Kenting Green Yard B&B

It's a very clean & nice B&B Public transport is very convenient,bus stop is just less then 5min walk from here. Room is clean and spacious,especially the room I stayed is come with a hot spring tub with the superb view(R:501) Suggest those who come with family or friends can choice theirs VIP LOFT ROOM,view is awesome especially at night

As four senior international travellers, we didn't want to be in the touristy part of Kenting but still close enough to visit the various attractions. We decided to stay in Hengchun as it's a short 10 to 15-minute taxi/bus journey to Kenting. This proved to be better for us as Hengchun is more subdue and has many restaurants serving local cuisines, unlike the Thai and Western restaurants in Kenting. Furthermore, the price of minsu or homestays in Hengchun is more inline with the homestays as the rest of Taiwan. 1) Location This homestay, along with many other homestays, is on a street parallel to the main street of Hengchun. Many commercial vehicles pass in front of the homestay during the day but it is relatively quiet at night. Along the main street of Hengchun, there are various convenient stores, restaurants and cafes. The city buses run along the main street of Hengchun, so going to Kenting is convenient. The long distance bus terminal is about 1km away. We hired a car with a driver for a full day tour in and around Kenting, so that we could maximize our time hitting all the attractions. 2) Orientation & Recommendations The check-in process was simple and the proprietor appeared friendly and very enthusiatic to share info with us on places to eat, attractions to visit, buses to take, etc. There were maps and brochures available in the receptions/living room as the proprietor and her family lives in this multi-floor building. 3) Room Like many other multi-floor commercial buildings turned homestays in Taiwan, there is no elevator. We had to lug our bags up the rather steep stairs to the 3rd floor. There is no view from the room since the small window opens to the corridor which leads to the adjacent room. This means there is not much privacy if the adjacent room is occupied when the window is open. We got a 4-person tatami room with two queen-sized mattresses and we paid extra to add an additional single mattress for 4 of us. The room size was adequate and the light paintjob gave the room a comfortable feel. The bathroom was spacious with sufficient hot water and water pressure. We were told to keep our keys which has a door access card to get in to the buidling through a side door after the main entrance was closed at night. However, when we left for our day tour the next morning, we were not told we had to specifically asked to have the room cleaned. When we returned in the evening, the proprietor said since we didn't leave our keys, she assumed we didn't want the room cleaned. How funny! She apologized and said she forgot to ask us about cleaning the room in the morning when we left for our day tour. She could have called me on my Taiwan cell phone to ask because she actually called me in the afternoon to recommend a place for dinner. Eventually, we had to wait while she cleaned our room. For a homestay which has been in operation for a few years, this shows the lack of an orderly system, even if this is a family-run business. 4) Breakfast Unlike other homestays in Taiwan where there is a dedicated breakfast room, the receptions/living room triples as a breakfast area. A folding table and chairs are used for breakfast in addition to the sofas and coffee table. I believe this setup is not sufficient when the rooms are fully occupied and many may not be used to eating on the low sitting position of the coffee table and sofas. Also unlike other homestays in Taiwan where the breakfast hours is usually between 7:00 or 7:30am and 9:30 or 10:00am, the breakfast is served only for an hour from 8:00 to 9:00am! This appears to be more for the convenience of the proprietor rather than for the guests. This also means that the guests can't start their tour activities until after 9:00am if they want to have the included breakfast. The real problem was when we got up and waited for breakfast at 8:00am, the proprietor and her staff appeared to be just opening the main entrance and getting ready to prepare and cook breakfast! At 8:30am, the breakfast was not even ready to be served. We gave up and went out for breakfast. For a business to set a limited breakfast duration, it's absolutely unacceptable to not honor its own rules and regulations. Furthermore, this caused an inconvenience to us as we were on a schedule. 5) How We Felt About Our Stay During our 30-day round the island trip, we stayed in numerous minsu or homestays in many parts of Taiwan. Many of the excellent facilities and services raised our expectations of homestays within the same price bracket before we came to Hengchun/Kenting. The incidents with the room cleaning and breakfast gave us the impression that the proprietor was not serious about running this homestay as a business. Although we appreciated her friendliness and enthusiasm in sharing info with us, the core services of a homestay must be fulfilled to earn happy and return guests. Here, we must rate this homestay based on those core services to be fair to users of Tripadvisor. In this case, we will not return and do not recommend this place.