Empress Hotel

Stayed at the Empress as part of a tour around Thailand and I'd say this was my favourite hotel.
There was always a typically friendly Thai welcome whenever you walked into the hotel, and the reception is in "Lanna" style (typical from the north of Thailand), which gives it a unique feel.
Looking at the map, it looks quite close to the city centre, but it’s really not that close, and you'd be best going in a tuk-tuk at around 50B. However, you can easily walk to the night bazaar in about 10-15 minutes.
As for the room itself, fortunately, we'd brought a kettle, as our room didn't have one, but others apparently did. Apart from that, it had everything you'd need in a hotel bedroom.
The restaurant on the ground floor was rather cafeteria style, but the quality of food was high - the service was good, however, at breakfast, half-drunk cups of coffee were whisked away while you went for something else! I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to get back to your table to find it occupied by someone else!
There are two other restaurants in the hotel, neither of which were in use when we were there. One is a Chinese Restaurant, but the prices were exceedingly high (especially for the sharks fin soup!)
When we were there, it looked like they were going to start building something in front of the hotel, our room overlooked this, and it may well be worth asking for a room at the rear of the hotel - or at least checking when the building works will be taking place.
The hotel has happy hours (from 5-8pm). They issue a coupon for the same drink you've already had, which needs to be used that day - it's easiest to order two drinks, but do make sure they put some alcohol in them! The vodka and orange I had was simply orange juice.
However, just after the shops, to the right of the hotel, there's a great little nameless local open bar, where prices are much cheaper than in the hotel, with very friendly service.
If you like WATS (Buddhist temples), you'll love Chiang Mai - the city itself is full of them!