Royal Seasons Hotel (Taipei Branch)

No. 326 Nanjing West Road, Taipei
Tel: +886 (2) 2555-6488
www.royalseasons.com                                                Time of stay: June 2009 

This hotel was called Seasons Hotel (Classic Taipei) back in 2009, but it was renamed as Royal Seasons Hotel (Taipei Branch) for some reason. It took quite a hassle to get there. After entering the city limits, the airport bus gave some passengers heading for certain areas to an old city bus, and it took a while for the city bus to finally arrive. The hotel is actually close to the once bustling food market Taipei Circle, but a bit far from the Zhongshan MRT Station. Its website says it’s a 10 to 15 minute walk. For us, it’s about 12 minutes. Walking was not a problem, but walking through a quiet and relatively dark neighborhood was a problem. It was scary for a female to walk on those streets alone at night.

Our Standard Double Room was quite big and comfy (23 square meters), which you rarely got at that price. The furniture was also in classic style, corresponding to its name. Before making a reservation, we heard that this hotel provided L'occitane toiletries, and indeed. Other than that, there was a Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. The restaurant was in the basement, which is the location for the free breakfast buffet. The computer room was also in the basement. If you want to save the trouble of bringing your own computer, you will be fine here.

During our stay, most of the guests were from Hong Kong. But unlike Forte Orange Kaifong Branch (where most of the guests were young tourists from Hong Kong), we saw more middle-aged people from Hong Kong here at Royal Seasons. Maybe as we age, we have different demands on lodging. Everyone on the staff was friendly and attentive. They made you feel really welcomed here, which was quite impressive.