In House Hotel Taipei

I went to Taipei Taiwan with Amma last month, just the two of us. I had to arrange and book everything by myself because she just wanted to follow me. A typical parent’s behaviour, which I appreciate because I love making decisions. A control freak here.

This time I chose the Taipei hotel based on an Agoda review score because I had never been to Taiwan before, I didn’t know how to speak the local language, and, from what I learned, not everyone could speak English. To be on the safe side, since I was bringing only my mother, I chose a well-known-well-reviewed but affordable hotel.

My favourite part of our Taipei hotel, Taipei Inhouse Hotel, besides its room, was the lobby. Every night, I snuck out after my Amma fell asleep and spent many hours there. Apart from being decorated with red sleazy pub lighting, there were comfortable sofas and a pair of MacBooks for guest use. I read books, wrote postcards, drafted blog posts (which are still in the draft folder, gaah…), replied to Facebook messages, and tweeted:

I am in Taipei! I can’t believe it!!

every fifteen minutes.

Another part that I like about the hotel? Yep, you guessed it right. It was WAKA WAKA, the restaurant, where we had a sumptuous breakfast every morning. I loved the spread of choices they had. It was mainly Western; no complaint from me. I don’t eat a western breakfast at home, so it was still a treat.

What I most loved about this restaurant, though, was the quality time I spent with my mama. We would choose a table by the window, pile on our buffet breakfast, and spend a good hour there talking and taking selfies together. Until today, I can still recall what she wore on a particular morning in that restaurant. The sweet memory stuck with me.

The room was a bargain; it came with a flat-screen TV with many channels, including HBO and Star World, my lifelong companions. The bed was a 5-star hotel’s standard (disclosure: I never stayed in a 5-star hotel before, but I assumed the bed would be this awesome!). My mama always takes extra-long hours to shower and get ready; I spent them wisely on the bed watching back-to-back episodes of ANTM. One of the lessons I learned from it was that there is a model look and a movie star look and you can’t be a model if you have a movie star look. Now don’t give me a confused look because those words come from Tyra herself.

The bathroom was my favourite part of the room because of the amenities. Their bath items are L’occitane people! I never even bought L’occitane before because it was not within my budget, so my pampering bathing goods stop at Bodyshop’s Honeymania. So, I did what Ross did. After using it, I kept it away each morning and yes, they topped it up. Everything! Except for the toothbrush because I didn’t keep it in the first place. I am not that cheap, and it wasn’t L’occitane in the first place.

There was a unique thing in the bathroom. A blowfish-shaped box on top of the toilet. I first thought it was a tissue box, but nope, it was a coin box. What did they expect us to do with it? To develop a saving habit by putting a coin before using the toilet? Weird. Speaking of the toilet, you know how much I love high-tech Japanese toilets. I wish I could buy one but no because: It was too darned expensive It would be hard to fit in my luggage, and I don’t have a home to put it in.

I bid a sad goodbye to them on my last day in Japan only to find out that I got to see them again in the Inhouse Taipei hotel!

The staff here spoke fluent English and were friendly, helpful, and generally good-looking. Overall, I enjoyed their service.

Lastly, the main reason I chose the Inhouse hotel was the location. It’s right smack in the middle of Ximeding. It is one of Taipei’s busiest, liveliest, and most happening places.  We could roam around and shop until late at night without worrying about taking a cab or train back. Any tour guide knows where the Inhouse hotel is, and we always get picked up there instead of meeting at a train station or somewhere else. Also, the bubble tea counter was a minute away from the hotel.

It suddenly crossed my mind that I should have written a review to Agoda about it and earned their 500 points. Do they still accept almost a year late review?

Anyway, the next time you are in Taipei consider staying at the Inhouse hotel and get ready to explore Ximending.

For food choices in Taipei, check out uncle Tehpeng’s Taipei food adventure.

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