Review of Les Suites Taipei - Da An, by Andrew Mueller

Les Suites Da-An's self-declared mission is to replicate the executive floors of a five-star luxury hotel without the rest of the hotel - there is no restaurant, or gymnasium, or shop, just a simple, quiet, efficient, and extremely comfortable environment intended to help working travellers get things done. Les Suites Da-An's facilities have clearly been assembled by someone who has either travelled extensively on business, or has listened to a lot of complaints from people who've travelled extensively on business.

The facilities

The lounge, which doubles as a breakfast room in the morning, and serves drinks to guests in the evening, boasts a small library of arty books, 24-hour free internet access from individual laptops arranged on the tables, and free coffee and biscuits. The luxury hotel's friendly staff can also organise photocopying, typing, translation and baby-sitting. Laptops, other office equipment and a meeting room are all available for hire and the meeting room is free for the first two hours.

The rooms

Each of the 59 rooms of this luxury hotel is a thoroughly comfortable working environment, containing a fax machine, dictionaries (English and English-Chinese) and basic office equipment (staplers, paper clips, pens and pencils). The decor is tastefully minimal, largely reliant on dark woods and subdued upholstery, though it avoids lapsing into the prevailing cliches of the self-conscious boutique hotel with some appealing idiosyncratic touches. The luxury hotel's signature is a large black-and-white screen-print of a flower mounted on a wall, looming behind a dish of artfully arranged fruit. Bathrooms are large, feature refreshing showers, and are well-stocked with temptingly portable necessities.

The rooms also include safes, complimentary coffee and tea with all necessary facilities, and a complimentary newspaper is delivered each morning. The Da-An's lack of room service is prevented from being a problem by an imaginatively stocked minibar - as well as a selection of drinks, there's a choice of instant noodle snacks, which can be made up with water from the permanently boiling samovar provided in every room (it should be noted that the Taiwanese standards of instant noodle are rather higher than the average). Les Suits Da-An's minibar earns further points for its prices which, unusually, are not noticeably higher than those in any nearby 7-11.

Though the Da-An is aimed primarily at the business traveller, tourists could do a great deal worse. The Da-An is brilliantly located - it's on a quiet street set back from Taipei's noisy thoroughfares, yet within an easy walk of subway stations and the shopping districts of Chung Hsiao Road and Dun Hua Road.