During my last business trip in Hsinchu, Taiwan, I stayed a few days at the Episode Hsinchu Hotel. Normally when I visit Hsinchu, I stay at the Sheraton Hsinchu. However, the Sheraton was fully booked for the first couple of days, so I decided to stay these first couple of days at the Episode. Could the Episode beat the Sheraton hotel? Please read my review below of the Episode Hsinchu Hotel.
Lobby & Check-In Experience
When I arrived at the hotel and entered the front door, I searched for the front desk for check-in. That desk wasn’t there. Instead there were 3 self-check-in kiosks which were out of service. So the staff at the bar, also handled the check-in procedure. A bit of a confusing experience. In fact, a colleague of mine thought he was at the wrong place and looked if there was another entry of the hotel. There wasn’t and the fancy looking bar also acted as check-in area.
When I arrive at hotels that try to do things differently because they think different is better, I’m always getting a bit itchy… In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with a Check-In front-desk assuming there is sufficient staff to help guests. No need to re-invent the wheel. No need to call the front desk staff ‘Experience Providers’, which Episode does. Especially not when the experience isn’t great!
The Episode Hotels (there is also an Episode hotel in Taipei) pretend it’s designed for a new generation and use the slogan ‘Less But Better’. Less doesn’t sound good. And we will judge the ‘Better’ in this review.
I recently stayed at The Standard in Singapore. The Standard also promises to do things differently and to provide a new experience. In the end, my stay at the Standard was disappointing. Let’s see if the Episode can do a better job. Note that Episode is part of the JvD by Hyatt collection of hotels, so you can use points to pay for your stay or collect points. The Episode Hsinchu is a category 2 hotel. If you want to know whether it’s worth it, using points for you stay, check out the blog I wrote about this topic!
Studio Suite Room
For my stay, I booked a Studio Suite Room. Although the check-in experience was not impressive, the room was really nice. A large, corner room with sofa and a bathroom with separate shower and bath. There was really only one problem… The temperature!
Temperature in the room was 28C and during my stay I couldn’t get it lower than 27C. Apparently, the hotel suffered an issue with the air-conditioning system during my stay. Heavy rains caused an issue with the electrical air-conditioning unit. This was especially annoying since the outside temperature was around 30C. Taiwan summers are hot and humid and having to stay at a hotel without air-conditioning, is not a very pleasant experience. But even with a working air-conditioning system, seems not all public areas in the hotel benefit from potential fresh air. The restaurant, reception area, elevators; there wasn’t any air circulation at all. Again, could be related to the electrical issues, but for sure it didn’t help with the overall experience.
The hotel doesn’t have water bottles in the room. Nor are there any pre-filled water bottles. Instead, you can fill a plastic bottle yourself at a water station in the hallway. When I tried to fill the water bottle, I noticed the water bottle was bigger than the available ‘fill-up’ space at the water station. As a result, I couldn’t see a way to fill the water bottle. I’m sure there was a very simple solution for this problem, but I lost my patience after trying for 10 seconds. Luckily there was a 7-11 shop a few minutes from the hotel, so I decided to just buy some water bottles at the 7-11. A lot easier, and no frustrations at the water station.
Lobby & Restaurant
Behind the bar, there is a pool table and next to the bar, there is a place to get a coffee. On the other side of the lobby, there is an area called ‘Social’. Social will serve as a ‘vibrant new platform in the city for play, creativity and discovery’. During my stay, it was just an extension of the lobby and there wasn’t much creativity and discovery happening there… Next to Social is the restaurant called ‘Westwood’. I did try out the restaurant one evening, and the food was OK for one evening. The menu only had a few items (mainly meat dishes and one salmon dish). Side dishes could be grabbed at the salad bar.
Westwood is also the place for breakfast. Normally breakfast in luxury, Asian hotels is something to look forward to; an extensive buffet with plenty of Western and Asian options. The breakfast buffet at the Episode is not extensive at all. I certainly understood the ‘less’ after having breakfast at the Episode!
Conclusion
The Episode Hotel Hsinchu promises to do ‘Less but Better’. A weird slogan. Why would you want to settle for less? And to what does ‘less’ apply to? To the service? Having no dedicated front desk but instead self-check-in-kiosks which are all out of service? Not having (pre-filled) water bottles in the room and making it impossible to fill yourself? Having a minimal breakfast service, which pales in comparison to most other luxury hotels in Asia?
The room was very nice; quiet and spacious. It’s a pity malfunction of the air conditioning system didn’t make it a fully enjoyable experience.
The Episode hotel is ‘designed for a new generation’. I guess, I’m not the target audience and not the new generation the hotel is focusing on. After only a few days, I didn’t see any area that was ‘Better’ than my preferred hotel in Hsinchu and I was happy to check out!
Also please check out my flight with Taiwan’s EVA Air in Premium Economy. In contrary to the Episode Hotel, EVA Air does do things better and in fact, I believe they have the best Premium Economy product in the market!
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