Hotel Eclat Taipei

With all the new hotel action in China proper, it’s high time Taipei stepped up its game. There are a couple of absolute gems in the Taiwanese capital, but there’s always room for more: the home-grown Hotel Éclat is a worthy addition to the city’s hotel landscape, a shamelessly luxe and flamboyantly elegant boutique hotel in the upscale Da-An district, a place which proves that it’s not all dull gray sobriety out there: the decadent strain in hotel design is alive and well.

The lobby sets the tone, decked out in marble and velvet, the ceiling hung with chandeliers. Upstairs the rooms are stocked with all the current-standard must-haves, from the Bang & Olufsen sound systems and in-room Nespresso machines to the obligatory 42-inch LCD television sets. The Éclat suite comes decked out in vaguely Deco black-and-white striped wallpaper, while the standard bedrooms are more sedate; hardwood floors and designer furniture are everywhere.

And while the smallish 60-room Hotel Éclat can’t hope to compete with the big chains in terms of sheer quantity of services and amenities, what it does have goes a long way: not one but two restaurants, including a Cantonese and a Mediterranean option, as well as a bar and a lounge serving coffee and pastries.