Holiday Inn Express Taoyuan, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Taoyuan City

Let me start this out by saying this: This place is cheap. For the going rates at this place, you should expect a bed and a bathroom and that's what you'll get. Keep expectations low and perhaps you'll be fine. I didn't pay much for my stay and I got what I paid for.

All that said, this place is dirty. The carpet was dirty, the walls were scuffed up, dirty/dingy, the hallway smelled horrible. When we stepped off the elevator, it smelled like someone tried to cover up years of cigarette stench by taking a gallon of liquid bleach and lighting it on fire. The room was, thankfully, not quite as strong as the hallway.

The beds themselves seemed fine -- thankfully. I was really surprised at how dirty the walls were -- just full of scuffs and marks and dirt that could be cleaned or painted over. That's such a simple fix -- and when a hotel doesn't make an effort to fix that kind of thing, it's an indication of how much they care about the quality of stay.

I was really surprised that there was no hand soap in the bathroom. I travel a lot more than the average person (I'll spend more than 150 nights in hotels this year) and I can't think of the last time I had a room with no hand soap. The only option was to use the body wash in the shower. The body wash in the shower is a pump mounted on the wall in such a way that you have to get your feet wet to get some to wash your hands with. I asked about hand soap at the front desk thinking that housekeeping just forgot to replace it -- but they actually just don't have any.

The bathroom is an interesting design -- the door to the bathroom is the same as the door to the shower. It's hard to explain and probably harder to picture -- but the basic idea is that you can close the door to one or the other. If someone is showering, someone else could use the toilet -- though the toilet/sink area is open to the rest of the room if the shower door is shut. Hard to explain. Probably not a deal breaker and in fact something that I thought was a remarkably smart use of space -- but odd.

They say that the hotel has parking. I lucked out and got a parking space -- but don't count on it. There are a grand total of 4 parking spaces in the garage.

The breakfast did not have much in the lines of Western selections. That said, this hotel doesn't cater to Westerners -- so no biggie there.

Finally, the location. You can look at it on a map, so decide for yourself if it fits your needs. However, be aware that while the hotel is close to "Taoyuan Station", it is not at all close to the Taoyuan high speed rail station. The high speed rail station was about a 500 NT$ taxi ride away. On the other hand, this is a convenient location with regard to the airport.

As for status, the perk on Spire Elite status here is a complimentary non-alcoholic welcome drink.

All in all, I got the bed I paid for -- but I won't be back. This place doesn't meet the general brand expectations of a Holiday...

I had a satisfying 15-night stay in July at this practical and convenient 3-star hotel that required no advance deposit when I booked by phone. My original hotel reservation was with the nicer 5-star Monarch Plaza Hotel nearby, but the Monarch cancelled my reservation unexpectedly . To make things worse, they took weeks to refund my deposit money. The Holiday Inn Express was much friendlier and more accommodating. I loved my Holiday Inn Express room, which had plenty of light and a river view. I stayed on the 9th floor and was able to bird watch daily and see egrets, macaws , swallows, and cranes. On the last day of my stay, I saw two large snakes in the river, but I think I much prefer the birds. Food and customer service was decent. The room was bigger than I expected as I was reading that some reviews mentioning the room was small. The room has modern design and living space with wood floor and tile in bathroom. The room has a safe, a closet, and decent storage space. There is also a twin bed and a night stand in the center of the room. I enjoyed my wide-angle desk with a comfy swivel chair. There is one one-person couch which I never sat on, but I used it as my other storage space. There is one wide mirror above the desk and one vertical mirror near the entrance. The bathroom has one big mirror and two panel mirrors. Lighting is from mostly white light bulbs. They provide environmental-friendly towels (paper tissue) in big and small sizes. One small refrigerator was also in the room, which was enough for my stay. It's a quiet location although it's surrounded by roads and busy streets. The sound proofing was okay such as when someone lives next to your room, but noise was sometimes heard from the rooms above. Also, Wi-Fi seemed to be often glitchy. When I sent requests using my LINE messaging to the Front Desk, they took the requests as seriously as if I called them directly. I will be back and recommend this hotel to...

I had an early flight back to NYC, so needed an hotel near the airport. During my previous business travels, I have stayed at Holiday Inn Express and found the chain to satisfy my needs (great price, excellent room and service with good free breakfast).

I got stuck in the hotel when my flight was cancelled due to a snowstorm in NYC. My return flight was delayed 2 days, so I needed a place to stay for another 2 days. The staff at the hotel was extremely helpful, and I extended my stay without any problems and didn't even have to move to another room.

Since I was staying extra 2 days, I wanted to go out. The staff pointed out that I was able to take bus 1816 (right outside across the street) to Taipei and it only took 40 minutes. Also,there are local buses that take you into Taoyuan city for shopping and dinning (about 10 minutes).

As for the room, the hotel provided all the toiletry you needed. The room was clean bright, with cable TV. The mattress was little soft, but still very comfortable. The AC was excellent and we didn't hear any outside noise while in the room.

The free breakfast had both western and eastern fares, Only a few selections, but plenty to satisfy my hunger.

I would recommend this hotel to anyone who is visiting Taoyuan. I would definitely stay here next time when I am in the...