Le Méridien Taipei — Hotel in Taipei

Check in: Stayed for 2 nights. As a Bonyov member, I asked for an early check-in and a room with a view over Taipei 101. The staff tried to arrange the early check-in as good as they can. They managed to get me a room a bit before normal check-in time. The room had view over Taipei 101 but no bathtub. I went to the reception and told them that the pictures online are a bit misleading since it clearly shows that my kind of room should have bathtub. The staff explained that I requested a room with view over Taipei 101 and that part of the building did not have bathtubs. I accepted the change to another room. I was very lucky though since this particular room actually had view over Taipei 101 and a bathtub. The staff acted very professionally and didn't hesitate to try and change the room for me.

Room: The room was very nice and the bed is an amazing bed. Everything was neatly prepared. The only thing that I could offer as advice is to update the hairdryer. This is a category 6 Marriot Bonvoy hotel and you ought to provide a higher quality hairdryer than the cheap Philips that was in the room. It had cooling function but the fan speed is very low when you use that function which is not ideal. Besides that, the room was very nice.

Breakfast: This was the major disappointment for the stay. Breakfast was not included in my rate so I paid 979NTD for the breakfast buffet. This is not cheap by any means. The quality of the breakfast was one of the lower I've experienced and any Marriot Bonvoy hotel. Keep in mind that this is a category 6 hotel. There are technically many things to choose from but it's not of particularly high quality. Some of the foods were a bit cold. I had congee which was not hot enough. I doublechecked by eating a spoonful right by the pot. I approach the floor staff and pointed this out. The staff was friendly and said they will correct it.

The cheese selection only has Gouda and a cheaper version of Brie. My last hope was the pastries. Unfortunately I got disappointed again. The person who made the pancakes didn't know what he was doing. The pancake was very dry. If it's that thin, the cooking time is very short. This was neglected by the person who made them. ( Didn't flip them when bubbles appeared at the top ), which I witnessed. The other pastries were average at best. For the price I paid ( 979NTD / 35 USD ), the quality is not high enough. I am not sure how this hotel can be considered a category 6 hotel with this kind of breakfast buffet.

Staff: My impression of the staff is very good. From the doorman to cleaners, they were friendly and also solved two cases for me. The first one with the room change. The second issue was a parking issue. When you book the room through Marriot Bonvoy it clearly states that the hotel has parking on site and it's chargeable by hour and 2400 NTD per day. When I read this I though that was a high price but fair enough it's in the smack middle of Xinyi district. I planned ahead to park my car at a nearby parking garage. It was not cheap but I accepted it since I knew the parking was more expensive at the hotel. I paid almost 700 NTD for a day's parking at the nearby garage.

During the second day of my stay, I read a blog where someone said that they stayed at this hotel and parking was free. I thought it must be a mistake or that the hotel changed their policy. I went down to the reception and asked about this. They confirmed that if you stay at the hotel, you have free parking. I was stunned since this was not shown anywhere, neither did the staff ask me at check-in if I needed a parking spot. I asked how I as a guest am supposed to know that there's free parking since it doesn't show on the website ( it says the price for parking is 2400NTD per day).

The staff who helped me was named "Oscar", he did a phenomenal job in how he handled this situation. He explained that the hotel has tried to get Marriot Bonvoy to change the information on their website. Nevertheless, the price for my parking was deducted from...

The location of the Hotel is probably as good as it gets for a place near the center of the high-end residential and shopping area in the Xinyi District, which includes the city government and Taipei 101. Close at hand there are around a dozen ultra modern shopping mall/department stores, luxury dining as well as the vast number of large food courts and the VieShow Movie theaters all within a 5-10 minute stroll.

Le Meridien decor is modern and a nice balance of chic and business class. We stayed there for a couple of weeks before moving in the area and the rooms are very well kept, straight-forward with a touch of luxury throughout. There are rooms facing Taipei 101 which are always booked well in advance of the New Year's big fireworks show.

For dining, Humble House is a Cantonese style restaurants with authentic HK cuisine and a well rounded gourmet-ish menu. The selection is plentiful so you won't be disappointed if you are familiar with the style of cooking. Overall it is a very well-liked restaurant with banquet and family seating.in a spacious traditional setting.

The Lobby Lounge called Latitude 25 is a great place for a small meeting or rendez-vous for friends, comfortable seating and superb service personnel are attentive and professional. There is a selection of coffee related beverages, beer, wine and a very limited choice of fruit and carbonated drinks. They have very nice Club Sandwiches, outstanding Cheese Burger and one of the best Taiwan style Beef Soup Noodles in the area. Directly adjacent to Latitude is a small chocolate shop, with some designer cakes and excellent cookies that are often sold out by the evening.

Facing Latitude 25 is a full sized casual restaurant The Latest Recipe for a mixture of local and international cuisine. Starting with a full scale Breakfast Buffet, the Latest Recipe has a good Lunch menu, but is well-known for its afternoon tea which is a desert laden brunch with your choice of the best available teas. Dinner is also served there so its busy all day through the evening and reservations...

I am just writing the bad things here. Front desk staffs and Bell boy.

The first day when I approached the Front desk, I appreciated it that the hotel has upgraded me from a twin bed room to suite. But I had refused because I was staying with my colleague and I need a twin bed which was confirmed. But then a front desk staff told me that they have no more twin bed room because there were a group which booked all the twin bed room.

Okay... I understood there was a group so I requested an extra bed to my suite but they said all the extra beds were booked by the group either...

I was so annoyed about that, my booking was a "confirmed" twin bed and now you gonna kick me to a King bed? I refused that and I insisted my twin bed.

Finally, I don't know what they did but they gave me a twin bed likely around 1 hour later. But the attitude of the front desk staff was so bad and looks like I were the one making trouble to her.

The second thing is one the concierge staff who help u to find a taxi, my friends and I were a group of six, so we need to taxis all the time. One day when my friends are waiting in the lobby, I went out and ask the staff for 2 taxis, he then replied me " What? you need two taxis?" "yes, please" "where are your people? or you want to take two taxis by yourself?" ".... my friends are inside and is there any problem?" "Yes where are your friends and you want to take taxis alone?" And then my friends came out and he stopped the impolite speech.

The hotel is good, hardware is good, breakfast is good, but some of the staff there is very impolite, I don't believe that the attitude of the hospitality field in Taiwan was that worse now. These staffs showed...