Location
Lotty Hotel Taipei is located in a somewhat residential area of Taipei. The closest landmark is Zhongshan Elementary School, which is a good 5 mins walk from the hotel. This is where one can find the MRT station that is closest to the hotel. There are no lack of convenient stores around the hotel (around 6) and also a couple of 24 hour supermarkets. There is a food street that operates 24 hours around 7 mins walk from the hotel, on top of the 24 hour dim sum restaurant just at the back of the hotel, which stayed open during the attack of typhoon Soudelor. There are also several eateries around the vicinity of the hotel.
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| Hotel Signage |
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| Hotel Facade |
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| Hotel Signage |
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| Hotel Signage |
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| Along the main street where the hotel is located |
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| Front of the hotel |
The Room
The room I have gotten is the Double Deluxe room, it has a total area of 36 Sq M. Upon entering the room, I was greeted by a small area for one to put on their shoes, a small latch for one to sit on while putting on their shoes also doubles up for one to stow their luggage. On the wall above this latch are some hook with 4 hangars. These latches is where one can hang their clothings. There are no wardrobes in the room, which makes these hooks the only area where one can hang their clothing. There is another door that leads into the room itself.
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| Entrance of the room |
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| Small shoe area |
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| Another door that separates the main door and the room |
Entering the doorway opens up to a very spacious room, the decor of the room is a little dated however some has some sense of cosiness in it. Opposite the second door is a large 2-seater couch, nicely tucked into a corner of the room. The couch is capable of sitting 3 mid-size people comfortably. A coffee table can be found in front of the couch. One can find a study table beside the couch. Turning right into the room when passing the second door, one can find a queen size bed. The bed is very comfortable and provided quality of sleep that allows me to rest very well throughout the night. However the pillows are a tad too soft for my liking. There are however huge cushions on the bed that gives extra support for those who prefer firmer pillows. Right in front of the bed is an ottoman, which provided extra space to stow one's luggage. Opposite the queen bed is a dresser, which one can put away one's clothing. The 42 in LED TV is located on tope of the dresser, which provided up to 98 channels for guests to watch whilst in the room. There are the standard bedside tables on either side of the bed. The more interesting feature in the room is the mural painted on the ceiling right above the bed. The hotel utilises the oval hollow feature on the ceiling, and painted underwater scenes, which glows in the dark! Right next to the door is where one can find another cabinet where the minibar is nicely tucked away. This is also where one can find the kettle and the fridge. Despite being a 3-star hotel, the hotel provides complementary can drinks (Coke and mineral water), as well as coffee and tea and some small snacks. These complementary items are topped up every day without fail. The hotel even provides reliable complementary wifi, which are chargeable in some 5-star hotels.
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| 2 seater couch and the study table nice tucked into the sides of the room providing more space in the room itself |
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| The couch and the study table |
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| Queen Bed and ottoman in the room. There are also a couple of bedside tables in the room. The whole room is well lited |
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| View of the room from the bathroom |
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| TV opposite the bed |
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| Complementary minibar which is topped up every day |
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| View from the room |
Separated by a curtain (yeah that is right, a curtain and not a door) next to the bed is where the bathroom is located. Located to the right of the entrance of the bathroom, half of this space is taken up by a huge jacuzzi tub. The tub is functioning well (something that I would not expect to be found in a 3-star hotel) and soaking in is very refreshing. Beside the tub, in front of the entrance to the bathroom is where one can find the sink on a counter top. The hotel provides full bath amenities including toothbrush set and comb. The bathroom also has a walk in shower area, however only regular shower head can be found. Guests can be assured of having a great hot water shower as it hot water is functioning very well in this room. The walk in shower, however lacks space to put your bath amenities in. The toilet bowl is located next to the walk in shower. There is a small "garden"of some sorts between the bathroom and the sleeping area.
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| View of the bathroom |
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| Huge jacuzzi tub |
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| Sink area and bath amenities |
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| Toiletries provided by the hotel |
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| Walk-in shower |
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| Toilet bowl |
The room overall is functional and the owners took the effort to spruce it up with a sense of cosiness. This is largely attributed to the soft orange lighting that the hotel chose. The location of the powerpoint outlets are however located in weird corners of the room, which takes some time to locate.
Dinning Area
Located past the reception is a small area where breakfast is served. The variety of breakfast is rather limited but delicious. The hotel serve the standard Taiwanese breakfast consisting of porridge and some western style breakfast such as toast and sandwich. They even have coffee, tea and orange juice. The staffs took note of certain dietary restrictions and go all way out to prepare food that catered to these restrictions with a smile. Plates are always cleared promptly in the dinning area. Do note that the dinning area is only functional during breakfast service and remains closed at other times of the day.
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| Dinning area where breakfast is served |
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| Western style breakfast |
Service
Despite being a 3-star hotel, the service in the hotel is impeccable and is better than some 5-star hotels. The excellent service started within an hour of booking the hotel even via a third party website. After booking, I received an email from the hotel confirming my booking and giving directions on how to get to the hotel via airport bus. Such a gesture is very thoughtful and is not being accorded even in some 5-star hotels. Since the time I booked the hotel and my arrival, there has been some arrangements that I contacted the hotel. Everytime Lotty Hotel took less than 1 hour to respond to my requests.
The staffs in the hotel delivers great service. They are attentive to details and very welcoming. Whenever we walked pass the reception, despite being seated and presumably busy with their work, the staffs will always leave what they are doing and stood up to greet me, asking how was my day and such. The reception staffs are also very responsive. I once complaint the air-conditioning seem to be out of order, within minutes, the staffs got someone to rectify it and even provided me with updates once it was being done. The warmth of the staffs are also apparent whenever we approached them to ask for directions, they are always generous in giving information and recommendations.
The official breakfast time for the hotel is from 7am to 10am. There was a day where we were down late (at around 10.15am), we originally wanted to head out for breakfast, seeing that there are still some activities in the dinning room, we popped by and checked if there are still breakfast available. The staffs at the dinning room, despite starting to clear, the staffs stopped clearing the food and started to serve us food. They even apologise for the lack of variety, instead of turning us down. They even wanted to get the chef to refire the kitchen to cook us some more food. Most hotels, even those 5-star ones would have turned us down.
The housekeeping staffs are also very friendly and responsible. They would diligently clean up our room each day without fail and without lack of standard. They will always smile and greet us whenever we bumped into them along the corridor in the mornings as we were leaving the hotel.
Overall
The hotel does look run down from its facade on the main street, however once entering the hotel entrance it does open up one to surprises. Despite being a 3-star hotel, the basic facilities are well maintained. What surprises me more is the service, one is assured of receiving service that is comparable or even better than what one can find in some 5-star hotels. The staffs provided warmth service and gave me a sense of familiarity when interacting with the staffs. The staffs took care of their guests very well and are not stingy in providing greetings and information that are valuable. I would recommend one to consider this hotel when visiting Taipei.
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