I am a CRITIC: Sato Castle Motel, in Taipei

Date of stay: 10th Jun 2013
Duration: 2 nights
Booking agent: Agoda
Paid: S$229.82 (we redeemed Agoda points of U$25, original price S$260.62)
Wifi: Free
Breakfast: Local

Going there:

We took E-go from Misty Villa in CingJing to Taichung High Speed Railway (HSR) and transfer to Taipei HSR Station and then got a cab to send us to the hotel.

The Hotel:

I was fascinated by the different themes in the hotel when I booked it. Usual check-in time is 10pm, but on Agoda, it was 6pm. I thought 10pm is crazy.

When we arrived at the entrance, it was about 5pm. A lady staff approached us from the carpark entrance. To our dismay, she took care of our luggage from there, and so I asked if there was no reception? She replied that the carpark entrance was the reception and she would take care of our luggage till we went back at 6pm. We were puzzled.. no reception for such a posh looking hotel?

Sato Castle from afar

At night

The car park entrance

The pathetic yet so posh looking "reception"

When you step out of the lift to the floor your room is situated, you'll see quite a dark area. Each room has a car porch. Upon our arrival, most of the rooms' shutters were down.

That's our room!

The car porch, do you see the opened door, that's the door to our room, the shutter could be brought down

When we entered our room, we were wowed. I was wowed by the decoration, and the Castle like room.

The Royal highness bed

Really posh looking

LCD TV from the bed

The control panel on the bedside table - to create ambience you wish

The ceiling above the bed

I was even more wowed by the huge jacuzzi tub with LCD screen to play TV / Music / Radio and could play with the lightings to create ambience you wish, yes, another control panel! The bathroom also served as the steam-room aka sauna room.

Huge jacuzzi tub!

Romantic

The dressing table

With a small LCD screen embedded in the mirror to show you all the themes available in Sato Castle, all of them are "WOW"

Complete toiletries - with facial cleansing milk, lotion, even panty liner! How's that!

Shower cum steam room

The mini garden at the back

The one minus point about the room, if you're travelling with young children is the steps.. from the bedroom to the bathroom, from the bed to the landing.

In general, we were really satisfied with the suite ;-) If only we were on honeymoon.

Well recommended for honeymooners!

Footnote: On a sidenote, our Taiwanese friend shared with us that car/garrage-hotel/motedl (read hotels with car porch, driveway all the way to your room) is getting really popular in Taiwan. It is very convenient for rendezvous affair (you know what I mean, boss-and-secretary-into-a-hotel type of relationship.. oops!). That is why you'll find all kind of weird check-in (2200 or 0001 hours kind) timing and super reasonable price. It's alarming that these hotels are growing like mushrooms, and they are very posh with very reasonable price! Guess us, the travelers get to gain from these eh? Hmm.. he recommended Wego Hotel, it's 6-7 STARS, I can't remember. You may want to consider them.. hehe!

Attractions Nearby:

The hotel is situated in Zhongshan District. Just a shy 10mins walk in front of Sato Castle, you could find Miramar Entertainment Park (cum shopping). In there are middle to higher class brands. Opposite Miramar would be a

Miramar from afar in the day

Miramar in the night

Opposite Miramar

On the right side from Sato Castle would be a Carrefour with a Daiso and some shops.

Generally you'll find Sato Castle very convenient. It is also a shy 10 mins walk to the Jiannan Metro Station.