Taiwan Seven Days Boutique Hotel

The owner was very helpful when we arrived around 2 a.m. She opened the door and helped us check in, and she was responsive on booking.com too. The room and bathroom are small, but that was fine. Sometimes the shower didn’t have enough hot water.

After the first night, I canceled the rest of our booking and moved elsewhere. Maybe this would suit someone on a very tight budget, up to 500 TWD a night, but otherwise I think almost any other hotel would be a better choice. Vote: 0. Our three-night booking cost over 10,000 TWD, perhaps because of the season, so I expected a decent standard for the price. I’d seen the photos and reviews and thought I knew what to expect, but the place was much worse. The rooms are tiny, with barely any room for luggage. The sink is beside the bed, and the shower is right over the toilet. Hot water is limited. After I flushed four tissues, the toilet clogged, and the reception women, who also seemed to do the cleaning, came to help. I think they try to keep things clean, but the cramped rooms and humidity are a problem. A warm shower leaves moisture in the room, and there was mold in most corners, around the toilet, and behind the sink. It looked like they’d tried to cover it with wallpaper, but you could still see it. Having mold next to the bed was unpleasant. There was also hair on the toilet when we arrived. The small window has no curtains, so morning sun wakes you up. Music starts playing throughout the hotel around 9 a.m., making it hard to sleep. Worst of all, after our first night a fire alarm suddenly went off, waking us and making everyone leave the building. They said someone had set it off by smoking, but everyone was already outside and nobody was questioned. I’d seen other reviews mention the alarm, so it’s easy to suspect a malfunction. People outside looked upset and frightened by the sudden noise.

There were clean towels and bedsheets, though they weren’t changed every day. Still, the quality doesn’t justify the price. The rooms felt damp, moldy, dirty, and cramped, and the shower ran out of hot water after about ten minutes. There’s no sound insulation, so sleeping could be difficult, and service at the entrance is automated. For this standard, I’d pay no more than 500 TWD a night.

I tried to give a detailed, fair account without nitpicking. After my partner posted a review of the pros and cons, the hotel called and offered us a full refund if we removed it. A few days later they withdrew that offer and tried to bargain. We’d given a fair three-star review for a three-star service, and it felt underhanded to call us and try to scrub it. While negotiating, the owner admitted they wanted to clean and update room 511, so hopefully your stay is better. The room is only as wide as the double bed in it. If you’re taller than the bed, you’ll have to sleep partly crouched, and with the bed touching three walls, one person has to climb over the other. It’s a self-service hotel, with staff available only for a short time in the middle of the day, so calling the desk is unlikely to help. The air conditioner has a timer, and you wake up warm. The walk to the night market and train station takes about 15 minutes and can be sweaty. The mini fridge works only if you push things to the back. The bathroom is usable, but there’s black-looking mold between the tiles and on the ceiling, which concerned me. They provide only one room key, so if you split up, one person has to wait for the key holder to return. When you request cleaning, they do a good job except for sweeping or vacuuming the floor.