On the weekend before my conference/workshop in Millennium Hilton Bangkok, my sister and I decided to book ourselves in Golden House in the central part of the city. This is absolutely my favorite hotel in Bangkok, and I stay here all the time whenever I'm vacationing in Bangkok.
It's affordable (THB1,500/room/night for single/twin occupancy, or USD50), has kind and accommodating staff, and the best part is that it's near everything! Once you leave the hotel, you're literally 10 steps away from the Chit Lom BTS station, which lets you easily zip to Siam or National Stadium stations to shop in MBK or Siam Paragon.
Golden House is also 5-10 minutes' walking distance to big shopping malls like Central World, Central Chidlom, Gaysorn, Big C--and Platinum Mall. This hotel is really a hidden gem, and my friends and sister love its location as well.
There's a money changer right across the hotel entrance and this money changer offers the best rates I've seen so far--better than the ones in the shopping malls, and loads better than the rate found in Suvarnabhumi airport.
Breakfast, which costs an extra THB100, is not exactly great; I wouldn't recommend having breakfast there if you're a picky breakfast kind of person. It just consists of juice, coffee, toast, jam, eggs (cooked the way you want them), and some small sausages. The service is slow (only 1 person cooking everything)--so I usually skip breakfast in the hotel and have it elsewhere. Besides, I'm not a big breakfast person, so Golden House's breakfast meal isn't really an issue for me.
Room is clean, simple and odor-free, with fresh towels and free wifi. But please don't expect anything fancy--it's a budget hotel after all. But whenever I'm here, I feel really at home. Staff are incredibly nice. There was an instance where I had to check out late (2pm), and normally, the hotel charges late check-out fee of THB100 per extra hour after 12nn. But the staff people were nice and waived the fee for me. All in all, fantastic service. I can't wait to stay here again the next time I'm in Bangkok.