Greetings all,
Adding some praise for 137 Pillars - I stayed there for a couple nights last week with my husband on our honeymoon and LOVED it. The common areas were gorgeous, the rooms were huge and well appointed, breakfast and cocktails were great, and the staff were helpful and provided excellent service. We had dinner at the Chedi and were impressed with the design of the common areas, but the rooms as pictured on the website seem smaller and with far less character than the 137 Pillars rooms, in my opinion.
As far as location, the Chedi is a smidge closer to the central Chiang Mai area, so all things equal, I'd probably prefer the Chedi location, but 137 is very close to a handful of cute riverside restaurants, and we enjoyed being able to have a short stroll home after dinner, and didn't mind the shortly longer tuk tuk ride into town for sightseeing. So, all in all, it might seem out of the way, but it really wasn't incovenient for us.
We booked through the Visa Signature hotels
site, which offered a space-available upgrade (we were upgraded from Rajah Brooke to East Borneo Suite), as well as an extra $25 F&B credit that we wouldn't have gotten by booking through the hotel's website.
Enjoy Chiang Mai--we loved it. And don't miss Patara Elephant Farm, if you're fortunate enough to be planning ahead and able to make a booking!
Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions, happy to share my experience.
Best,
John