To summarise, we would not hesitate to go back to this hotel. The staff, the decor and the location are all great. Plumbing was the only issue but all the good stuff can make you put that behind you. Probably the best hotel we stayed at during our 3 month much-lower-than-usual-budget trip to south east Asia.
Staff
The friendliest, polite, kind, considerate, sociable, informative, etc. Couldn't fault them. All three staff covering the administrative/management duties are great and the cleaning lady may seem a bit on edge at first but give her a few smiles and she is also great (seems like she is new to the tourist environment).
Decor
As soon as we walked in I felt like i was at home. The decor is in line with similar themes I've used in our house in London. Very modern, minimalist yet somehow homely. It's a new hotel so expect new fixtures/fittings. The garden with fish filled waterways on the ground floor is a very good use of space.
Room
We stayed in a Superior room. Very nice decor as with the rest of the hotel (see above). Each room has sliding French doors overlooking the garden. Good for fresh air and a pleasant view. A kettle is also provided.
The bathroom, although decorated well, is the let down in this hotel. The plumbing is not up to scratch. The hot water only works at very low pressures and the drainage system isn't great i.e. the water from the shower/flush doesn't drain as quickly as it should. However, it's not extremely bad, given the other qualities of the hotel it's very easy to forgive and get pass this. We rebooked this hotel at least 3 times even knowing of this issue.
Location
Located in a very nice residential part within the south east side of the square / ring road in Central Chiang Mai. Its more of a large house converted into a modern boutique hotel so you are surrounded by residential housing with gardens/flowers/plants/etc.....its a nice atmosphere walking on Ratchamanka Soi 7 to/from the hotel (apart from the neighbours dog who will bark at you a few times to start off with but later calms down).
Unfortunately, a 15-30 minute walk to the main foodie area / tourist area / markets / etc but we didn't mind as the benefit of this location was the peace and quiet. Later we hired a motorcycle to make life easier (a bicycle would also do the job). The Saturday market is closer than the above quoted times and it is also close to an electronic plaza (I think it's called Siam Tv Electronic Plaza, which had an Aeon branded atm / cash machine on the first floor which did not charge for cash withdrawals....very handy).
Food
Only breakfast is available but it is cooked fresh for you.
For breakfast each day we were given fresh cut fruit, yogurt, juice, hot drinks and a meal of their choice (we just chose fried eggs) but they were willing to pop to the shops to buy what you liked and cook it for future breakfasts if they didn't have your preference in stock! They had pork sausages the first day (which we don't eat), the next day they had chicken sausages ready for us....we didn't even ask for it. In the afternoon we always received a plate of fresh cut fruit,, regardless of whether we were in/out. If we were not in the hotel someone would leave the fruit in the fridge in our room.
Services
We only used the laundry service and our clothes always came out great unlike some other places weve used. Properly ironed and folded.
