Review of Les Suites Taipei - Ching Cheng, by Caroline Major

This luxury hotel is tucked behind a high chocolate wall, on the corner of the first lane opposite the McDonalds outside Nanjing East MRT station; Les Suites is a hideaway in a city frenetic in its pursuit of the manufacture of things. More, it is Taipei's only small contemporary hotel and it's assembled with a relaxed and timeless style. Bravo!

Charcoal and chocolate, silver and aubergine, olive and gold and black and white are all mixed together with mood lighting, textural interest and jazzy style. Plenty of space for luxury lounging gives the ground floor a clubby feel helped along by an ever present selection of complimentary nibbles and drinks. You'll want to linger around to enjoy the books, get online, read the papers or maybe tuck your feet under you and curl up with a cup of tea, slippers abandoned on the floor. The luxury hotel is for guests only and the lack of a traditional lobby is cosy and charming.

Breakfast is served downstairs in the luxury hotel's lounge and cleared away promptly at ten am when it's replaced with the tea selection. There is no restaurant, but who needs it in a bustling district full of fabulous local alternatives? The gym is small but with well enough chosen equipment to get a good work-out in. Room-service is available between eleven pm and two am but is nothing special. You'll get better value with those exotic instant noodles from the mini-bar.

The rooms

Upstairs there's five choices of room where even the small entry level offering is inviting (if only for sleeping). Small touches are the work of an owner who's spent a lot of time in business hotels and wanted more. The mini-bar is complemented with an always-on urn of boiling water for serving yourself with the kinds of instant noodles you can only get in Asia, or for brewing up a real pot of tea. Hi tech continues on the bedside panel for room controls. Alarm, lights, temperature, world time and curtains all function with light touch digital. Perhaps the most fun though, is the Toto toilet, bringing into favour a choice of three wash cycles and a warm air dry in easy reach on a wall panel. Maybe it'll change your routine forever! Wi-fi and broadband are of course standard and fast in super-tech Taiwan. Though not in the toilet - yet.

Les Suite is a welcome alternative to the multi-story behemouths prevalent in this city, and is a great space for lounging around in those out of business hours if you feel like staying in and chilling instead of going out on the town. That's an achievement for a luxury hotel. It feels as much like home as a hotel can. Book early as the Japanese, Hong Kongese and the Singaporeans are wise to the secret and the occupancy here, alongside its sister hotel a few blocks away on Da-An Road, run high.