I'm sitting here in my room on the 12th floor of the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei. I decided to try this hotel after staying at the Grand Hyatt in the past.

Some of the reviews on this website can be really picky and critical of one slip-up by the hotel staff. When you travel on business, you usually take some things in stride. Thus, I wanted to write a review from the frequent traveller point of view.

First, this hotel is not on par with other Four Seasons properties. It may be owned by the Four Seasons chain, but it's more on par with the Hyatt or Shangri-La chains. The room on this floor is quiet, the bed is comfortable, the bathroom is spacious. I requested a non-smoking room and even though the floor seems to be a mix of smoking/non-smoking rooms, my room doesn't stink of smoke.

It's the little things that you notice in the room that make it less than Four Seasons perfect. The room has a new flat-panel TV on the wall but the light from the blue power indicator LED lights up the room at night. The caulk in the bathroom is applied sloppily. There is a drip of some dried milky liquid on the inside of the bathroom door that hasn't been cleaned by housekeeping. These are minor nits and I'd stay here again because I am able to sleep, I am able to work and it meets my needs.

My wife and I stayed at the hotel from 11/22 to 11/26/06 while in Taiwan on vacation. My overall experience was extremely positive. I had arranged for shuttle service by the hotel from the international airport. The shuttle was prompt and the driver was courteous. Upon my arrival, a friendly front desk attendant greeted me at the car door before I even stepped into the hotel, whisked me inside to the front desk, and proceeded to check me in all within a matter of 5 minutes. My luggage arrived at the room in minutes, accompanied by an extremely courteous bellhop.

During the my stay, the positives were: an overall helpful and well-meaning staff, excellent food (dynamite breakfast buffet at the Brasserie), spacious and comfortable rooms, and large COMFORTABLE beds (firm yet with memory foam pads -- best sleep I had in years). The negatives were: an unimpressive and drab pool area, thick second-hand smoke in the lounge/cafe area, and non-smiling/stoic staff at the concierge desk.

I was in general very pleased with my stay there. A very comfortable and enjoyable hotel. I would definitely stay here again on my next visit.

This is a fine hotel with exceptional service. While it's a large hotel, the atmosphere is calm and peaceful and the rooms are decorated in muted tones. The rooms are extremely large and the bathrooms are enormous as well. Of course the prices are large too and beware of all the incidentals. Everything in the room is for sale. E.g. there's an internet cable and a normal telephone cord in the desk drawer with a warning that if you take either one it's NT$500! Speaking of internet, there's ethernet in the room but it's a whopping NT$600 per day.
The location is excellent, close to the MRT station but the hotel is set back from the road and designed more for taxis than pedestrians. Overall it's a good place to stay if you need a large spacious room and lots of well dressed staff to help you. If you can get a decent rate, go for it.

My wife and I arrived late in the evening at about 11:30pm. I realize that staffing is lower at that time, but could someone at least hold the door open while I struggle with my bags into the lobby? My feeling about this hotel are all about being relative to other upper end hotels thruout Asia at similar pricing, and this didnt measure up. Lobby and elevators needed updating as did the rather gloomy bar/bistro area on the basement floor. Service staff in the restaraunts was sub par.....forgot to put my food order in due to "computer problem". One afternoon at the lobby level cafe area, one waitress literally tossed the drink menu on the table, though she did perk up after a group of 25 finally paid up and left. On the positive side, the guest rooms themselves were good, being large, clean, well appointed, and had a great mattress. Location is also good being close to the MRT, but taxis are cheap and plentiful so even a ride to the Palace Museum is only 200NT. Bottom line is that my four night stay was fine, but when you see the "A Four Seasons Hotel" on the web page, you have expectations that weren't lived up to, though admittedly, the room rates were not as high as you would pay at a Four Seasons. Would I stay there again?.....probably not, as I would look to check out some of the many other choices in Taipei. If I were the Four Seasons management, I would think about taking the moniker off the web page as they risk diluting the name brand.