So, I managed to luck out and get a view of Doi Suthep, athough the opposite view is also quite nice, if you get high enough.

The staff consists mainly of a young couple who run the building a groundskeeper/guard, and a couple maids - the couple is very friendly and accommodating, although they don't work on sundays. For example, after checking out the room, I told them I wanted to check in on a Sunday - and they simply gave me the keys before - no contract, no down-payment, no ID check. Maybe they just trusted me, I don't know, but it was refreshing to see that because most Thai places demand everything from you but the kitchen sink in terms of ID, all sorts of strange paperwork, and so on. I've never had to spend more than a minute filling out anything or paying rent.

Pros:
* They do have automatic motorcycles for rent: B1000 for 1 week, and B2500 for 1 month, if you are a guest. Which is very competitive, as some places in the touristy areas charge B200 a day, or B4500 a month.
* Location less than a kilometer away from the Northwest corner of the moat. Plenty of restaurants including a night food market street up the road, and a couple bar districts within Walking distance, and Nimanhamen and the Kad Suan Kaew shopping mall is a short ride or reasonable walk away. Also located a few buildings away from a 7-11 and Tesco Express.
* Drinking water and laundry on-site.
* They provide bedding and towels, and a hot water heater (if you ask)
* Quiet. They have signs around the building stressing this as well.
* Balcony with view. This alone makes the the place worth it.
* Huge fridge
* Value for money - it is priced very competitively. Other places I've seen that offer this type of accommodation are usually about 1000 baht more a month
* You can hire a maid to clean your room, for 200 baht

Cons (and they are quite minor)
* The down-payment price is 10,000 baht, which is somewhat steep, given the standard room rate of 5000 baht
* The wifi could be improved. It is building-wide now, but it goes off on average about a few hours, once every week
* Cable TV. There's about 4 English channels, CNN, Star Movies, ESPN, and Discovery. Good enough, but if you are hoping for other languages besides English and Thai, you are out of luck
* You do get a 500 baht check-out "fee", which you don't find out about until you read the contract. So basically, consider the cost 5,500 a month (unless you stay more than a month)

The bottom line is I love these people. I had left for a month to continue my travels around SE Asia and wanted to finish in Chiang Mai. I emailed the owners and they were very accomodating. Even though they operate at 98% occupancy at any given time, they were able to move things around to give me back the room I had before.

The internet issue has been resolved- wifi routers have been placed all over the place and they took my advice and got a new provider. Rarely, if ever is down, unlike my biggest complaint about the place.

Ask about renting a moto from the owners of View Doi, much cheaper and super convenient to take it from them. These people know how to run a guesthouse. I can't say enough. Nicest people ever, anywhere.

Another big bonus is to grab breakfast, lunch or dinner at Satva Yoga directly across the street - the owner, Tukta, is super sweet and makes very healthy and affordable grub, and is a cool place to hang out and meet other hippies from all over the world. She also sells everything from CDs to clothing to yoga gear. There is a yoga studio on the 3rd floor you can use for the day for a small fee as well. You HAVE to go there if you are in the area.

Bottom line is if you are in Chiang Mai, email this place and book a room. It is very much worth the stay here.

There are MANY long term stays in the area, but personally I think this one is of the best for the money. One can pay 500 baht/night OR the monthly stay for 5000 baht/month, plus some add-ons, (electricity/water/cleaning), which would make it out to 280 baht/night. There is a lift, parking, balcony, restaurants all over the area and an unusual thing for these kinds of hotels, a partition that divides the toilet and the shower. Still fairly new as of this writing, it is the best option for the price.
The people that work the front desk are very nice, when you can find them. Their office hours are supposed to be 10 am-6 pm, but in reality it is about 10:30 am - 5:30 pm. They tend to disappear during the day, but really, very nice people.
After hours you are given a scan card to get in the rear door, where there is a security guard during dark hours. My room was quiet and mostly peaceful.
If I had a complaint, the internet is just horrible. The internet is plugged into a wall with a short card, wifi in most rooms is non-existant. The service goes off all the time. Many nights I have found myself sitting in front of a closed resataurant in the area, getting eaten by mosquitos while borrowing their wifi. I complained about it many times, wondering quite aloud how a closed little restaurant across the street can have working wifi while a pretty big guest house has their internet go out 2-3 days a week. They do apologize profusely, but the solution never comes. All they do is tape a piece of paper on the wall near the elevator with the word INTERNET and an "x" through it. In the year 2011, it just doesn't add up that this goes on.
If internet isn't important, and especially if you are doing a long term stay, I highly recommend staying here. It may not be in the middle of the old city, but a red truck can get you there in no time, and you are closer to real Thai culture, not in the middle of tourist central.