2F., No. 42, Sec. 1, Ming Sheng East Road, Taipei, Taiwan
www.loft.via-hotel.com.tw Time of stay：Jan. 2014
Via Loft is a newly opened hotel. The internet reviews were pretty good, and they offered promotions for the grand opening, so I decided to give it a try. Less than 3 minutes after I made the reservation, I received the confirmation phone call, which was quite amazing! The caller made arrangements to smooth things out for me, and promised to refund the difference. I appreciate the thoughtful gesture.
The hotel is not hard to find from the Shuanglian MRT Station or the airport. It is located in a relatively old building. There were two elevators, but somehow only one was in use. It took a while for us to get to the second floor. Our room (Venture with no window) was on the third floor. We found that part of the third floor was still under construction. Though it was not dusty, it looked messy. The room itself was clean and neat, and everything in there was new. It looked, however, a lot smaller than what their website claimed. The bathroom was also nice. It would be better if they saved some space for the bedroom.
There were two major flaws in our room. First, soundproof was really bad. We could easily hear our next door neighbors talking. Second, there was a red light (for fire safety) on the ceiling. It was annoying because it was right on top of the bed.
The hotel encourages reuse of bath towels and bed sheets, which we are all for. After all, few people would change their bed sheets at home every day. But there’s no hook to hang used towels. They obviously need to make the room a little more user-friendly.
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▲Venture (with no window) has limited space.
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▲Though the room is small, it has everything except for a closet.
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We went to another city after our first stay, and when we came back, we got a room (Venture with windows) on the second floor. From the Internet information I thought the only difference would be the windows. But actually the room with windows was much bigger. There was plenty of space for luggage. The annoying red light was at a corner, which did not bother us. But the soundproof was still bad. Some guests talked loudly in the common area before dawn. We heard everything clearly even though our room was not close to the common area.
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▲The Venture Room (with windows) viewed from the entrance.
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▲The shower room also has a window.
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Unlike most hotels in the same rank, Via Loft does not provide free breakfast. But they have 24-hour light snacks, drinks, toast and milk. There are computers and newspapers in the common area. They also have free washing and drying facilities. While we were there, most of the guests were from China or Southeast Asia.
The greatest strength of Via Loft was their staff. All of them were full of passion. They treated our matters as their own, and never gave us the routine response or “canned” smile. Before we left, we had to tie up a paper box. The staff of other hotel would just provide us with the ropes or tapes at best, but the Via Loft staff went ahead and did the job for us. They did it so naturally that it touched my heart! Not only did their staff members have great language ability, their passion was also unparalleled!
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