The check in was very nice, the hotel staff were well trained and provided a pleasant experience. The rooms itself also had more pluses than minuses, my expectations were definitely uplifted upon first checking in.
My gripes with the hotel are definitely more of a personal issue, I will start off by stating that I am a very sensitive sleeper and also nitpicky when it comes to my showers.
First of all, the room sound proofing was not the best, I could hear the traffic outside the window throughout the night and into the morning. Granted I did stay on the 6th floor, so I'd imagine this becomes less of an issue the higher the room is located (up to 19th floor).
Second, the bed was very slightly uneven and bumpy. Like a well-worn bed that has been slept on many a nights, the maintenance of the mattress was not stellar. For travellers that can knock themselves out even on a wooden plank, this probably won't faze you. But for those on the unlucky spectrum of sensitive sleepers like myself, it was a nightmare. So much so that I opted to check out early at 6AM the second morning, because I couldn't get a wink of sleep in.
Lastly, the showers. This isn't about the water quality, because Kaohsiung is known to have hard water and poor water quality that cannot be compensated by water softeners no matter where you go. But this hotel simply does not allow for cold showers, to my bafflement. My body temperature runs pretty warm, so I usually have cold showers to help me regulate my temperature. The hotel shower starts off cool, but after nary a few seconds the coldest end of the knob turns into fully warm water. You can only choose between warm or really hot showers. This came as a shocker, because KS is also known to be really warm all year round. Only having warm or hot showers sound like a potential safety hazard for travellers not well acclimated to the heat. I do not know if this is a byproduct of the types of water treatment the hotel uses to treat the hard water supply, but it was definitely very off-putting to say the least.
Overall, the hotel was decent on the surface. There was class and quality in its well maintained splendour. But for my fellow sensitive and higher maintenance travellers out there, I would recommend opting for another hotel if you're in the ballpark to spend on a classy hotel anyways.
