OCATED just a few minutes’ stroll from the Zhongshan metro station, and with splendidly easy access to offices, shopping and entertainment, the Regent Taipei, is a formidable competitor in the best Taipei business hotels sweepstakes. Once the Grand Formosa Regent, this award-winning address has been synonymous with quality and service in the Taiwan capital for a long while, opening its doors in 1990 under the prestigious Regent marque, offering excellent small corporate meetings and MICE facilities.

While the exterior is neat and unprepossessing, inside a gleaming world of attention to service and detail await business travellers and leisure trippers. The 538 rooms, including 60 suites, offer some of the most spacious accommodations in the city, starting at an arm-swinging 45 square metres. Rooms do not strain to impress, choosing to offer classic simplicity with starched white linen, impressive work areas, flat-screen TVs, and a few bright cushions to offset the warm inviting hues. Expect a pillow menu, high-speed Wi-Fi, and a marbled bathroom with a separate soaking tub. Recharged, whip out your wallet and head to Regent Galleria,

the lifestyle shopping arcade in the basement. If you wish to burn off calories or simply play, the rooftop pool offers a superb refuge. Other choices include a health club and sauna, and spa facilities for those aching post-work limbs. The Wellspring Spa – designed by veteran spa consultants and a three-year World Spa Award winner – serves up menus by the litre with all manner of unguents and potions and aromatic oils. Go for a straightforward jetlag relief massage or local special - Taiwan Oriental Beauty Tea treatment. Men can ask for that “perfect shave”. And why not?

Business traveller gourmands are not forgotten. Palate ticklers offer plenty of options from Japanese cuisine, American-style steaks, and steaming neo-Shanghainese, to top-drawer Chinese. Try Silks House, Robin's grill, or Mihan Honke. The Grand Ballroom and a multitude of well-appointed function rooms are equipped with the latest in hi-tech to deal with up to 1,000 guests in a variety of seating styles. Unsurprisingly, this hotel is highly rated as one of the best Taipei conference hotels around. But why stop here? On the highest floors too is the premium TAIPAN Residence & Club with its ever-present butlers ready to do your bidding.