Reading other reviews I don’t really understand what are travelers so enthusiastic about?

We spent 3 nights in this hotel. This is an average hotel with an average room.
Not too small, not too big, but dark because the window faced to the other building.
The location is far from the tourist temptations unless you are not interested in the night market shopping.

Otherwise I have found a very good restaurant nearby with authentic Thai foods (TON KAO SURAWONGSE RESTAURANT). Clean and the food fresh and tasty.

All that has been said about the rooms and service is true, excellent. However don't pre book evening meals here. They tell you what you can have to eat with no choice and only want you to eat in the entrance 'cafe'. To be honest it spoilt our 3 day stopover. We would stay here again because the rest is good but only as bed and breakfast.
You should also consider its exact location which is some way from the majority of the main tourist attractions, most cost circa 70+ baht each way in a meter taxi. Having said that bearing in mind the cost of the hotel it is still overall worth it.

Got a terrific rate on this on Agoda, and were thrilled with it. Great traditional Thai decor, well located in a busy part of town. Excellent service. Will make this my Bangkok regular I think.

We stayed in this hotel for 2 nights in December 2011. Excellent hotel for that price. Big, clean rooms. Good breakfast, though not a very good variety, I wouldn't be able to eat it more than 3 days...
Very close to our hotel was a night market which had dozens of ahops offering fakes but of good quality. When you buy something on themarket you can negotiate that price and pay only half of it, so don't get fooled.
NEVER TRUST TUK TUK MEN! He said that he will take us to 'nice restaurant'. This was like eating in favela. It was the worst dining experience! and we paid a lot (this was the most expensive dinner for the enitire stay in Thailand though later we ate in very good restaurants).
In Bangkok, they have huge shop with jewellery (ranging from several thousand to millions of Baht, exceptional designs, the best selection I've ever seen), it is quite cheap compared to other countries (Prices in Dubai seem a little bit higher), so you may want to save some money for nice necklace or ring.