks mate!

I liked the service at this hotel - everyone was v helpful and polite without being too overbearing. There was a rather elderly bellhop on the arvo we left who insisted on single handedly carrying even the heaviest suitcase, and still had the energy for banter.

The Junior Suite was well sized for 2 people, with a pretty spacious lounge area. The bathroom was identical to those of the Westin Bund Centre Shanghai's, same designer perhaps? The bathroom was stocked with L'occitane amenities.

Complimentary breakfast was served at the lounge in the morning - it was an extensive spread with both hot and cold options. It even had an egg station where eggs are cooked upon request, any way.

 

[Keith009]

The Westin Taipei
Nanking East Rd

There were no porters to assist us with our suitcases at the entrance unlike the Sheraton where our bags were whisked away before we had a chance to blink, but that's ok as we managed fine. Lobby looked nice and cozy, and they were serving some extremely sweet fruit-based drinks near the lifts.

Check in was swift, and we got upgraded to an extremely large suite on the top floor at this property, so we're rather pleased. This time taipeiflyer went for free internet as his PLT amenity. Heavenly Bed nice and comfy, with phenomenally big pillows - we'd thought about purchasing them. Bathroom had Molton Brown amenities, including my personal fave out of the MB range - the Heavenly Gingerlily shower gel.

(sorry, forgot about the actual bedroom...)

Like at the Sheraton, we also had comp brekkies with hot/cold stuff at the lounge at this property - though I can't really remember what was served as I was pretty hungover (or still drunk) on the morning I actually made it downstairs for brekkies. I do remember that there was also an egg station.

The hallways were rather toasty on the top floor, must be due to the combination of weak a/c and Taipei's oppressive heat. I must say that the Westin's (seemingly) smaller size than the Sheraton meant the hotel felt more warm (ok i also mean that figuratively) and homely.

Location felt just as central as the Sheraton - though I must admit that having someone to guide me meant that I'd lost some sense of direction. It was near an extremely good Taiwanese beef noodle place which opens nearly all night, as well as this very fun pub which we went to called Brass Monkeys. More on that later...

Overall I enjoyed both the Sheraton and the Westin, but would give the Westin a slight edge.