Hotel Papa Whale Reviews

Clean room with the good price. This is my second time stay here and I like the basement room more than the previous room. Even though it smaller but feels new and cleaner than room upstairs. But if you love vintage vibes, you can try the room upstairs.

Perfect location. Room is comfortable enough for a short stay in Taipei. It is near convenience stores, cafes, restaurants and about 2 to 3 minutes away from Ximending. It offers buffet breakfast too which offer a wide variety of food options (I like that they offer hot pot during breakfast) my only recommendation is maybe they should give their staff additional training in customer service as they do not greet you when go in or outside of the hotel.

This is my second time staying at Hotel Papa Whale. Normally, I stay at Midtown Richardson, but this time I wanted my friend to try this hotel. Unfortunately, we ended up disappointed with the service. The check-in staff seemed normal, though not very friendly or welcoming. I understand—it might be because we didn’t choose an expensive room, or maybe because we didn’t speak Chinese (we spoke English). Still, during the check-in process, they should have asked, “Did you book directly or through an app?” because the hotel uses a self-check-in system that requires a booking number. If you book through an app, the booking number won’t work with the kiosk, and although the staff clearly knew this, they didn’t bother asking us first. No one provided us with information about the Wi-Fi or other amenities. The only thing emphasized was the check-out time and the penalty fee if we left the room late (check-out is at 11:00 AM). We received two rooms, both similarly decorated. However, one room had a bidet spray while the other did not. We asked a staff member who appeared to be the front office manager whether the two rooms were the same room type, since one lacked that fixture. He looked like he didn’t care and simply asked if he could send a technician to check, of course no sorry word out from his mouth. That wasn’t the point—we already knew the spray was missing. We just wanted to know if the rooms were supposed to be the same type. If not, and we had been mistakenly assigned different categories, we could request a proper room change. In the end, we didn’t allow anyone to check the room because my friend was showering and it was inconvenient. The staff avoided answering the actual question and changed the topic. I had brought a pain relief cream, which went missing after our first night. At first, I didn’t think housekeeping would take it, so I waited until we returned late at night to search the room again—but it was nowhere to be found. I suspect it was taken by housekeeping. As a result, I had no cream to use for the rest of the trip. I had just purchased it before flying to Taiwan for about 300 baht, and it’s not available for purchase in Taiwan. The thief may have thought I wouldn’t notice, but I knew! The towel basket next to the sink was rusty, and the towel ends were fraying and looked unpleasant. The breakfast was bland and tasteless. Worse, it caused both me and my friend to have stomach problems. So we had to be very careful about what we chose to eat each day. I’m not sure how many rooms this hotel has, but the lobby had only around 30 chairs available for seating, which seemed very limited. The public restroom in the lobby was extremely dirty. The edge of the toilet seat had visible fecal stains. During check-out, I accidentally left one of the room keys in the room. The front office manager spoke loudly and bluntly, saying, “You must go back and return both keys to the staff.” In most other hotels, they would have said something more polite, such as “Could you please bring the second key back to us from the room?” But at this hotel, even the manager lacked basic hospitality and communication skills when speaking to guests. If you’re looking for an honest experience-based review, I hope this gives you some useful insight for choosing your accommodation and I still need my pain relief cream back from a thief in the hotel.

Great location, right next to Ximending — ideal for tourists. Self check in and check out. The interior features a minimalist industrial style that’s clean and stylish, with good value for money. The lobby offers various common areas, and there’s also a laundry room available.

Hotel location is good, staff is good and relatively clean. Around 5 to 7 min walk from ximending mrt

Just stay here again due to tripdotcom promos, it is worth it for a promo price but if im gonna pay it in full not at all. the wifi is not working at all, i need to go downstair just to have a decent internet usage. location wise just fine, a bit walk to ximending area but still okay, lots of shop around.

The room is ok and all but the service is not so good. Check-in is exactly 3pm. No one can ever get a room early even if a room is available. All will only be checked-in at 3pm which will lead to a very crowded reception area. At 3pm i asked for my keycard, lo and behold the receptionist told me there are no rooms available yet and I need to wait for another 10mins. I told her its already 3pm its check-in time. I waited so I should have my room already. I am only staying until 5am the following day so I need the most sleep I can get. She told me they need 10more minutes to clean so i give her 10mins and she said she will find me to handover the key. After 10mins no one reached out to me so I have to go to her again to ask for my keycard. Such a hassle! And no apologies from then at all! Beddings were not fresh.

"My stay at Hotel Papa whale was fantastic! The room was well-maintained, and the bed was comfortable. The staff were all friendly and helpful, especially the front desk team. The hotel's location was also ideal, close to many attractions and restaurants. I highly recommend this hotel and will definitely be back!

This hotel needs redecorating. The rooms are cramped, and the furniture is old-fashioned and tatty. My room had twin bed, although it really was only twin room. I would have preferred a single bed and more space. Also, it hadn’t been cleaned properly: the carpet on corridors was dusty, and the desk was stained. It also overlooked a noisy bar, which was a problem because there was no air conditioning, so I had to sleep with the windows open. On top of that, the hotel was also understaffed, so service was really slow. Having said that, it’s cheap and in a convenient, central location, so you get what you pay for.

This hotel badly needs redecorating. The rooms are cramped, and the furniture is old-fashioned and tatty. My room had a double bed, although it really was only a single room. I would have preferred a single bed and more space. Also, it hadn’t been cleaned properly: the carpet at corridor was dusty, and the desk was stained. It also overlooked a noisy bar, which was a problem because there was no air conditioning, so I had to sleep without the windows. On top of that, the hotel was also understaffed, so service was really slow. Having said that, it’s cheap and in a convenient, good location, so you get what you pay for.

Room is small, quite some dust everywhere and no window at all, feels like prison at some point. Free breakfast is really good, you can even hotpot. Staff are quite helpful.

So good and nice . I will choose next time! Hope everyone will enjoy a good time here

Friendly receptionist and cleaner! Room was decent, sound proof was fine. Many rooms and felt like in a maze 😆 breakfast was special, they have ready cooked food and also hot pot!! Yummmms

Thank you for the excellent service, Hotel Papa Whale!