The Richforest Sun Moon Lake — Hotel in Yuchi Township

In January 2020 my wife and I included a 6 night Wendy Wu private tour of Taiwan as part of our 18 day Asian trip we arranged to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Our tour took in Taipei, Taroko Gorge, Sun Moon Lake, Tainan and Kaohsiung.||||For our overnight at Sun Moon Lake we stayed in the Richforest Hotel located in the Ita Thao village of Yuchi Township in the centre of Nantou county. It is a beautiful and impressive wooden structure made from Chinese cypress and stands majestically beside the beautiful man made Sun Moon Lake. There are exotic palm trees growing in front of the hotel building providing a pleasant setting. Entry to the hotel requires negotiating around 12 concrete steps from the roadside. ||||The reception area looks imposing with timber embellishments including impressive timber staircases to get to higher floors. We found the reception staff to be helpful enough but also a bit aloof and only willing to provide minimum responses to our queries. We did however appreciate sitting on chairs at the reception desk rather than having to stand and lean over a tall counter. ||||We liked our deluxe room which included a balcony with two chairs and an occasional table where we were able to enjoy some truly spectacular views of the Sun Moon Lake. The two double beds in the room were clean and comfortable. In addition to the usual tea and coffee making facility the hotel provided a pod coffee machine which was a nice added feature. Another nice feature was the timber panelling on the walls. The bathroom included a separate shower unit and plunge bath and a decent washbasin. It also included a modern electronic toilet.||||On the top floor there is an impressive reading room with comfortable lounge chairs to enjoy a bit of relaxation while enjoying the beauty of the lake. On one of the tables in this room was a nice display of purple orchids. ||||It was a pity that the hotel was being renovated during our stay and as such the restaurant was not available for us to enjoy an evening meal nor breakfast. A downside during our visit was to have to endure the smell of the industrial glues that were being used by the builders renovating the hotel. This was an unfortunate aspect of our visit. Breakfast was provided at the Lealea Moon Hotel, one of their sister hotels, about 300 metres up the road from the Richforest Hotel. We found the breakfast provided at the Lealea to be only average as it did not provide enough variety of food. It was adequate but not special. ||||Not being able to have dinner in the Richforest restaurant we ventured downtown and we found the Nine Go Beer Bar, a quirky new restaurant where the owner speaks good English and offers sensible kebab meals and a good range of beers to drink. The place is popular with western tourists in town. |||| Overall we found the hotel to be charming. However we felt it was let down by guests having to endure the renovations taking place while they were staying there. This of course is progress and necessary and we accept that this will happen to any traveller from...

We booked the Richforest Sun Moon Lake first of all as we wanted to have a relaxing and comfortable base during our 3 days at SML. There is a lot of hotels to choose from at SML however we picked the Richforest as it is a beautiful old wood structure with a lot of heritage and not like most of the others built from concrete and these dull urban Chinese city style as most of the buildings everywhere in the country. The hotel looks amazing in the black wood and is as well located on a prime spot directly at the waterline looking towards sunset! We had a room with lake view and have been very happy with it. Of course the hotel is old (opened in 1989) but nevertheless in good shape. When entering the big old open lobby is impressing especially when you check in around the time of sunset. It also gives a bit of imperial and exclusive feeling with everything in wood. The bathroom in our room was excellent and newly done some years ago, we had a bathtub as well as shower and plenty of space. The room in general was spacious and nicely located to the waterfront. As we stayed 3 nights, the hotel offered us also a shuttle bus to Shuishe after checkout (we to register for that service at the reception one day before) for free which is really nice! Furthermore I have to mention the staff is very nice and professional! The reception is always available to help with all type of requests and the room-keeping is also doing a great job!

However coming to the parts that definitely need improvement. As the hotel is old the carpets are stained and in our room there have been big spills of coffee on the carpet same goes for the furniture such as sofa chairs and tables - these definitely need an upgrade/rework The pool area is actually in the same area as the restaurant which is feeling a bit awkward and also there is a smell on that during breakfast. Furthermore the pool as well is pretty old, not heated and not very inviting The general amenities such as a pool table are also feeling a bit awkward next to the pool area in a very very low ceiling area and except of the pool Billard everything needs to be paid. Exercise machines are available however they are just standing in a corner on the lower floor and the location/service is not inviting at all (no separate room, just somewhere next to the pool table)

Nevertheless we decided that the Richforest deserves 5 stars as for what we expected we have been more than happy and liked the hotel and the professional...

I really do enjoyed my stay. Staff is really accomodating and adressing all the question and concerns that you might have.

They welcomed their guest right away by the time you get off your car, they'll carry your luggages and put it in your room even when you say 'I can do it' they'd insist to carry it for you. *take note- I have 4 heavy luggages - 2 luggae 20kgs, 2 luggage for 7kgs.

They'll give you a quick tour and they're also partner with Traveller's Bike Shop with exellent service which you can take it any where near in the area- Our rented bike supposedly just for a whole day but I take the bike with me for 2 days because of the confusion with one of their staff saying it is 'no limit' since we only communicating through translation app -bottom line is that they didn't charge extra and yet they do bargain to upgrade my bike from $700 to $500. another thing is that they pick me up when our bike tire got flat, also our stuff toy that we've won in claw machine forget to get into bike's compartment they bring it back to us with really great gesture.

I'm definitely going back. I really really appreciate your great service and compassion. Thank you so much to all of you!

Food - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Billiard Service (Free) - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Massage Chair ($10/3mins) - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Work Out Machines (Free) - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sauna (Free 6:00PM - 10:00PM) - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hotel Customer Service 9999999/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Traveller's Bike Shop Customer Service - 999999/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hotel Shuttle (Mercedez-Benz) - 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Butler - 9999999999/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Whole Sun Moon Lake Experience - 9999999999999/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Once again, The RichForest Hotel & Traveller's Bike - from the bottom of my heart, Thank you so so...