I've stayed here dozens of times over the last decade and always enjoy returning. The Concierge and his staff are particularly relaxed and helpful, but I've never had problems with any of the staff. You can choose to have breakfast included but it is a generic hotel buffet and a very dull so much more fun to ask for a no-breakfast rate and go across the road or walk to nearby street stalls or small restaurants , and at night you'll never be short of street noodles and soups. Within a few metres you also have 7-11 and a pharmacy so no need to bring bags of toiletries with you. There are bars for most tastes very close, but sadly the two nearest real coffee shops have gone now from the area. There are two superb casual Italian restaurants nearby, but not the one directly opposite, and soi 33 is on the edge of the Japanese area of town.

The restaurants in the hotel are very good, from authentic Indian to dim sum, and in the afternoons the lobby is crowded with oh-so-stylish university students taking advantage of the cake shop deals.

On the down side, the hotel is showing its age a lot now. The tv sets are 20yrs out of date and have a poor selection of channels, the electrics are somewhat dodgy and worst of all, it seems impossible to get sufficient hot water for a bath at any time of day, and what water does slowly reach the tub leaks around the ancient plugs. They do, however, provide a reasonable selection of little shampoos and soaps.

The rates are extremely variable depending on occupancy; when quiet it's cheaper than the scruffy places further down the soi, but in busy periods the rates are nearly doubled.

I've stayed in better hotels in Bangkok but nowhere else has the right combination of price and convenient location. I just hope they can put in decent tv sets, upgrade the channels and sort out the plumbing.