Of all the unusual perks that accommodations offer as ways to lure guests in an ever-more-competitive travel market, Taipei’s Meander Hostel is offering one we’ve never seen before: free haircuts for guests.
Coco Travel spoke to stylist Megan Li, who tells us that she’s been doing bi-weekly sessions for over a year in the hostel lobby, where she sets up shop on Thursdays and Sundays from 1-7pm.
She was inspired to start doing this after learning the story of Vidal Sassoon, one of her heroes, and his work cutting hair in a hotel. Though the typical Taipei hotel guests might have been a bit stuffy for Li and her modern style, she walked by Meander one day and thought “I could see myself cutting hair here, right in the lobby.”
Li, who was trained in the U.S. and Taipei, went in and offered her services to the hotel, proposing a tip-based payment system. The hostel staff asked to see her portfolio, liked it, and they were off and running.
She admits that she does more cuts for men in the hostel than women, who might be more hesitant to let a stranger cut their hair. According to Li, she specializes in modern men’s cuts including trims, fades, and beard styling. We saw three that she did over the course of the day: stylish undercuts, floppy new wave styles, and simple but chic old school barber looks.
It isn’t a luxury salon experience, as you might expect. She asks her clients to wash their hair themselves in the communal bathrooms and come down with wet locks since she doesn’t have access to a salon sink at the hostel.
The hostel, located a few minutes from Ximen station and the Ximendig area (sometimes called the Times Square or Shibuya of Taipei), has more than just free hair makeovers.
The top-rated spot (it has a “Superb” rating of 9.6 on Hostelworld with 2,800 reviews and 5 stars on TripAdvisor, with over 700 reviews) has lots of private rooms as well, and offers free daily activities like tours, special event outings (such as the LBGT Pride Parade, which just happened last weekend), beer tours, and get-to-know you parties in the common areas.
The staff also goes out of their way to be helpful, with front desk staffer Claire helping this guest with an unusual request: the need to go to a specific part of the city, to an unknown food importer, to buy a specific brand of candy difficult to find in Asia. After only being asked the best route to get to the area, Claire started Googling, which led to her calling, which led to an address in Mandarin in my hand of exactly the place to go. Impressive.
During breakfast (nice for a hostel with oatmeal, sweet congee, and fresh buns in addition to the standard wake-up fare of toast and coffee, which is also available), they pull down a large projector screen and play the news, so guests can get caught up while they eat. When we visited, a BBC feature on drug addiction in the U.S. sparked a conversation among about 10 guests and led to a hangout sesh later that evening.
See more of Li’s work by following her on Instagram.
FIND IT:
Meander Hostel
163 Chengdu Rd., Wanhua
Free Haircuts, Sundays and Thursdays, 1-7pm
Dorm beds from NTD700 (US$22)
MRT Ximen
