Beauty Hotels Roumei Boutique, Taipei

Roumei Boutique Taipei

I stayed at this hotel for four nights on my recent trip to Taiwan. Part of Taiwan’s Beauty Hotels chain, it was highly rated on booking.com and it didn’t disappoint.

The Room

It was everything the website promised. We stayed in the Duluxe Double, which featured a very big, very comfortable bed in a large room which also featured a desk, two easy chairs and a couple of cupboards. We had complimentary tea, coffee, two bottles of water and some snacks, all of which were replenished daily. There was also a small wardrobe with a fridge and a safety deposit box inside. In addition, there was a large flatscreen TV built into the wall which had 100 channels, mostly Taiwanese but with a few foreign channels such as CNN. The en suite bathroom was even better, with a triangular shaped Jacuzzi bath with two bubble functions, and a large power shower with three different functions. There was also another TV built into the wall which you could watch from the bath. We were on the 7th floor, so we had a decent view over some nearby suburbs. No view of Taipei 101, unfortunately!

Breakfast

I saw a couple of negative comments on booking.com about the breakfast. In short, those people must either be used to a standard of hoteliery that I’ve never experienced, or just plain out of their minds. Breakfast was immense. Running from 7am to 10am, it was a huge buffet featuring food from all over the world. There were Western dishes, Taiwanese, Japanese, French, and on the first morning we even had Mexican quesadilla which were awesome. There was bread and lots of cakes that you could toast if you wanted, orange and tomato juices and a tea/coffee machine. On the first morning I filled my boots, but after that I started to worry about my waistline a little … plus it was a little strange eating things such as pizza and curry for breakfast. Still, no complaints at all.

The Staff

The staff were highly professional and courteous in that way that top range hotels are. They didn’t try to buddy up to us or “make friends” like hoteliers in smaller establishments often do. They were extremely polite at all times and when I had a request (for example the first night I couldn’t find the air-conditioner control and on the second I wanted something to kill a mosquito which had found its way into our room) they dealt with it quickly and efficiently. Not all of the staff spoke English, but when I rang the front desk I was quickly passed over to someone who did.

Other facilities

The room had wi-fi, and there was also a kind of chilling out room on the lobby floor which also had a computer for guest use. On the first basement floor, there was a small gym, although it only had a couple of running machines and a stepper. It did have free bottles of water available which was a nice touch. There were also all the other usual amenities such as laundry, airport taxi booking, etc, none of which we actually used.

Access

The nearest MRT (Mass Rapid Transit – the Taipei Metro, basically) stop, Nanjing West Road, was about a five minute walk. We actually got lost on the first day because the map was difficult to read, but no doubt if we’d taken a taxi it would have been no problem.

Amenities in the local area

There was a small market just at the end of the street, although it had nothing special about it, as well as several shops including a pharmacy, and a cake shop. There were a few restaurants nearby, including several posh looking fish joints near the MRT stop, as well as a Burger King. There was also a cinema just around the corner, showing Western Films.

Criticisms

Only two, and they are minor – the first was that our toilet’s b-day function didn’t work, although I didn’t bother to report it because it didn’t bother me too much. The second was that on our last morning we had to leave just before 7am to get to the airport for a 9am flight, and we wanted to go into breakfast early and the reception staff said no. I understand it was probably about their strict start/finish times, but with the amount of food they had available I didn’t think it would be a problem to have a couple of sandwiches or something. Still, not a big deal.

Costs

I used booking.com as I do for most hotel bookings these days. According to the rates on the invoice we were given the official room charge was 6000 New Taiwanese Dollars a night, but we got significant discounts on the website and paid between 2800 and 3200 (68 pounds) per night. Not sure why the rates were different, but it says in my guidebook that weekends/peak times have different rates in Taiwan.

Overall

Very recommended. Very central, near the MRT which was a short hop to any of the sites in Taipei, and a nice, relaxing hotel to return to in the evening. The cost might seem high in pounds, but we were coming from Japan where the yen is strong, and for us it was a real bargain. I would definitely stay there if I visit Taiwan again.