Thursday, February 2, 2017

台湾: My stay at Orange Hotel, Ximen!

If you have been following me on my social media, you would know that i just came back from Taiwan a couple of weeks back and before i officially start my travelogue (wait, i haven't even finish my Bali one! Opps.) Anyway, let me share more about my stay in Taipei which was sponsored by Orange Hotel. To sum up my Taiwan itinerary in short, it was a 7D6N trip and i spent 1 day at Cingjing, 1 day in Taichung and the remaining 5 days in Taipei. 

I think when it comes to deciding on accommodation, the most important questions that you would ask yourself is definitely the location and the rate. As for me, other than the two mentioned factors, i would also read up on reviews to determine if the hotel is worth staying/ paying for. I have come across hotels which are affordable, good location but based on the reviews, the facilities are not well maintained or lousy service from the staffs etc. Ok, let's not digress further since the main point of this post to share more on my stay at Orange Hotel, Ximen.
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Orange Hotel, Ximen. No.166-2, Sec.1,Zhonghua Rd., Wanhua Dist., Taipei City 10846, Taiwan

Orange Hotel has a total of 7 hotels in Taiwan, of which 4 are in Taipei and the others located in Taichung, Chiayi and Kaohsiung. What's really good about these hotels is that they are all located at prime locations, just minutes away from famous landmarks/ night markets. The orange hotel that i stayed is just across the famous Ximending street.
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...and it's just a 5 mins walk (or even lesser!) to the nearest train exit (1)!
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In conjunction with the eco-friendly beliefs, there will be no toilet amenities like soap, tooth brush etc available in your room but instead, you can ask for them at the check-in counter. I thought it was a rather good idea because you only take/ ask for what you need and they would not need to replenish for you every day. 
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I stayed in their standard guest room which is about 13.2sm which i don't deny is small but it has basically everything that you would need, even a king sized bed so i'm not complaining. The room is tastefully designed and in fact, rather cosy since they made use of every available space for the amenities but still ensuring room for comfort. I stayed on the 10th floor and was quite surprised to see the Taipei 101 building when i drew the curtains, LOL
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Located in the basement of the hotel is a 24 hour snack bar! I was quite elated to hear that because it was something that i did not expect prior to checking into the hotel. (Probably because i didn't read their website) so the first thing i did after checking in was to take the stairs down and find out what exactly they meant by snack bar. #SoSingaporean
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Hot drinks machine, bread, cereals, fruits, yogurt etc which i thought was a good gesture from the hotel! I remember there was one late night when we went to the nearby 7 eleven to get supper (psst, the cup noodles in Taiwan is damn awesome. You have no idea.) and we brought the food back to the hotel basement to consume it since there is hot water to cook the noodles and we had hot drinks, snacks to go along with it. One of the reason for this 24 hour area is also for travelers to interact with one another, who knows if you might make a new friend or two in a foreign country *wink*
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Psst. You can't exactly bring up your food/ breakfast and have it on your bed. 
requested for special permission to bring a tray of food up just to take this pretentious shot. HAHAHA

Overall i'm really pleased with my stay in Orange Hotel, Ximen and i'm quite sure the rest of the Orange hotel is just as good or even better (I'm not saying this because my stay was sponsored but because i really enjoyed my stay there) The staffs were friendly and greeted everyone with a smile regardless if we were entering or exiting the hotel. 

Location, checked. 

Service, checked. 

Good review, checked.

If you are intending to head to Taiwan and is looking for accommodation, do checkout their official website at http://www.orangehotels.com.tw to find out more on Orange hotel as well as their rates :)


Till then,