Jordan Turley
Google
Save your money. The Pause Landis is all style and no substance.
A year ago, we stayed at the (original) Landis in central Taipei for several nights and really enjoyed our experience -- so we had high hopes for a similar level of comfort, customer care and service excellence when we decided to book a few nights at the Pause Landis in Wulai. Boy, were we fooled!
I'll start with the positives. The Pause is architecturally quite impressive; the walk up to the reception is quite nice. Several roofs double as water features. The communal hot springs are a great space too: the men's section has four pools, each at a different temperature. There is a steam room and sauna, and the showers are individual. The cafe on the ground floor is pleasant, if a bit pricey. I would say that the provided snacks are a nice touch, but this is common in Taiwanese hotels.
Some reviewers complain that the hotel is a bit far from the Wulai Old Street. Although not on the main drag, the distance was not an issue. It was a 10-minute walk at most.
In spite of the above, we were not overly impressed with Pause for the following reasons.
Our guest room was a decent size but it was quite apparent that little has been done to improve it since the resort was built 20 years ago. Carpets are stained all over. Furniture surfaces and legs are water damaged or banged up. The bedside tables lack outlets. The TV would only play other guests’ YouTube videos, OR was fixed on TLC and could not be changed -- you could turn the TV on or off and adjust volume, but not channels. As someone else mentioned, the shower door opens outward onto the carpeted floor, and the walls are far from soundproof. It was almost as if whoever designed the room had never stayed in a hotel.
The front counter staff were not particularly warm or welcoming. From start to end, every interaction was strictly transactional.
According to the website (and despite Google Maps), the attached restaurant is now closed for dinner, and only opens for breakfast to the few guests whose room rate included it, like ours did. The paper we were provided that explained the time slots for the communal hot springs and breakfast made no mention of dinner. Seems kind of odd during peak season, considering there are very few restaurants in the area.
The breakfast was so-so. The day before, you must select the cuisine (Chinese or Western) and one of two time slots. You cannot show up at will. We each tried both cuisine offerings. There was no variation; the dishes were the same every day. Although nicely plated, everything except the congee came out cold. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms. Cold. I posit that the food is all prepared once, early in the morning, and it sits out until the guests arrive to partake. Fortunately, there is a small buffet to augment the meal. Finally, the staff were keen to close and vacate the dining room as the clock approached 11:00. Nothing says “relax” like a reminder to get up and leave.
But leave to do what? Now that we have left, we can finally “take pause” to reflect on the overall stay. The hotel does not need to be nice or take interest in the guest experience. They have nothing to offer beyond the hot spring. They don’t need to try to sell you a massage, room service, dinner, a rooftop bar, workout facilities… and with that in mind, calling the Pause a “resort” is somewhat of a misnomer.
I thought I knew what the Landis brand name represented but was astonished by how wildly different the experience was at the two properties. One is luxurious; the other is an expensive onsen with few amenities and disinterest in customer satisfaction. Management needs to do some serious soul-searching. In the meantime, I will not recommend the Pause.
tl;dr you will be disappointed if you stay overnight.
