Hotel Okura Amsterdam - Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Stayed at the Okura for 3 nights and was very impressed. We had booked a triple room online for a discounted rate. The room was clean and had a daily maid service - and AMAZING views across Amsterdam. The only quibble with the room would be that it was specified as a triple room, but the third bed was in fact a makeshift one. However, I was only sleeping on it - so it didn't matter too much. TV and toiletries in room were satisfactory, and other bits and pieces included prayer mats, slippers, and bathing robes. Breakfast was great - served in the restaurant downstairs with a huge variety of food. Okura are really trying to please everyone, and they do this - there's a range of European, Asian, and American cuisine for breakfast! We were also impressed with the Moet offered at breakfast for free. There is a small shopping mall below the hotel (for guests only), and some beautiful restaurants around. The hotel is easily reached by tram, and we took a minibus from the airport. Overall, a great stay. I would definitely go back!

I stayed here for 3 nights in order to attend a conference at the RAI centre. The hotel was booked for me by the conference organisers since it was closest to the RAI. They paid for one of the nights, I paid the other 2 and felt well ripped off. I arrived at the hotel by public transport - the tram 25 gets within about 2-300 merres of the hotel. The walk to the hotel entrance takes you through a run down car park with no easy pavement area and could be improved a lot. Check in was fine and quick. The room was generally OK, although rather small, as was the bathroom/toilet. Given that this was only June, and the outside temperature was only about 20C, the air con was verging on ineffective. The room was stuffy, and the window could not be opened far enough. Bed was comfortable. The wardrobe had a bizarre lighting mechanism - open it at the end where there was no hanging rail (just the safe) and the light came on. Open it at the end where the hanging rail was, and the light went off... The worst feature of the room was trying to work there. The desk had no power supply and no Ethernet cable. I had to pull a light plug out of the wall to charge my laptop. There was supposed to be Wireless LAN in the room, but the cost was extortionate and connectivity was poor. Paying over 200 Euros per night, I expect free internet access (as I received in my $99 room the previous week in the USA). Breakfast was similarly heavily over-priced, and we only ate there when it was paid for by the conference company. It's a fair walk to the RAI, and in future I would find a better value hotel with public transport to the centre. Check out was not as slick as it should have been. As stated, bed and breakfast for the first night was paid for, but I had to remind the receptionist of this twice before she accepted it, and then went and printed my bill with the breakfast charge still on it. It came over as another attempt to gouge for more money. Overall - OK location for RAI, OK rooms, poor for business, exceptionally poor value.