I am currently staying in Sakon Nakon, visiting my son who is teaching at a school. We decided (as usual - no planning) to go to Udon as we would not need to self inflict the malaria tablets etc... for this city. We used Tripadvisor to scan a coupel of hotels and took the plunge with the President Hotel.
OK, its not the Ritz but we found the people very helpfull, the rooms were great (no bugs at all) bathrooms were also fine and most of all the view form the window over the pool etc... was spot on.
Tip No. 1. The Tuk Tuks are a great way to get around Udon - we loved this way of travelling and it's (ahem) reaosnably safe because the speeds here are quite slow due to the volume of traffic etc... 80-100thb into the Centre. Just walk down the driveway onto the road and you will find a Tuk Tuk hovering around...
We had a meal on the other side of town at the 'Bookhouse', near 'The Park' (tip number 2. if you cant get the Tuk Tuk driver to understand where this is, get him to drop you off at the Central Plaza, then get another Tuk Tuk from there - just ask a couple of drivers (plenty of Tuk Tuks around) and one of them willl know exactly where to go.) Food here was good, lakeside setting and English widely spoken.
We also used the bus servies between SN and Udon and this was very good. Lots of stops so dont expect to get therei n a hurry but air con worked both ways and it was cheap (110thb)
Party back at the hotel (a Thai school re-union - all members were circa 47yrs old) when we returned and 'Eddie' was playing guitar with a very talented pianist / saxophonist. An hour later and we could not escape the party, my son was dragged to his feet and both of us had a great time with our new friends (inc. Eddie who made us feel very much part of the fun - thanks Eddie!)
All in all a great night away, fntastic, hotel, city and meal out. Will stay again. Thanks all !

We were able to make last minute reservations for a 10-day stay at the President Hotel, as we were disappointed in our existing hotel stay down south in Kumphawapi (see reviews).
This was our 3rd stay at the President Hotel in the last 3 years and we have always enjoyed our stay.

The U shaped hotel is divided by a central courtyard, entry drive and pool. The main building on the lobby side is three stories high and across the courtyard there is a separate two-story building. On both previous visits we had stayed on the 3rd floor and as the hotel does not have an elevator we were happy this time to have a ground floor room in the main building looking out at the pool. Our deluxe room had a doublewide bed and there’s also a small table and two chairs. The room also has a large built-in desk and closet and there are electrical outlets at the desk and on one of the nightstands. Our room had a brand new toilet (stickers still adhered) and the shower had good temperature control and strong water flow.

We ate at the free breakfast buffet every morning, which consisted a large variety of breakfast foods and chef prepared choice of eggs. The buffet was usually pretty busy on weekdays around 7am to 8am as the hotel appeared to have many business groups staying as guests. The dinner menu consists mainly of Thai and Asian food but there are also western “falang” food items such as steak, hamburgers and club sandwiches. We ordered room service (Thai food) several nights and the food was good and the service prompt.

Unfortunately, our downstairs room happened to be the end room and outside there is a metal staircase attached to the wall, which leads down to a service area. The only complaint we had during our stay was from the loud sound of the staff dragging something up or down the stairs each morning around 7am and evenings around 9pm.

All of the staff were very pleasant and friendly and we enjoyed our stay. Although we had to drive an extra hour roundtrip each day that we went to see the family, we were glad we made the change in hotels.

This hotel was great. Check in took 5 minutes, staff was helpful and friendly. The room was large and the room ,grounds and pool were very clean. They have a "fantastic" breakfast and it was "FREE"! My only complaint, Thai beds are generaly hard and this was no exception. I had a great stay.