Gents House — Hotel in Taipei

Great, clean youth hostel for such a cheap price, and at an excellent location. Stayed there with a friend for 5 nights, two adjacent single beds in a mixed dorm. We requested to be put in the same room and they fulfilled our request! They have rotating staff to man the front desk for 24 hours, and are happy to help with local queries or to attend to rentals or purchases.

The mattress was so comfy and soft! It had a comforter blanket, feather pillow and fresh cotton sheets. Each single bed comes with a USB port plug and a Taiwanese plug, along with a reading light (double beds have two). Each bed also has a curtain for some privacy. My only qualm was that we had to make the bed ourselves when we checked in, and It was some effort trying to make the bed since I was in an upper bunk. They provide a pillow case, a case for the blanket, and a plain sheet for the mattress. But for the cost of the hostel I was fine with doing some self-service.

The hostel offers rooms of mixed dorms (M1-M8) and an area for female dorms (F1-F6) with a female toilet. The female dorm area is made safer as it is cordoned from the common area by a heavy wooden door. Each ‘room’ space has a number of beds and is closed off from the walkway by a curtain. Each bed is assigned a locker with the same bed no. (1A/1B etc)

Lockers are approximately 56cm x 35cm in size and you are given a physical key to secure them. Double beds are given two lockers (eg. 5A and 5a). We left our luggages in the corridor and locked our valuables in the lockers.

Each room has a different number of beds and locker position as follows:

Mixed Gender Rooms M1: 4 single beds. 1AB lockers are inside the room with a bedside shelf. 1CD lockers are right outside the room curtain. M2: 8 single beds. 2ABEF lockers are inside the room. 2CDGH lockers are right outside the room curtain. M3: 2 single beds, feet to door. Both lockers outside room curtain. M4: 8 single beds. 4ABEF lockers inside the room. 4CDGH lockers are right outside the room curtain. M5: 8 single beds. 5ABE, F lockers inside the room. 5CDGH lockers are right outside the room curtain. M6: 2 double beds (6A and 6B) 6AaBb lockers all inside room. M7: 2 double beds (7A and 7B) 7AaBb lockers inside room. M8: No curtain into room space. 6 double beds (foot to walkway, 8CDEFG) and 2 single beds (8AB). 8AB have lockers opposite beds; 8CDEFG have lockers opposite their beds with shelf; 8cdefg have lockers a little further outside M1, M3 room curtains.

Female-only Rooms F1: 4 single beds, 1ABCD lockers in room. F2: 8 single beds, 2ABEF lockers in room and 2CDGH outside room curtain. F3: No curtain Into room space. 4 single beds. 3ABCD lockers near beds. F5: 2 double beds. 5AB lockers in room, 5a and 5b outside room curtain. F6: 2 double beds (6Aa and 6Bb). 6AB lockers in room with shelf; 6ab lockers outside room in F3 space.

Noise could be an issue in the hostel as rooms are only separated by curtains. Roommates’ tossing and turning was highly audible, and guests that checked in late (since our room was right next to the common area) were also noisy with their luggages. But overall guests are told to keep their voices down and there isn’t loud talking; the common area is always relatively quiet. The front desk also offers free earplugs.

For female dorms though, the bathroom is right in the middle of the rooms area. The constant whirr of the ventilation fan from the female toilet, along with the sounds of others showering, can be quite audible for rooms F2 and F3 if the bathroom area door is not closed. Luckily for the mixed dorms, the toilet is closed off in another area.

The best part about the hostel though is the location! Not only close to Taipei Main Station which has the HSR, TRA and two Metro lines, it is also close to the HQ of the Bank of Taiwan—great when I needed to exchange for more NTD. Also close to a Starbucks, 7/11, Watsons and a shopping mart.

Would definitely...

Check-in to the hostel was very fast and efficient. There is a 100 NT key deposit upon check-in so please have that in mind. They do take credit card and visa which was very convenient for us. The location is very close to the MRT Taipei Main Station - Blue and Purple line. We stayed only for 1 night and it was expected to what you pay for. My boyfriend and I stayed in a double room which was very spacious, but since we were also located in the back there wasn't much AC going on there. It might have been because there were a lot of people in the back that it was almost moist. I could not use the covers since it did not ventilate much air into the capsule. I do wish they do enforce quiet voices because one particular couple was talking very loud during our stay. No staff came to keep them quiet. The woman only bathroom was well kept, but the sink was full of ladies scrubs, cleansers, etc which made no room for me to pick a particular spot to brush my teeth. There was a clear sign that said to not leave items there, and again it is not enforce. Overall, the staff was nice, but other travelers were just taking advantage...

Shoes should put in the locker next to the lift, and the floor is quite dirty. Need to bring sandals.the bed (mattress), pillows and blankets were not replaced, everything was dirty, lots of hair,dirt and the blanket smells like hell, I asked to change the bed number, but the host/counter did not agree and only replaced the white layer of the bed.  the bathroom smelled very strong of ammonia, the shower room was very small, the hanger to hang towel and clothes is broken, no air ventilation and the floor is slippery. so noisy at night, i sweat a lot. i couldnt sleep. No places to hang wet towel and dirty clothes. Checkout regulations that never exist in all hotels, where customers must make up their own bed by changing duvet covers, sheets and pillowcases for the next customer.  where this made me realize that my bed was not cleaned or made at all... I came and paid for my stay and I had to change and make the bed my self.  highly not recommended.  it couldn't be worse than this, at this price/night, i could have stayed in a better hotel near this area. Im fooled by the rating (google...