Meander 1948 — Hotel in Taipei

🏆 Taipei's No.1 Premium Hostel Meander 1948 hostel is a newly renovated heritage building located right in the city center. It's location is perfect⎯ close to Taipei Main Station and surrounded with a touch of local street food delicacies plus a large 7 Eleven.

Having combed the entire database of hostel and stayed in the top 2 in Taipei, I vote this hostel as No.1 because they provided tremendous value. They went as far as to provide free travel & food guides as well as Biweekly/Monthly cultural events. For instance, aside from the breakfast vouchers, they arranged calligraphy lessons and prepared Chinese food for guest during Chinese New Year Eve. As a travelling chinese who no longer celebrates CNY, I was melted back into my racial heritage along with the delicious taste of the soft Black Sesame Rice Dumplings (Tang Yuan). In all of Asia that I've travelled to (except Korea & Japan), I found them to be the exemplary example of a top premium hostel.

You will have everything you need, whether it's a dining space, a kitchen to cook, fridge storage, in-house laundry & a community of travellers. While you may feel like you're having a normal stay, the team are orchestrating behind the scenes in adapting to your needs & preferences.

🤩 Highlights ➊ Modern Comfy Bunk Bed & Bathroom ➋ Hotel Grade Cleanliness Daily cleaning with daily towel change ➌ Famous Street Food There is 2 famous street food on the opposite road: The Chives Pancake & Crispy Milky Donut. Long queue for both, they are usually sold out by late afternoon. ➍ Travel Tips & Events The staff are more than happy to provide knowledgeable travel tips and host in-house 'Guest only' events few times per week. ➎ Access To Taipei Main Station For those looking to travel far out into other provinces and to/from the airport, you will soon understand why the underground trains in Taipei Main Station is an indispensable asset.

🙇🏻‍♀️ Downside ➊ Check Out Time Albeit it is a common practice for hostels in Taipei to ask guest to check out at 11am and check in at 3pm. (Hotels are of shorter period) ➋ Flat Pillows

📨 Feedback • Please place new bath towels gently above the cabinet shelf & not throw them on the bed (Sometimes we are sleeping) • Consider adding more proper lounge seats and table on left side of the wall. • Do not throw our items in fridge if they are bundled together as having a sticker for every item is too much efforts (You can advise guest to place them inside a bag with 1 sticker)

🎧 Noise Level: Low (Unless housekeeper opens the window) 👯‍♀️ Majority Crowd: Well Balanced Asian & Western 🧼 Cleanliness: Sparkling Clean 🤵🏻‍♀️ Hospitality: Outstanding 🏨 Architect (International Benchmark): Above Average (Casual With...

Meander 1948

2.5/5

Pros: [ ] Nice location [ ] Nice people/easy service [ ] Italian kitchen/ 70$ nts per night you stay (breakfast voucher) [ ] 4th floor common area with tea, refrigerator, cups, washer and dry cleaner ( didn’t really use) [ ] Offer umbrellas on rainy days

Cons: [ ] Small bathroom and smells, lack of ventilation [ ] Gendered shower area (men’s on the 3rd and women’s on the 2nd). 3 mens showers and 2 women showers. Bathroom needs ventilation, can get steamy and humid very quickly. Showers are very small. [ ] Internet connection was very very sloppy and me and my friend could not get internet on our laptops. Phones could work fine weirdly [ ] The beds were pretty small for a person that was 5 foot 10 and my feet would fall out of the bed. [ ] There was a lack of ventilation in the rooms, so it would smell like wet towels sometimes and morning would be humid in the rooms. [ ] You would have to “rent” a towel for 50nts, that’s such a gimmick, you might as well buy one at that point and some other items might cost more or less nts [ ] Small holding area for luggages and very narrow bedroom areas so it can get crowded easily.

Overall, I would have to say there are a lot of people that rate Meander 1948 a 5/5 or even a 4/5, but I wholeheartedly disagree with their reviews. I just like many others have read the reviews, but once I settled in the place, it wasn’t what it seemed to be. There are just too many problems the hostel has that can’t make my score any higher than it is. From the small showers to the internet service, to the non ventilated bathrooms; they all might seem like small things but these faults add up as you want to cool down from a hot sunny day traveling/working in Taipei. Yes, the hostel might have some nice things to it, but overall these pros don’t outweighs the cons. I hope this review helps travelers decide if they want to purchase a bed from...

Stayed in Taiwan for 8 days, and this was our least favorite accommodation. We booked 3 rooms (2 Double Ensuite, 1 Balcony Room; all with private bath) and stayed 2 nights. The 3 rooms we booked were all very comfortable, my only issue was the bathroom, it’s not clean, corner spots had some serious staining, also no bidet.

——— Location is convenient, just a 5-minute walk from/to Taipei Main Station (Y13 Exit) and sits in the middle of everything– restaurants, cafés, shopping stalls.

——— Staff were friendly EXCEPT for this old lady who was so RUDE and DISRESPECTFUL when we checked in. She’s more senior compared to the other young staff. Didn’t get her name.

——— We’re a group of 6 with 3 elders (60+ y/o), this staff was nagging at our group the moment we arrived, hotel’s reception area was quite tight and there were several luggages from the other guests by the counter, so there’s not much space to move around and idle by. The elders didn’t know where to wait, and this rude staff kept yelling at them to queue up along that tiny little nook where the bunch of luggages were stored. We didn’t mind this first incident, but after check in, as one of the other staff was assisting us to the elevator area and we were getting the toiletries for our room, this old lady staff started acting like she freakin owned the place again and we weren’t guests who paid for the accommodation. She was rushing at us to get into the elevator, when it was one their staff who had asked us to collect our toiletries first— their shelf was by the elevator area btw. At this point, my brother and I confronted the rude staff. Wanted to upload the whole shenanigans as it was all caught in our go pro, but wouldn’t want to get her fired since she was so apologetic after the confrontation. But did ruin our...