Just Sleep Hotel XiMenDing

During one of my most recent visits to Taipei I had a very unique hotel experience at one of the newest and hottest hotel chains in Taiwan, Just Sleep. They currently have one hotel in XiMenDing with plans of opening another branch in LinSen in the near future. This hotel seems to be targeting the younger generation with its trendy room design, inexpensive priced rooms, and fun service personnel. The experience I had at Just Sleep was different than any other hotel experience I have had in Taiwan or anywhere else abroad. I'll talk about my hotel experience while taking several aspects of the hotel in consideration: location, price, facilities, dining, and lastly service.


First location and price. For those that are not familiar with Taiwan and wish to visit, you should consider this hotel as one of your first choices if you have a tight budget. All the rooms are quite affordable, even for students. They have several different room types from which you can choose including:

• Superior Room (1 Double Bed aka Queen Bed):NT$2,500 (about $75US) includes 1 breakfast voucher
• Deluxe Room (1 Double Bed aka Queen Bed): NT$3,000 (about $90US) includes 2 breakfast coupons)
• Superior Twin (2 Twin Beds): NT$2,800, (about $85US) includes 2 breakfast vouchers
• Hollywood Twin (2 Twin Beds): NT$2,800 (about $85US) includes 2 breakfast vouchers
• Triple Room (3 Twin Beds): NT$3,800, (about $115US) includes 3 breakfast vouchers
• Executive Twin (2 Full Beds): NT$4,800, (about $145US) includes 4 breakfast vouchers

These prices are only for those that hold a valid Taiwanese Identification Card or those possessing a Taiwanese Alien Resident Certificate. Those without one of the above-mentioned IDs would need to try to book through another website or inquire directly with Just Sleep regarding the room rates. Service charges are included for all the room quotes above (I took it all from their website). The difference between the Superior Twin and Hollywood Twin are the size of the room and the layout of the beds. The difference between the superior and deluxe rooms also has to do with the size of the room.

I stayed in the Hollywood twin. You can actually push the two twin beds together to "make" a bigger bed if that's what you desire. :)

The location of XiMenDing hotel is excellent. XiMenDing is one of the hottest places to visit while in Taiwan with lots of restaurants, activities, shops, and theaters. You can easily arrive via the Taiwan MRT at the XiMenDing stop via exit 5 or you can take Bus 207 from in front of the Taipei Main Station if arriving to Taipei from another destination in Taiwan. The bus stop for the hotel is just one stop from the Taipei Main Station. You'll need to cross the street to the hotel.

The hotel is newly built. It's one of the newer style hotels that is actually situated inside an office building. The first few floors of the building are the hotel with many of the higher floors occupied by office space. Don't worry though, you will not get lost since there is a front desk in the lobby of the building. As far as amenities goes for the rooms, you have free bottled water, instant tea and instant coffee. Wireless internet is also available but you can also use two computers with Internet access located in the Just Cafe.

Everything in the hotel has been designed to fit the tastes of a younger generation of guests (or those of us with young hearts!). The interior is very stylish and modern. Let me first talk about their small vending machine area. It was my first impression of the hotel. Very cute and stylish. They have a place to buy some simple food and drinks and some cute sofas to lounge on. I have to mention that there is no in house restaurant but there is a convenient Domino's Pizza button on your room phone that you can call and have pizza delivered to your room.

Speaking of food, at the time I checked into the hotel they were only providing rooms with breakfast but I surfed around on some websites and it seems now they are providing rooms without breakfast as well. I would recommend that you take advantage of the breakfast because all the ingredients used in the breakfast buffet are of some of the highest quality available in Taiwan and abroad. There were several little signs hung up explaining the origin of all the dishes. They provided a selection of drinks including orange juice, tomato juice, coffee, milk, water, etc. Also salad, fruit, various types of bread, Chinese style congee breakfast items, as well as cured duck and ham. I thought all their cured meats were excellent as well as their coffee. I also loved their soft-boiled eggs that each had their own individualized number! At least that is what the lady setting up the buffet told me! She was also very friendly to me and even brought out some freshly warmed yummy leek rolls for me to try! There were also other items such as cereal, preserved fruits and vegetables, and lots of other additions but I didn't really have a chance to try them.

Maybe because of the name "Just Sleep" I assumed that was one of their biggest sellers since I guess they want you to go to the room and enjoy your sleep. The bed was comfortable and the room was more than wonderful. I do have to admit that the room was small but if you look at how unique and stylish the room is, that will not be a big deal. Also, you have to consider the price you are paying for the room. Actually, the prices I quoted above are what Just Sleep is selling the rooms for but you can find the rooms cheaper by booking them on-line through other websites. The thing I loved the best about the room was how cute everything was from the mini classic refrigerator to the do not disturb door hangers, everything was extra special, extra stylish. They have an "open style" closet that adds to the modern feel of the room in the same way in which the open ceilings in the Just Cafe added to your dining experience. I guess the pictures can speak for themselves.

Another great part about my experience was the friendliness of the staff. Their demeanor is not what you usually expect from hotel staff: sterile and cold. They are all very friendly and their uniforms are not the traditional monkey suits, quite far from it. I regret I didn't get a picture with one of the staff of the hotel. Maybe I can do this in the future. Their uniforms look comfortable, very hip, and very stylish. From the moment I checked in until the moment I checked out every time a staff member encountered me they greeted me with a hearty "hello" or other such salutation. The front desk staff spoke immaculate English. They were also very knowledgeable and were able to provide me with the answers to all the questions I had during my stay.

I think you can tell by the photos how different this hotel experience can be for you. I really want to recommend all my friends to check out this hotel for their next stay in Taipei. I keep thinking that my sister would love to have the chance to stay in one of these rooms.