Regent Taipei

BACKGROUND

We last reviewed the Regent Taipei in 2016. Back then, we called it “one of the best hotels in Taipei”… but our reviewers are not ones to let hotels rest on their laurels. Invited back in January 2019, we decided it was a good chance to check that the hotel was still offering some of the best service in the city.

WHERE IS IT?

Located in Taipei’s commercial Zhongshan district, the hotel is a five-minute walk from the Zhongshan MRT station and a 50-minute drive from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. The hotel’s wifi-equipped limousine service collected me from the airport, which made for a seamless and comfortable transfer.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

The hotel seems to be a favourite haunt of local, regional and even international celebrities. During our hotel tour, we were shown the presidential suite, from whose windows the likes of Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson have reportedly waved to their adoring fans below.

ROOMS

Regent Taipei has 478 guestrooms and 60 suites. I was in a Deluxe room, which was spacious, with a sofa and seat as well as a separate glass work desk and office chair. The mattress was a little hard for my liking, but this seems to be the case in many Taiwanese hotels.

Both two-pin and three-pin electric sockets are available, meaning you’ll likely not need an adaptor. You can scan a QR code to get free digital access to The New York Times. My room also had an attractive view of the city, particularly at sunset.

A highlight of the bathroom amenity kit is the tropical magnolia body lotion, which I applied liberally after my bath.

LOUNGE

The executive lounge has three seating sections: by the window, in the centre, and off to the side. I had breakfast in the morning and the staff seated me in the side seats, but I found it depressing sitting there with almost no natural light, and the staff promptly assisted with my request to move to a window seat, even offering to raise the blinds for me.

The lounge offers a good selection of drinks and snacks, including some rather attractive cakes. The dried fruits — starfruit, green mango, pineapple, guava and tomatoes — were a nice touch.

For hot drinks, there was a Nespresso coffee machine with six types of coffee to choose from and tea from Taylors of Harrogate. You can have breakfast up here, too, which features a good selection, including an egg station.

If the lounge’s communal seating area does not offer enough privacy for you, there are two meeting rooms you can use, one smaller with armchair-style seating and one larger, with more formal hard seating.

FOOD AND DRINK

The hotel has eight F&B options: Mihan Honke (Japanese), Azie (contemporary Asian and Western), Brasserie (buffet), Gallery (lounge bar and finger food), Robin’s Grill (steakhouse), Robin’s Teppanyaki (French-style teppanyaki), Silks House (Sichuanese and Cantonese) and Lan Ting (Chinese).

LEISURE

The fitness centre is open 6am-10.30pm and the pool 6.30am-10pm. You can also use the sauna between 7.30am and 11pm. If you’re staying on a top floor, the gym can feel a little far away as you have to take two separate lifts to reach it – no one wants to have to walk through the lobby in their gym clothes. One feature I did enjoy was that I could watch the TV news while running on the treadmill.

Wellspring Spa, on the top floor of the hotel, is open from 10am to midnight and offers various treatment programmes. The rooftop swimming pool, which is fully heated all year round, is open from 6.30am to 10pm, good for all but midnight swimmers.

VERDICT

This is still one of the best luxury hotels in the city, and has the feeling of being the place to stay if you’re a visiting somebody – or just want to feel like one. Novelty services like the “photobutler” may be a draw for affluent teenagers and 20-somethings (or those travelling on their parents’ dime), but for the average business traveller this is likely to be of minimal interest.

You have to take two lifts to reach the gym -- no one wants to have to walk through the lobby in their gym clothes