The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Taipei (台北文華東方酒店) received a five-star rating in this year’s Forbes Travel Guide, becoming the first Taiwanese hotel to receive the highest rating.
The guide gave five stars to 176 hotels and 56 spas from around the world. Mandarin Oriental, which opened in May 2014, also won a five-star rating for its spa.
Five Taiwanese hotels received a four-star rating in the guide. They are the Grand Hyatt Taipei (台北君悅大飯店), the Regent Taipei (晶華酒店), Shangri La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei (台北遠東國際大飯店) and W Taipei.
Humble House Hotel Taipei (寒舍艾麗酒店) was listed in the “recommended” category, while Wellspring Spa (沐蘭) in the Regent Taipei received a four-star rating.
The guide sent anonymous inspectors to visit and assess hotels, restaurants and spas around the world to check whether they were up to the guide’s 800 standards.
According to the travel guide, Mandarin Oriental met the standards in the five-star hotel category as an outstanding and iconic property with “virtually flawless and amazing facilities.”
The hotel, with 303 rooms and suites, is a short distance from business and shopping attractions such as the Taipei 101 mall and Taipei Arena.
The hotel’s general manager, Michael Ziemer, said that it is a great honor for the hotel to be given a five-star rating by the guide.
The Tourism Bureau launched its own hotel star-rating system a few years ago. There are 493 star-rated hotels in Taiwan, with 68 five-star hotels, including the ones that were given a four-star rating by the guide.
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