Uinn Business Hotel - Taipei Shilin

I booked several months ahead for a stay over the coming New Year, then was told yesterday that they wanted to cancel my reservation on January 01, 2025, for no reason. That’s very bad service. In response to the hotel’s reply: it’s even more ridiculous to hear that the government supposedly forces the whole hotel to close on New Year’s Day to renew a policy. The government you’re dealing with sounds like a tyranny. How much money would you lose? I’m not buying this nonsensical excuse.

The staff were great, and the place was clean and beautiful. When I raised a room issue, they moved me quickly to a larger, better room at no extra cost. They knew I was concerned about cleanliness because I needed to take an antigen test before flying to the U.S., so they wiped down the new room with alcohol before I moved in. When a family matter meant I needed one more night, they helped a lot. The staff and service are why I’m giving five stars.

I was looking forward to staying here during a 22-hour layover from Bangkok to Seattle, but the night went badly. After landing, immigration, and exchanging money at the airport, I realized it was 12:15 a.m. local time. I contacted the hotel to say we were on our way, and was told it was full and I would not get a room, even though I had booked and paid in full online. They repeated that no room would be available if I came, so I scrambled to find somewhere nearby and booked another hotel. When I later complained, the hotel emailed to say UINN had actually held my room until 11 a.m. checkout the next day. If I’d been told that correctly, I wouldn’t have wasted time trying to find another place. They also refused to refund me for the misinformation from their employee. This was the worst hotel we came across on our trip.

Housekeeping took valuables from my brother’s room, and tracking showed them going from the hotel to Taoyuan, where we believed an employee lived. Find My iPhone showed the location move. The hotel did nothing to make this right and seemed not to care. I live next door and used to recommend the place to friends and family, but I can’t do that now. Taiwan usually feels safe and welcoming, so this was especially disappointing. It also spoiled my brother’s first trip to Taiwan. I expect the hotel may reply that it isn’t responsible. My brother’s visit was short, and we didn’t want to spend hours with police instead of having family time. The incident happened inside the hotel and involved its employees. They have camera footage and work logs, and should report it to the authorities. Making a tourist spend vacation time dealing with police would be the worst outcome. For clarity, my brother had worked in his room, left his AirPods on the bedside table and his work laptop in the safe, then went to lunch with me. He didn’t return until that evening, and the AirPods were gone. Their location was pinned at the hotel, then moved to Taoyuan. Blame the guest if you want, but that’s what happened.