Dear b&b’s English and Japanese versions are officially online! Besides the spectacular mountains and oceans and the abundant cultural scenes, Taiwan is also home to many beautiful world-class lodgings. 2019 marks Dear b&b’s seventh year, and to celebrate this milestone along with our continuing determination to personally evaluate and interview over 700 lodgings around Taiwan, we’ve launched English and Japanese versions of our website, and are arranging our first fans meet-up event in Tokyo at the beginning of September. This autumn, check out Dear b&b’s fresh new look, and allow us to accompany you on your future adventures. We welcome all travelers from around the world to book a room in some of the most beautiful lodgings in Taiwan, and to explore this amazing and enthusiastic country with us!

We present the best lodgings to you through our determination to visit, select, and provide genuine reviews

Dear b&b, Taiwan’s online select B&B guide, is Taiwan’s first and only evaluation media that focuses on the uniqueness of Taiwan’s lodgings and their stories. Over the past seven years, we’ve visited over 700 lodgings around Taiwan. We envision ourselves as the most reliable online guide for travel accommodation recommendations in Taiwan, similar to Le Guide Michelin for the international dining community. We are like a window that, no matter where you are, you can just open wide to see the beauty of Taiwan’s lodgings.

Our two co-founders, Minchelle and Rae, love to travel and have visited over 30 countries. They have experienced different types of inns, designer hotels and B&Bs throughout the world, which has brought them to realize that Taiwan has some of the best lodgings to be found anywhere. Different from the regular B&Bs in Europe or North America, which function from a sharing-economy philosophy and usually provide a spare room in which to stay, those in Taiwan are often the result of the lodging hosts’ efforts to realize their dreams. The lodging hosts fully devote themselves to creating a space with love, and to sharing their values and beliefs. They sometimes even share the best rooms in the house with their guests, which demonstrates Taiwan’s renowned hospitality. With a carefree spirit that is true and genuine, each host creates a unique and surprising lodging. Minchelle and Rae further discovered that, however beautiful and charming Taiwan’s b&b culture may be, there was no platform from which to tell their stories! In December of 2012, Minchelle and Rae created Dear b&b, hoping to help even more Taiwanese people discover the beauty of their homeland, and to touch the hearts of travelers from around the world with the charm of Taiwan’s lodgings!

Over the years, we’ve remained committed to rigorously selecting top-notch lodgings from around Taiwan. From our Four Aspects evaluation system that assesses lodgings based on space, experience, aesthetics and branding, to visiting and certifying lodgings in person using our unique Three Heartfelt Promises criteria that focuses on safe, sweet and surprising features offered by the lodgings, we even provide notes to travelers to help ensure they get what they expect. We also give genuine, in-dept reviews and tell stories about the hosts through words and photographs. Without exaggeration, we document the details of our accommodations experiences and the enthusiastic dreams of the hosts. You can also find more travel inspiration from our Weekly Feature about special topics, festivals and holidays, or browse through our beautiful website with comprehensive photographic representation, clear and useful information, and user-friendly and flexible search filters. This allows you to cross-search based on who you are traveling with, the space style or natural scenery you desire, and to find the perfect lodgings within seconds. We believe finding your ideal accommodations ought to be the opening chapter of your delightful journey.

Launch of English and Japanese websites to help translate the richness of Taiwan’s lodgings for the whole world

As the world welcomes the rapid development of internet technology and the rise of low cost airlines, we have entered the era of global travel. The time is now to invite more foreign friends to visit Taiwan and expand the international travel market. Back in our first year, Dear b&b aimed to introduce the charm and warmth of Taiwan’s lodgings to the world. Now, we have settled into a steady pace and officially launched the English and Japanese versions of our site. We hope to shorten the distance between you and Taiwan’s lodgings through virtual tours, our Three Heartfelt Promises, and comprehensive pricing and booking information.

While developing the English and Japanese versions of the site, in order to accurately translate our refined, in-dept reviews, we’ve worked with several professional translators who are either bilingual, have resided in Taiwan for a long time, or are knowledgeable about Taiwan’s arts and culture. These include a Canadian translator who stayed in Taiwan for over a decade to learn about Taiwan’s traditions and tea culture, a Taiwanese translator who used to be an instructor of English writing in National Taiwan University, another Taiwanese translator who grew up and studied in Japan and so is fluent in Japanese and eventually moved to Taiwan for work, and a Japanese translator who proactively applied to work in Taiwan out of a fondness for this country. Besides translators, we’ve also worked closely with editors who are familiar with the two languages, including one who has multiple times received Taiwan’s national Golden Tripod award for book publishing, to read through the translations carefully and assist with cross-language accuracy throughout the translation process. Furthermore, we arranged trips to some of our featured lodgings for our translators and editors to gain first-hand experience in order to achieve the best results. Through these endeavors, we hope that our English and Japanese readers can grasp the beauty of Taiwan’s lodgings and get to know the unique stories of the hosts from the languages and the perspectives they are familiar with, and ultimately become fascinated by the idea of visiting Taiwan!

From nature to culture, Taiwan enthusiastically welcomes the entire world

Not just the birthplace of the well-known bubble tea, Taiwan is also the home to delicacies such as braised pork with rice, stinky tofu and pineapple cakes. There is ample astonishing natural scenery, including more than 260 mountains above 3,000 meters, which for its small size makes Taiwan one of the most densely mountainous places in the world. Diving locations like Green Island and Lanyu are also world-famous, and some of the secret surfing spots have enchanted surfers from around the world. Due to its long and diverse history, Taiwan is home to a mixture of indeginouse Austronesian culture, traditional Chinese culture, place names and heritage from Dutch and Spanish colonial periods, modern culture from Japan, with temples, churches and mosques from different world religions. Taiwanese society is free and open-minded, carrying a sincere, hospitable character, and has a local culture infused with youthful creativity. All of these elements combine to produce a country filled with tolerance and diversity that opens its arms to welcome friends from around the globe! Taiwan’s ample charm can be felt from the diverse lifestyles and localities exhibited in the rich lodgings it has to offer. In 2017, we flew to Hong Kong to hold a successful fans meet-up. We are now headed to Tokyo in September this year to partner with HowtoTaiwan for the same purpose. It is our sincere hope to have the chance to visit other countries in the future where we can continue to share the memorable and touching beauty of Taiwan.

First from Taiwan and then to the whole world, the launch of Dear b&b’s English and Japanese websites is our cordial invitation to the international community. Let us accompany you on all of your future adventures in Taiwan. Just hop on a plane, and you will not only savor the sweetness and warmth of this land, but also experience its most touching and impressive charms!