So im trying to get into the country and now my school is saying the “gov” hotel which is 21k is sold out and i have to book a hotel through them and them only. conveniently the hotels that they “work” with cost 40kntd ntd. which is about 4 months of rent for a student. On top of this I wont even get to see a picture of the hotel until the day I arrive.
mind you im the one paying for all of this. the plane ticket and hotel I have to pay for.
I pushed the school saying why cant you book a hotel through another site and I gave the school a list of government approved hotels in the city. They made up some bs excuse and said its now “moe regulations”
I told them I dont feel comfortable paying that much money for something I have no choice or ability to see beforehand and it feels like a scam.
Then they sent me a list of other chinese schools.
lol.
This is insane. Its such a scam. Ive found hotels for a third of the price. I didnt get this vibe when traveling to taiwan before… I understand people are hurting from this pandemic but this is gross behaivor.
anyone else in similar boats? I heard from someone saying their school had zero issue with them booking their own hotel…
They are not telling you the truth. You can stay in whatever hotel you like as long as its on the list.
I suggest that you cancel your flight and rebook it so it goes through the UK. It won’t be the best but you can augment your chair with something from PCHome and get more pillows that way too.
You can also look for another job there is a shortage of English teachers here.
But sometimes it’s the secretaries in these places trying to get kickbacks. Sometimes it’s the boss.
I had the same issue last year with my university and ended up paying 45k. Fortunately, there was a 15k government subsidy and 15k school subsidy that made it a lot more bearable. (But they took about 5 months to reimburse it)
Have they told you if you have any similar options?
Whoops, soorry. I assuned you were teachung as well. But same goes for a student. Unless they are paying you a scholarship/living expense etc, they can bugger off. Entering and quarantine is an issue with government health/immigraion/border type agencies. Not schools. Their authority ends at the property line, and even then they dont have much.
Dont get bullied. But be aware this is a country of glass hearts, big egos and saving face. Act accordingly.
Do I just book my own shit? This is such a headache as Im.not sure if I can switch schools since the scholarship for huayu might not allow for it. I’m going to call the MOE and report them and get a real answer.
Who will be mad ? Just one person probably will be put out temporarily . Nobody else will care. And you can argue the case with MOE if there is no such regulation anyway. This is a nice scam, one of a million and one here in Taiwan where everybody is fair game to make a little extra profit off .
Ask MOE if there’s a specific rule about it. If not, they have no reason to be mad.
Realize in Taiwan institutions sometimes make things up as you go along. three different people will have four different answers. Learn how to use this to your advantage.
The only people who care about your hotel reservation are those receiving your pandemic related entry paperwork at the Taoyuan airport. They have the legal right to know where you are staying, and that it is an approved hotel, and to communicate that to the CECC/whatever.
As far as your school is concerned, just stop discussing it at all. Go pick something out from the approved list. If they are pushing the issue, I’d call that a big red flag. Are you studying at a university? If they originated the scholarship, you’re stuck there. If it’s a third party, I would inform the source of the scholarship as to what’s happening, and that you’d like to know if you can use their funds at another institution.