Two years ago, a friend decided to sell his resort in the middle of Beitou, a popular hot springs destination. Without too much deliberation, Amy Ho decided to buy it, adding it to her other ventures such as her health and beauty clinic and a line of cosmetics and health aids.

“I thought about how hot springs are healthy and help you stay young and beautiful," she explains. "Doctors even suggest visits to improve and promote one's healthy lifestyle and it’s also a kind of recreation. It has a very good connection with the medical clinic.”

“I thought about how hot springs are healthy and help you stay young and beautiful," she explains. "Doctors even suggest visits to improve and promote one's healthy lifestyle and it’s also a kind of recreation. It has a very good connection with the medical clinic.”

Building on those connections, the Spring City Resort offers packages specifically designed for guests' health and well being. The Spring Revitalization package, for example, comes with accommodations, use of the gym, use of the outdoor hot springs, a spa treatment and even products from Amy Go, Ho's line of health and beauty aids.

“Outdoor springs enhance your blood circulation,” a brochure announces and Spring City offers nine kinds, each with a different sulphur content and temperature in order to serve its own individual purpose, such as the “air bubble bath,” “ultrasonic pool,” and “relaxation bath.” The pools are nestled among the trees with the cityscape visible down the mountain on which the resort hotel sits, giving visitors a sense of getting up and away from the every day.

Separating itself far from many of the other hot spring resorts in Beitou, a night at the Spring Hotel is a luxurious experience. All of the 98 rooms meet the criteria for "high-class" with new decor, spacious rooms, amenities and ofuro, a Japanese-style hot bath. Top accommodations go to the extreme in comfort offering Japanese-style tatami rooms with washi doors that look out on private rock gardens.

Such a stylish health-inducing experience does not come cheap, but it's a relative bargain compared to the high-end hotels in downtown Taipei. While rooms and room rates are comparable, the amenities give guests more than a bed and concierge service for the NT$6,000 to NT$25,000 (US$185 to US$770). In addition to the main hotel used by overnight guests, there is also an adjacent bathhouse with 20 rooms for those just looking to make a day trip.

Immediately after acquiring it, Ho renovated the entire hotel, replacing nearly everything inside with new items and a number of antiques, including furniture, the lobby, the front desk, wallpaper, sheets, carpets and decorations. She also refurbished the garden and hot spring pavilion.

Such massive undertakings helped have helped the hotel garner a great deal of recognition including the Best Hot Spring Hotel citation at the 7th Paragon Awards and further solidified Ho’s reputation as a perfectionist.

As the central government of Taiwan and those of some major cities, including Taipei, are working to promote Taiwan as a travel secret that has been kept too long, the value of Beitou has not been lost on them. Ho has been dispatched abroad to extol the virtues of the Taiwan’s premier hot springs area in conjunction with her own efforts to draw more international visitors.

Since Ho took over the hotel, foreign guests have come to comprise 25 per cent of the guest list with the majority coming form Japan and Hong Kong. The number of foreign nationals reflects more than double the average 12 percent before.

Ho’s strategy is simple and creative: get people to come during the week. Whereas hot spring resorts are traditionally seen as a vacation spot and a weekend retreat for locals, Ho has set up a business center and conference rooms to solicit business meetings and conventions.

"They come for a meeting but then think 'oh, this is nice so they come back for leisure,'" she explains. "Advertising through word-of-mouth is very important because people will see that we offer high quality, further building up our reputation."