Update on Taipei's five-star hotels

The 558-room Grand Formosa Regent Hotel (www.grandformosa.com.tw) on Chungshan North Road is extending its portfolio and will next month open its own restaurant, Silk Palace, located in the National Museum.

The hotel’s Regent Ballroom and nine function rooms can fit from eight to 1,000 delegates. The hotel recently held an event for Hewlett-Packard Asia and Japan.

In downtown Taipei, Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel (www.shangri-la.com) renovated five of the 11 function rooms on its basement level last August. The rooms have been given new carpets, wallpaper and chair covers.

The hotel also recently renovated its health club. The hotel has 420 rooms and is Taipei’s tallest hotel at 43 storeys. It has two ballrooms (the largest can hold 700 people), and nine function rooms. It recently provided an off-site catering event for Hermès.

Sheraton Taipei (www.sheraton-taipei.com) has developed its art promenade, which offers a relaxing and cultural stroll for delegates in between meetings. The lower level of the hotel sees regular exhibitions from local and international artists and sculptors. The hotel has an 1,800-person ballroom and three multifunctional VIP rooms.

Grand Hyatt Taipei (taipei.grand.hyatt.com) opened both Vanille and U&Me in March this year in the TWTC Nangang. Vanille offers a wide array of Western and Asian cuisine in buffet style and can seat up to 450 people. It also offers two private function rooms for between 18 and 36 people.

U&Me can seat 252 diners and offers quick Chinese and Western dishes. The restaurants are open daily when an exhibition or show is staged at the exhibition hall.

Starwood’s 288-room ‘boutique’ Westin Taipei (www.westin.com/taipei) on Nanking East Road is a 40-minute drive from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and is convenient for the MRT train. The hotel offers 22 meeting rooms and also has its own cinema, which can hold up to 30 on
comfortable sofas.

COMING UP…
MANDARIN ORIENTAL TAIPEI
Due to open in the first quarter of 2010. Mandarin Oriental will manage a new 300-room hotel in the heart of Taipei’s central financial and business district. The hotel will be located on Dunhua North Road and will feature two bars and four restaurants, including authentic Cantonese and
Italian cuisine, a health spa and fitness centre, and outdoor pool. Extensive banquet and conference facilities will be ideally suited for meetings and private functions.
www.manadarinoriental.com

SHANGRI-LA’S FAR EASTERN PLAZA, TAINAN
Due to open in the third quarter of 2010, the site for Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Tainan, is adjacent to Tainan Rail Station and a 20-minute drive from the Taiwan High Speed Rail
(THSR) station, leading to connections throughout Taiwan.

The hotel adjoins the Far Eastern Group’s FE21 Mega shopping complex and is located near the famous National Cheng Kung University.

The 336-room, 38-floor atrium-style hotel will provide a total 2,300 sqm of function space, including a 1,055 sqm pillarless ballroom as well as a 300 sqm auditorium and intimate function rooms totalling 550 sqm.
www.shangri-la.com