The hotel run by Mr Boktoo and his family, is a nice place to stay, very close to Dal Lake. The hospitality was good, and staff was quite friendly and always available. The hotel has a nice garden in the front, facing the lake and is quite well maintained, with plenty of roses of different varieties, even thick stemmed mint. If you are into gardening you would definitely like the ambience there!
One drawback is the access to the hotel, which is about 3-5 mins walk from the Dal gate, from a slightly narrow market, which might be a problem for elderly people as they have get down stairs and climb them up, including a small 5m long bridge, every time you have to go and visit any tourist spot. Rooms are a bit small and tight, compared to bathroom, but you cannot ask for everything!
All our travel arrangement to Gulmarg, Sonmarg and drop to Pahalgam were arranged by Dawood, son of Mr Boktoo, who was quite helpful and the rates were also competitive as against local taxi rates outside. For local sight seeing, a day auto should be sufficient as most places are close by, within 5-10kms distance. We were offered complimentary kashmiri kahwa at check-in time, but would have preferred it to be 'complimentary' daily on our return from sight-seeing :)
I would call it a mid-price/budget hotel good for families and tour groups (speaking of which Kesari groups almost occupied the whole of hotel!!). We availed only breakfast buffet, which was simple but descent with 2-3 options to pick from.
Overall recommended for someone who is not looking for modern fancy styled hotels, which might have facilities but would either be in crowded/noisy locations or a bit away from Dal lake.