A rag tag of a place called a hotel is the best way to describe the Khmer Royal. Yes it is cheap but it comes at a price. For a few dollars more you can do so much better in Phnom Penh. The rooms are shabby with most items broken or not working properly. My air conditioner did not work at all and the lights switched on and off by themself so much I had to unscrew the light bulbs when trying to sleep. The hallway phone would start ringing every morning at 4.30am and ring every four or five minutes with one of the staff having a loud animated discussion for 30 seconds and then the whole process would start again. I found drugs in one of the bedside tables, the shower would sometimes work and usually stopped mid shower, the breakfast area is like a sauna and the breakfast is something an animal ethics committee would find unsuitable for pigs. The staff tried to be friendly and made the hell hole somewhat tolerable in short bursts.

Great location on the Mekong ,next to the Grand Palace, the room was spacious but not clean properly,many many items in the rooms were broken.
Reserved for 2 nites,but decided to leave after one nite. This is a $60 motel .

Ok, so the hotel isn't brand new but it was clean, comfortable and an overall enjoyable experience. The riverside location is very good and the staff couldn't do enough to help us.
It took us a while to get used to the fact that we could book everything from our hotel, flights, buses, other accomodation, tours.....this just isn't possible in Australia. We even managed to book accom at the Khmer's sister hotel in Siem Reap and arrange transfers for very little cost.
The rooms didn't have a lot of lighting and the bed was a bit hard but we were that tired from travelling we had no trouble sleeping any night.

Yes, Khmer Royal Hotel is located on a strategic area. Mekong River is just right in front of you and from there the sun rises in front of your eyes. The Royal Palace is your neighbor.

But, there are many other hotels on the same location, with a more reasonable price. Actually I choose this hotel because I wanted to photograph sunrise from my window. It turned out that the long park alongside Mekong River was a very pleasant (and safe) place. Eventually, I got out, went across the street, and made my sunrise shots. I could have rented a cheaper room, if I had known.

I got a free pick up from The Sinh Tourist's office where my bus from Chau Doc arrived. The transportation back (after check out) was on my own arrangement. Totally on my own arrangement. Luckily the men outside the hotel were kind and helped find me a tuk tuk on that early morning.

Furniture inside the room were rather old. The refrigerator will turn off when you unplug your room key and go out of the room. So don't expect to entertain yourself with a cold drink after being out.

On my first night, the electricity went off several times in a row at night. The room became barely dark.

The air condition in my room wasn't working quite well. Although I had set the remote control to 16 (the lowest), I only could feel the air if I slept right under the air con.

When we settled on the price via email prior to my arrival, Mr. Phana agreed to serve me breakfast at 5:10 AM. The breakfast was also reconfirmed on my first evening when Mr. Phana asked me to pay the full amount. As a matter of fact, the morning I was leaving, the front desk staffs knew nothing about my request of early breakfast. Yes, I eventually got a plate of fried rice and omelet, but became almost late for my bus.

I acknowledge that most of the hotel staff tried their best to be kind. But I'm disappointed because when I asked Mr. Phana about the sunset cruise boat. He said there's only a private boat costing 15 USD. When I went out myself, there were a handful travel agents alongside the street that had the sunset cruise boat tour which only cost 5 USD per person. The boat was fine and spacious. I can't believe that Mr. Phana didn't knew about them.

I also hired a car and driver for one day trip to Kirirom National Park. The driver was my biggest disappointment. He took me round and round which wasted my time. He didn't know the way. Although he asked the locals several times, I still couldn't get directly to the spot. He didn't look friendly either. While driving, he often stepped on the brake in a sudden which cost my body to fling to the front. He most did that when there was a speed breaker in front of us. Instead of slowing down, he would step on the brake in a sudden just centimeters before the speed breaker. It was worst when there was a cow and a car crossing the street. From meters away I could see that cow already. He surely could have plenty of time to slow down and give way for the cow. He did not. Instead, he stepped on the brake all in a sudden right when we were in front of the cow's face. Maybe he needs to wear on glasses?