Ah the Suksawad Hotel, such fond memories I have of you...

Located in Banglamphu within easy walking distance of Khao San Road (about 500m) it is at a decent location, but there isn't much public transport (maybe the bus?) you can take to get to the center of Bangkok, so you depend on taxis that can be troublesome at times (especially near Khao San Rd during rush hour). The area is also bustling with professional con artists capable of whisking unwary tourists off on a far-too-cheap ride to see some sights (and getting conned somewhere in between), but this is probably the same with every touristy area in Bangkok.

We stayed at Suksawad Hotel for a week in May 2012 and other than the heat, the ants, a little noise and the cleanliness not much bothered us. The fans do not make the rooms bearable at all times (but they do at night, which is most important) and there's some noise from the road and the ramshackle sheet metal roofs of the next building (you can't shut the windows in the fan rooms, which cost 400 baht / night - so maybe an air con room for 500 baht is a better option). The rooms themselves are relatively spacious with ensuite bathroom (mine was filled with small spiders, but I like spiders, so no problems). The rooms are somewhat clean, but my bed sheet was stained and a little dirty.

The staff are quite friendly, though most of them don't speak English that well (I admit my way of saying "We'd like to extend our stay for another three nights" might've been expecting too much). You can buy drinks cheaply directly from the hotel, there is free wifi in the rooms and you can wash your laundry for 20 bahts at the machines near reception, which is cheaper than laundry services in the area. There are some seats and sofas on the corridors of the hotel and on the 4th floor there's a lovely terrace meant for drying your washed clothes and spending the heat of the day in shade. Lockers are available if you bring your own padlock.

Please bear in mind that cleaning is done on request only, which eluded us for days until we asked from the reception.

When we arrived it wasn't well sign posted....
The staff couldn't speak much English and although the rooms were clean, they were hot and stuffy.
The building looked like an old mental asylum, and the furniture and rooms matched this too.

Location was okay, quite a walk to Khao San.... plenty of better and cheaper hotels/guest houses.

"Very good" location if you want to be near the craziness of Khao San Road. Clean bed sheet, everything else dirty, very depressing looking, extremely basic, down a dodgy looking alley way with cockroaches. There are better for the price in the area. Don't bother. We cancelled after one night.