Hotel and Inn Review: Ximen Relite Hotel (Taiwan)

Date of Stay: September 27-29, 2019

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: ********

Rooms: *******

Condition and Cleanliness: *******

Staff Performance: *******

Room Comfort: ********

Food and Beverage: *****

Other Amenities: *****

Value for Money: ******

Taipei Relite Hotel

The 3-star, Minimalist-style, 12-storey hotel, built in 1998, was formerly known as Relite Hotel Taipei and Lilai Hotel.  

It has 100 elegantly decorated airconditioned, non-smoking rooms with flat screen cable TV with 40 cable channels (5 English – CNN, HBO, AXN, Discovery and TLC), NDD/IDD telephone, small refrigerator, magnetic door locks, doorbell, coffee/tea making facility, complimentary bottled water, work desk and complimentary wi-fi access.  

The private ensuite bathroom had a bathtub, shampoo and liquid soap dispensers, complimentary toiletries (2 sets of toothbrushes, shower cap and small bar of soap) and hair dryers.

Front Desk

The 19.8 sq. m. (216 sq. ft.) Standard Double Room (PhP2,261) has one double bed; the  19.8 sq. m. (216 sq. ft.) Standard Twin Room (PhP2,789-3,045) has two single beds; the 23.1 sq. m. (252 sq. ft.) Deluxe Double Room (PhP3,301-3,045) has one double bed; the 23.1 sq. m. (252 sq. ft.) Deluxe Twin Room (PhP3,301-3,557) has two single beds; the 23.1 sq. m. (252 sq. ft.) Standard Triple Room (PhP3,684-3,940) has one single bed and one double bed; the 23.1 sq. m. (252 sq. ft.) Standard Quad Room (PhP4,708-4,964) has two double beds; and the 23.1 sq. m. (252 sq. ft.) Deluxe Quad Room (PhP4,836-5,092) has two double beds.

Room 1612

It also has a 24-hour Front Desk, on-site coffee shop (Sunny Café, serving American and Chinese cuisine), tour desk, business center, shared lounge/TV area, meeting/banquet facilities and fitness center and offers luggage storage, daily housekeeping, shuttle service (surcharge), airport shuttle (surcharge) and 24-hour room service. Complimentary wi fi was also available in public areas, with two routers per floor.

Breakfast is served at the small, clean but no frills al fresco restaurant at the roof deck which has a great view of the city. You should take the lift to 12nd floor and then walk upstairs. Breakfast, which comes free with the room, doesn’t have much variety - mostly Asian fare (with a day or two without rice), eggs (mostly hard boiled or scrambled), coffee, tea, hot soya milk, iced tea, orange juice, ham, bread, jam and porridge. Times of eating are segregated based on your color voucher. They promptly close the breakfast table at 10 AM.

Elevators

The pillows and mattresses in the room were soft. There's no bidet in the bathroom but the electric mirror demister was a nice addition.  Air conditioning in the room has no temperature control so we were shivering all night, even under our heavy blankets. 

The staff was kind and courteous but had a hard time speaking in English but it was enough to get by.  The hotel lobby has an unlimited water dispenser and coffee/tea machine for waiting guests but the two elevators were very tiny. 

The roofdeck coffee shop

One great plus for this hotel is its location.  The centrally located Relite Hotel Taipei, alongside the biggest road and the sole sightseeing bridge flyover of Taiwan, is minutes away (200 m.) from Taipei City Prefecture North Gate and 400 m. from Zhongshan Hall and is within close proximity of Tianhou Temple and Red House Theater.

Sunny Cafe

6/F Elevator Lobby

Reception Area

It is also 300 m. from Beimen MRT Station, the Market and a 7-11 Supermarket; 500 m. from Front Metro Mall and Taipei International District of Commerce; 650 m. from National Taiwan Museum; 700 m. (a 10-15-min. walk) from Taipei Main Station and Presidential Office Building; about 800 m. from the popular Ximending Night Market; 1 km. from Dihua Street; 1.3 kms. from Qingshan Temple and Bopilao Old Street; 1.7 kms. from Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall; 4.8 kms. from Taipei Songshan Airport and 27.9 kms. from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. 

The author and his son Jandy

Ximen Relite Hotel: No 21, Section 1, Zhonghua Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei 100, Taiwan.  Tel: (855) 214-4563 (Guest Reservations) and +886 2 2311 1440. Website: www.ximen-relite.taiwanhotelstaipei.com.