Location is not too bad, about 10-15minutes walk to the Old Mandalay Palace, Little India and the market. Lots of places to eat around the guesthouse.

Due to last minute check-in, we got a room on the first floor, right behind the stairs. One half of the window opened up to the neighbour's first floor, the other half of the window opened up to the neighbour's wall extension about 2 feet away from the window (you could touch the wall literally). We called to make a booking the day before from Yangon but was told it was full, but we tried our luck anyway when we arrive in Mandalay.

Although my room was clean, it was very dark and you couldn't open the windows to air the room's musty smell. There was A/C which we switched on all the time. While the bedsheets was clean, I think the mattress had some mites (perhaps due to the condition of the room) as I had itches on my hand and legs when I woke up.

Hot water good, water pressure good. No TV.

We saw the rooms facing the front with windows opening to the main entrance. Light was good, the room was bigger and airier too. Wanted to change rooms but was fully booked. I suggest booking ahead and requesting for front rooms. We paid US$12 for a twin, includes breakfast.

Staff can speak decent English and was pretty helpful to our enquiries.

The Royal Guest house is conveniently located in the middle of town. The staff were friendly and informative. The breakfast was OK and the rooms were clean. The maintenance of the rooms left a lot to be desired however. It rained on my last night and it came in the roof and was actually pouring into the room at one stage. When I examined the roof, it was clear that it had sustained rain damage previously. The staff helpfully provided me with buckets and the offer of an inferior fan room with a shared toilet for the same price as my air conditioned room with ensuite. I was not impressed!

Well there is not much u can expect when it is US$ 8 for the room per night.
in the overall scheme of things the rooms, location of the guesthouse, the staffs are acceptable.

u do get the chance to meet fellow travellers and share stories and that is worth alot actually.

We stayed in a windowless, ground floor double with AC for $12. The room was marginally clean, but you wouldn't want to spend much time in it and killed a cockroach within a few minutes of setting our bags down (it is the tropics though). Maybe other rooms were better than ours, but as far as I can tell you stay here for the value and not quality of the rooms.

Royal was always busy with travelers, and it has a nice rooftop to sit and have a beer. A few good places to eat are in the area, and internet is on the same block. We were there for two nights, and were ready to move on by the time we left. I would probably stay again if ever back, but only barely and would try to get a better room.