Royal Best

We stayed at this hotel in May 2007. The hotel staff are extremly freindly and courteous. Whenever we walked past reception they would stand up and bow (which we thought was a bit OTT). The room was a good size and very clean, it had two double beds, tea/coffee making facilities and the bathroom had all the usual perks such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, comb shaving kit, toothpaste & tooth brushes etc. and suprisingly even a condom? ? ? The only down sides were that there was no view, we overlooked another building that was about two feet away and had to keep the curtains closed whenever we were changing. Also, the hotel is on a very busy main road and unless you are given a room at the center or rear of the hotel expect to hear traffic noise at least 20 hours a day/night. A big plus is that the hotel has free internet acces so its easy to keep in contact with people back home. Breakfast was excellent with a selection of fruit, cereals, toast, juices, excellent coffee, bacon, egg, sausages etc. There is also a local dish on offer at breakfast as well as congee etc. I had local fish in a creamy sauce with onions one day for breakfast, and it was delicious. If you exit the hotel and turn left the Taipei 101 is about a 10 minute walk and is well worth a visit (check out Damper Baby, all 660 tons of it). If you exit the hotel and turn right, then right again you are about fifteen minutes walk to the nearest underground train station. If you exit the hotel and turn left, The Tavern sports pub is about a one minute walk, it serves an excellent selection of drinks and has a very good menu. If you fancy something in keeping with local culture, eat in one of the many the local eating places which are very very cheap. We even found an indoor barbeque restaurant where you could eat as much as you like for 150 Taiwanes Dollars (about £2.50p sterling). Note that Taipei is very hot and humid, so if you do not fancy walking taxis are very cheap. A big plus is that the taxi drivers will not attempt to rip you off (not like other big cities we have visited in the past). Overall we were very happy with the Royal Best Suites and if we return to Taipei we would definetly stay here again.

I stayed at Royal Best when I was in Taipei for an exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Centre. I did check reviews on Royal Best before booking it, so I knew it was pretty close to TWTC. BR's a great location for me, as it's less than 10 minutes walk from TWTC. The staff are friendly, courteous and cheery, even the old guys! The room was a little faded but functional and surprisingly bigger than I expected. BR offers free Internet access but the in-room modem didn't work for me. No worries though, as they have wireless access in the 24-hour coffee house. Only minor slip-up was that I asked them to fix one of the bedside lamps and they forgot, but I decided to let it slide since I didn't really need it after all. BR is a little far off from the nearest metro station (Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall station) - 12 minutes if you're brisk and 17 if you're not, but the directions are straightforward, so treat the walk as a bit of exercise! There're also plenty of 24-hour convenience shops, cafes, eateries around BR, including the bean curd chain, Yong He! Only grouse is that BR isn't on one of the stops for the airport bus services and taxis to/from airport aren't particularly economical. The nearest airport bus stop is at Grand Hyatt where TWTC is, so be prepared to lug your luggage. All in all, BR's a great value for money choice especially if you need to be near TWTC/Taipei business district but your budget's limited.

This is a nice small 2 / 3 star business hotel. Very convenient for the Taiwan Trade Centre (3 minutes walk) and Taipei 101. There is free broadband in the breakfast room, but no bar as such. However a great pub, The Tavern, is 200 yards away and a TGI Fridays is over the road. Neighbourhood is quite nice, very modern, very safe IMHO (as is the rest of Taipei I saw) Very friendly and helpful bi-lingual (at least) staff. Rooms have fridge (7-11 is a few doors away), coffee machine, two phones, bath with shower over, room safe, 70 channel TV and double bed. Ask for a room at the front overlooking the road, or your view may be of a wall and steel girder! Why pay three times the price to lodge at the impersonal Grand Hyatt round the corner?