Booked through Agoda.com. We were greeted by the friendly boss at the front door. After the registration, we were ushered to the Japanese room at Room 302. The boss told us that it was better for us as we have 2 kids and the wooden floor would not be too cold for them.|My heart sank when we entered the room. There was a step up of the room that was a potential tripping danger for my young children. The room was not well furnished. Low cabinates with missing right handle. Soap tri-dispenser with no indication of which is the shampoo, conditioner or soap. Tap with no indication which direction is for cold or hot water. Blinds that can be lowered but can't be raised. And the other one that cannot be lowered. Only heavy curtains can be used. A 32" LCD TV branded TATUNG which I never heard of. ||After we settled down, we asked the front desk about the soap dispenser. We were trying to be nice as we address only 1 issue. He calmly replied that we should open up the dispenser cover and the labels would be on the inside! ||We then ask for recommended places of interest. He told us to take a walk behind the hotel. When we took the walk we could see the inside of our hotel room clearly. ||That night, we found more defects like the sinking of the tatami floor that cause my child to trip.||We finally couldn't take it and requested a change of any available rooms at about 8pm. The lady boss replied that we can't change because that was the only room that was available through agoda.com. She went on indicating that agoda has a good percentage cut from this deal. But i checked from all the photos agoda posted the website with various selections of about 5 rooms but the room given to us was not in the pictures posted in the website. I told her about people able to see into our room from the public beach walk and she said all the rooms can be seen from outside so we should just pull the curtains. I said the blinds are not working and I will not be paying so much if not for the sea view and her best suggestion to me is to close the curtains???||The best she can do is that she will change us to an available unoccupied room at (Room 502) with an additional payment of NT$500 for the cleaning of the bed sheets and cleaning of the room! We barely even touched the bed sheets. She furthered said that agoda is misrepresenting them by posting those photos and they will terminate their contract with them next year. ||Its a very clear cut situation who is lying. I am sure agoda didn't get those photos by sending their photographers to take photos of the Room 302 and the surroundings. This has been very unpleasant for us. I hoped that through this article other tourists can be spare from all these unhappiness. Our mood in Hualien is definitely spoiled...
Read moreBooked through Agoda.com. We were greeted by the friendly boss at the front door. After the registration, we were ushered to the Japanese room at Room 302. The boss told us that it was better for us as we have 2 kids and the wooden floor would not be too cold for them.|My heart sank when we entered the room. There was a step up of the room that was a potential tripping danger for my young children. The room was not well furnished. Low cabinates with missing right handle. Soap tri-dispenser with no indication of which is the shampoo, conditioner or soap. Tap with no indication which direction is for cold or hot water. Blinds that can be lowered but can't be raised. And the other one that cannot be lowered. Only heavy curtains can be used. A 32" LCD TV branded TATUNG which I never heard of. ||After we settled down, we asked the front desk about the soap dispenser. We were trying to be nice as we address only 1 issue. He calmly replied that we should open up the dispenser cover and the labels would be on the inside! ||We then ask for recommended places of interest. He told us to take a walk behind the hotel. When we took the walk we could see the inside of our hotel room clearly. ||That night, we found more defects like the sinking of the tatami floor that cause my child to trip.||We finally couldn't take it and requested a change of any available rooms at about 8pm. The lady boss replied that we can't change because that was the only room that was available through agoda.com. She went on indicating that agoda has a good percentage cut from this deal. But i checked from all the photos agoda posted the website with various selections of about 5 rooms but the room given to us was not in the pictures posted in the website. I told her about people able to see into our room from the public beach walk and she said all the rooms can be seen from outside so we should just pull the curtains. I said the blinds are not working and I will not be paying so much if not for the sea view and her best suggestion to me is to close the curtains???||The best she can do is that she will change us to an available unoccupied room at (Room 502) with an additional payment of NT$500 for the cleaning of the bed sheets and cleaning of the room! We barely even touched the bed sheets. She furthered said that agoda is misrepresenting them by posting those photos and they will terminate their contract with them next year. ||Its a very clear cut situation who is lying. I am sure agoda didn't get those photos by sending their photographers to take photos of the Room 302 and the surroundings. This has been very unpleasant for us. I hoped that through this article other tourists can be spare from all these unhappiness. Our mood in Hualien is definitely spoiled...
Read moreWe knew this hotel right on the waterfront had ocean views (the name was a clue?), but we were totally unprepared for the breathtaking views of the mountains to the east side. From our room, we could soak in these two scenes on both sides and just enjoy watching boats approaching the harbor or people enjoying the walk/bikeway running for 15 kilometers right behind the hotel along the waterfront. We absolutely loved our room with its comfy kingsize bed and rain showerhead in the bathroom. The owner and entire staff were so welcoming and helpful--from picking us up and returning us to the train station to recommending a bike rental shop nearby to setting up a bus tour of Taroko Gorge. It's a short walk up the street to the main, lively business district but just far enough away that traffic noise was no problem. We found ourselves utterly relaxing and enjoying our three nights here. Can't recommend this...
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