The hip, more casual off-shoot of the stuffy, um I mean 5-star, Ambassador chain of hotels, the amba was the very first Taiwan hotel to be set in a shopping mall. Well, it had to happen sometime. It's set in the heart of the frenetic but fun Ximending shpping area, but because its rooms are on the 6th floor or higher (the mall shops and hotel lobby are below), visitors get no noise from the surrounding mayhem. Instead they're treated to unusually large rooms for Taipei, with recycled blond wood flooring, eco-friendly furnishings (all done in the sharp edged, contemporary lines) and such niceties as rainfall showers (the toilet and shower are in two different rooms, good for friends traveling together) and free Wi-Fi. In the lobby there's a lovely, industrial-chic restaurant; a lounge; and a library. And below that is every consumer good you could ever want, in a bustling, four-story high shopping mall. Though there's no on-site gym, there is a laundry room with dryer that guests can use free of charge.

The hotel opened in 2012 and is expected to be the first of a large chain.