The home-sharing company’s business has grown steadily while it has largely dodged penalties for hosting unlicensed properties on its platform. For years, Airbnb and Taiwanese regulators have been playing a cat-and-mouse game. Local regulations limit short-stay accommodation rentals to licensed hotels or inns, but most Taiwan properties listed on the home-sharing platform do not meet…
Current rules discourage hotels from offering attractive special packages. Regulations in Taiwan aimed at protecting consumers require hotels to provide a full refund on room bookings canceled at least three days before the scheduled arrival. But as AmCham Taipei’s Travel and Tourism Committee has been arguing in the past several years’ Taiwan White Paper, that…
The Regent Taipei has long been known as one of the capital’s finest hotels and dining spots, as well as a top destination for luxury retail. Now the hotel is expanding its retail selection to provide guests with a more distinctive experience, offering everything from gourmet Hokkaido pancakes to seminars with celebrities to bespoke private…
The types of facilities reflect changes taking place in the make-up of Taiwan’s tourism market. New hotels are continuing to open in Taiwan while the composition of the local tourism market goes through some major changes. Though tour groups from China used to account for a large proportion of the visitors to the island, tensions…
The stress is being placed on quality service and Taiwanese culture. The last decade has been full of ups and downs for Taiwan’s hospitality industry. Initially driven by a surge in Chinese tourism thanks to president Ma Ying-jeou’s strengthening of cross-Strait ties in 2008, the following years saw the construction of hundreds of new hotels…
Kenting’s tourist arrivals have plunged amidst complaints about service quality, prices, and litter. Kenting is the closest Taiwan gets to a tropical Arcadia. The small seaside town lies in a secluded peninsula near the island’s southernmost point, about 200 kilometers south of the Tropic of Cancer. White-sand beaches abound. The sun blazes, coloring the temperate…
Should customers cancelling a special offer be guaranteed a refund? When arranging an overseas holiday, have you ever booked hotel rooms online as part of a special promotion such as an “early-bird package” offering an attractive discount from the ordinary room rate? If so, you undoubtedly noticed and agreed to the stated conditions – pre-payment…
Taiwan’s rising emphasis on high-quality lifestyle has spurred a wave of new homegrown brands offering everything from premium accommodations to inventive cuisine. Taiwan ranked as Asia’s third-happiest country behind Singapore and Thailand in a report released in March by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Overall, Taiwan came in 35th in…
The boom of the last eight years is coming to an end as Chinese tourists decline and hotel oversupply grows more severe. Former President Ma Ying-jeou sought closer relations with China as a way to expand Taiwan’s economy. While the results of the various initiatives undertaken by the Ma administration remain open to debate, in…
A long-stalled cooperative educational program may have a new lease on life. For years, AmCham Taipei has emphasized the potential value for Taiwan of allowing – in fact, encouraging – prestigious foreign universities and other educational institutions to set up degree and/or non-degree programs in this country as they have done elsewhere across the region…
