You asked about asiatravel.com and bookings.

All of the hotel booking sites work much the same way - they get a better rate than the hotel would give to an individual and then they pass some of those savings on to you (and keep the rest as commission). It doesn't mean that you'll get a less-than-desirable room ...in fact - if the website is a good supplier of customers and has a customer satisfaction rating of some sort, they'll go out of their way to give you a good room so that you tell others how good it was.

I'm not sure that Asiatravel.com (a Malaysian-based booking site) has done this yet but the booking site I use all the time, www.Asiahotels.com has an excellent practice of sending each customer an email as soon as you have returned from your trip asking for an honest review of the hotel(s) that they booked for you. All customer comments are then available online (attached to the hotel information).

Yes - just print the reservation confirmation that is sent to you by email - we've never had any problems with that.

BTW - my husband and I stayed at the Howard Plaza Hotel in Taipei about 3 years ago and it was excellent. We both still mention the breakfast buffet as the best we've had!

Have a great time in Taiwan.

Cheers! Judy in Hong Kong