Qstay in Taipei

Qstay Hotel in Taipei

On my recent trip to Taipei, I stayed at a hotel called Qstay. Initially I had planned to be staying with my friend Jeff, who had to make a quick last minute trip to Tokyo, but suddenly found myself having to find a hotel. He had no recommendations and felt there may be problems given the time of the year I was going to be there. Now I have traveled quite a bit and am no stranger to finding a hotel, I wil not profess that my choices have always been the greatest, but it is after-all just a bed for the night. As long as the sheets are clean and the noise level is low, I am pretty content. Any other ammeneties are a bonus in my books.


I am a big fan of Trip Adviser and proceeded to do my research for a room there. They have pretty good reviews written by previous travelers and you get a pretty good feel for a place from the feedback they post. I managed to find a place called Qstay, that had some very praiseworthy reviews, and so I began my booking. Unbeknown to me, this was also the start of the Chinese New Year. Any traveler to Asia knows that travel and hotels are busy, crowded and difficult. So my first few queries resulted in not having much luck. But the guys at Qstay were very helpful and every query was answered within the hour. As quickly as I seemed to find the room I wanted, by the time I worked out the costs and made a decision, the room choices got more narrow, until I had but one room option left, and they were kind enough to give me 24 hours to respond. I knew better than to wait and responded immediately that I would take the room.

The price was a surprise, as it is located in a fairly central location and at about $35 CDN I was afraid that perhaps the rooms may not be as glamorous as the other hotels offering at $200+CDN per night.
But I felt confident that things would be okay, and if not, I would find something else, I was sure.

The staff confirmed my room within minutes of sending off my request to secure the booking. They did not want anything to secure the room, unlike other places where they want a credit card number. They send me a map of the hotel with directions written in Mandarin so that I could get local assisatnce upon arrival if I took a taxi. They also gave me various options of transport utelizing combinations of public transit from the airport, and even including arranging for a driver from the hotel if I wanted.

My flight from Vancouver arrived at 6AM local time, but knowing that when I travel to asia, I tend to have a messed up body clock and find it best to get into the local swing and time zone, I opted to not take chack-in until 3PM, the normal check in time. Having been laden down with a suitcase full of dog collars, halters, leads and Denta sticks and Denta bones; cat toys and treats for Pancake and wine for Clive, I thought it best to not try and cart my 24Kg suitcase, and a backpack onto public transport during morning rush hour. Getting a taxi was easy at the airport and the driver looked at my map and  directions and took me directly there. I was greeted and assisted into the doors and offered some juice and coffee, as well as maps and advise on where I might want to go for the day.

As you will know from a  previous posting, I opted for the International Flora Show, getting back to the hotel about 2PM, where I was told that my room was ready if I wanted to check in. Again no credit card information required, simply pay on check-out. I was escorted to my room and given the directions on how to work everything. The room comes with a 42" TV, kettle, safe, telephone, small fridge and a computer with free unlimited internet access as well as having WiFi. The bed was comfortable, the shower was hot and I was in heaven. The front desk reception area had 24 hour access to free snacks and coffee, or tea, or for a nominal price juices and soft drinks. The bathroom in addition to the standard soaps and shampoo's also provides razors, toothbrushes and tooth paste, shower caps (a bit of a waste in my case) and Q-tips! The entire hotel is also non-smoking. The security was great to get into the hotel hallways as well as CCTV monitoring. And so a hot shower and off to bed, snug as a bug in a rug went I.

The rest of my stay was consistently positive. All of the staff spoke English and have lots of various booklets and maps and in some cases, even written slips to give to a taxi driver in mandarin for places you might want to go, as well as giving you some business cards for the hotel with maps on the back for getting back to your hotel. And of course written directions for a taxi driver. It is about 200 meters from the Ximen Metro underground station and I took to walking to various sites like the President's Offices (their equivalent of the White House in Washington), a very lively pedestrian night walking area, parks and monuments.

On check-out if you pay cash, you get a 5% discount, and there are many close ATM/ABM cash machines in the area, and a police station just blocks away. Not once did I feel unsafe in the area.

I had never intended to be promoting businesses on this blog, but I have to say that if you find yourself in Taipei, this is a great find and the price is incredible, considering the amenities, location and helpfulness of the staff can't be said enough.