Stayed there for 3 nights, there were many positives and only a couple of negatives.
Positives: Our room was on the 3rd floor, spacious, comfortable and clean. Our balcony/veranda looked out onto the pool. The pool is really nice, not massive, but it never got crowded.
The hotel is not on the beach, but it really doesn't matter, it's a 5 min walk to Railay West Beach, and a few min walk to Railay east where all the bars/good places to hang out are.
The surroundings of the hotel are lovely, its very green and lush, with great views onto the limestone cliffs. There is a small spa that does pretty good massages.
The downsides of this place are - breakfast is pretty average, fills you up but it could be a lot better.
The building site next door - no noise at night, but quite a bit during the day, so if you want to chill out by the pool you will still hear a fair amount of noise from the construction site.
The staff - couldn't get them to crack a smile once! They did their jobs, and they weren't rude, but they looked miserable and bored, and had no interest in customer service. Not a big deal really, but it was a shame.
Overall I would say this place is really good value for money, however I would imagine prices will go up once the building work has finished next door.

We stayed here (couple in late 20's) for four nights and found it to be a great place to stay. The rooms were large and clean with all the extras you needed. Pool area was lovely and relaxing and the monkeys that tended to visit the balconies in the mornings were very cheeky and funny!

Stayed here for 4 nights and thought this resort very good value. It's right in the middle between West Railay (nothing but resort restaurants and rude tourists) and East Railay beach (locally owned shops, beach bars, smaller and less expensive resorts, backpackers, climbers, etc.). Now, normally I would have thought that I would prefer the more upscale bars on the pretty beach but here I really enoyed the laid-back feeling and friendly people of the East side. There isn't a beach per say and alot of mud when the tide is out but it's full of mangrove trees and when the tide is in it's lovely. Also, the food is much better at the smaller places (a resort restaurant gave me food poisoning). This hotel only does a breakfast buffet (included with the room) which was quite decent as far as buffets go. Yes, there were flies and ants but the staff did their best to keep things covered and honestly, if you can't stand insects then go on a skiing holiday instead!
This hotel had THE only pool on the island that wasn't overlooked by passersby except for the ultra exclusive and mega expensive resort at Pra Nang beach - by the way, THE most beautiful beach I saw in Thailand. Just go early in the day as it gets very busy by noontime.
Our room at The Princess was wonderful as was Tina on reception - very friendly, funny and helpful. There was a mix-up about our room upon arrival (mostly OUR fault) but she took care of us and sorted it out very nicely. She deserves a raise! All in all, we were very happy that we didn't spend double to stay somewhere else in Railay - this hotel has been completely refurbished and is quite private compared to the rest of them. There was construction happening next door but we never heard it from our room, balcony or by the pool - what more can you ask for? Also, as to comments about the surly or unhappy staff, remember that a smile from you will get a smile in return. We had nothing but positive experiences with any of them, from the cleaning staff to the restaurant staff - and room service was amazing when we didn't feel like going out. If you go to Railay, save your money by staying here instead of paying double elsewhere!