The hotel is about 3-4km away from the main Mae Hong Son town (as it claims) but i took about 45min to walk there. the town to the right (a smaller town) is about a ten minutes' walk away. (There is also a free shuttle bus but the timings are rather awkward -- 7am, 9am, then 6pm..etc., it is impossible to get a taxi there & unless you walk, the shuttle bus is the only means of getting to the town.)
The staff are rather pleasant & friendly, but some do not speak english so it may be a bit of a problem. The room is furnished rather old fashioned and they havent changed a bit since 1990 when they since opened. The banisters are also a bit rickety, plus, the flooring sinks in at certain parts of the room, so if you really should be careful where you step (either that or wear thick bedroom slippers).
It IS the best in Mae Hong Son without having to travel a windey mountain road to Pai for the better hotels, but for that price, tea-coffee making facilities should be complimentary.
Plus, you may wish to note that in the middle of your shower, a sudden bout of cold water will be showered onto your shampooed head, leaving you screaming in cold. So you may wish to quickly wash your hair while there is still hot water. The water will regain its heat again, but only after about a minute or so.
Also, the "gym" is extremely disappointing. ummm, i will not go into detail but if you DO go there with the hope of keeping fit, i suggest you keep your expectations low.
But in case you were wondering, the western food there (namely the steaks) are quite good and the fillet mignon with the chef's special mushroom sauce is not to be missed!

To conclude this review, I would like to say that the Imperial Tara at Mae hong Song does not live up to the Imperial hotel Group's name and perhaps even tarnished its reputation unless they consantly upgrade and improve themselves.

Tanya,
Singapore.

a nice hotel, in a very beautiful landscape, nice and large garden with huge trees, common areas a bit outdated with their '80s look, but large rooms with balcony and reasonably sized bathrooms. good restaurant although quite chilly in terms of A/C, good buffet breakfast, nice pool area but water unbearably cold (it was january though...the thai "cold" season), the only disadvantage being quite the location far from anything in mae hong son (unwalkable! around 4 kms): the hotel provides a free shuttle minibus service but it's not frequent at all, therefore sometimes you can feel a bit 'prisoner' at the end, for any shopping or dinner 'downtown'. also the tour/excursion desk of the hotel offers extremely high prices. go to any travel agency in the town center and book there instead. despite these negative points however i would recommend the hotel, all the staff being very corteous and the landscape extremely beautiful.

We stayed for three nights and during our entire trip throughout Thailand, this was one of the least appealing hotels we've stayed in.
Rooms are spacious, but very old fashioned. Bathroom was tiny, with traces of cigarette burns/stains on the side of the bathtub and the toilet, and the bathroomwall was black with mold....quite unpleasantly looking. Food was acceptable, service mediocre.
The swimmingpool was a total disaster.
The wooden deck surrounding the pool had several spots where the wood had rotted away. The ramp needed some fixing and the deckchairs used to be white, but had turned a bright green because of the moss growing on it.
Overal experience : rather poor and definitely not to be repeated.

Mae Hong Son is a delightful small town. We loved it. We stayed at the Imperial Tara because it was supposed to be the best in town. The room was clean as were the public spaces but................ the reception staff were so off hand, indeed rude, so unlike Thai people. We got the impression that because they were working for Imperial Tara, they could be as surley as they liked.

We Stayed at the Imperial Golden Triangle as well which was marginally better, but still impersonal.

Note to the Imperial Chain : Never forget your clients have a choice and we certainly WON'T be choosing Imperial again.