One Night at A Capsule Hotel in Taipei

While capsule hotels might not be considered a novel concept anymore, they’re definitely a new thing to me!

How many of you have stayed in a capsule hotel before? I never had – until 1 January 2014, during my Taipei trip!

Let me share my experience with you… if you are going to Taipei to celebrate NYE, you need to book your accommodation at least two months in advance, otherwise you could be facing extremely inflated room rates (like triple the regular prices!).

There are many home-style house stay places in Taipei (similar to bed-and-breakfasts in the UK), which offer really wallet-friendly prices with decent amenities. Obviously, those were all rented out when I started looking for accommodation (three weeks before going to Taiwan!). After that, I tried my luck with Airbnb but all the rooms I wanted to rent were already fully occupied too.

So I decided to spend a night at what is rather a new concept for Taipei – a capsule hotel with no bed but a sofa to sleep on after my NYE party!

The place I picked was NEOSOHO. It’s located in a nice neighbourhood near the Taipei central railway station, making it a very convenient place to stay and get around from.

They have a common area with computers for guests to use, free coffee and tea, and wifi 24/7. Each room has its own key, just like any regular hotel; however, since guests need to share bathrooms, male and female guests are stationed on separate floors.

I have to say I thought all the facilities were great – new and modern. Each guest gets a basket filled with a towel, a pair of slippers, a toothbrush and toothpaste, ear plugs, eye masks and a blanket.

I strongly recommend bringing a good pair of ear plugs, since the rooms are not fully blocked off from one another – your neighbours might decide to sleep late or be noisy, and there’s nothing you can really do about that!

You can see more from the photos I took below (Shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste etc. are all provided by the hotel.).

NEOSOHO charges NT1,000 for a 24-hour stay; I only stayed for 12 hours but there were few guests who actually stayed for a week!

I’m not sure if I could stay that long as I still prefer a fully closed-off room with a giant bed all to myself… but it’s still a good place to crash if you only need a place to stay for a few hours or a quick nap!

Everyone who checked in during CNY time received a gift from the hotel, what was it?

A global plug adapter! So practical and sweet, I love it. 🙂