President Wilson - Geneva, Switzerland     

The hotel is relatively large, but well designed so it doesn't overimpose on the surroundings, sitting as it does within 100m or so of the lake (albeit on the other side of a quite busy road. The hotel is in reasonable walking distance of the "tourist areas" of the city. When I was there they were remodelling the reception area - unfortunately upgrading the rather tacky 1970s bling to the new millenia's equivalent. On this occasion I was in a junior suite, which was of reasonable size, furnished to a relatively high standard albeit in a rather dated style. From past experience, the standard rooms are furnished/decorated in similar fashion. The restaurants and bar have limited capacity relative to the size of the hotel. This quite often means that you need to reserve a table, especially in the Arabesque restaurant, which is obviously popular with many of the clientele from the Middle East. The meals are expensive, even by Geneva standards. The dinners in the Arabesque are above average, making up for the rather disappointing Spice restaurant. Breakfasts are OK but overpriced in my opinion. The staff at reception, in the restaurants and concierge (especially so) were very helpful, friendly and efficient. In busy periods, sense of humour failure does occur but that's understandable. For the business traveller though, the hotel is average. Internet is expensive and based upon getting access cards from reception. This is a rather bizarre, old fashioned system but that's what they use. They have a Business Office with the usual Fax etc all at the usual Geneva prices. Leaving the place in the morning is a disaster though if you are reliant upon taxis. The hotel is far from the nearest rank. As a consequence, during the week, it's chaos as numerous people are standing outside in a kind of "Australian Rules Football" free for all. Reservations made the day before etc often are of little help. Most undignified and the Concierge typically look on helpless! So if you have meetings or need to make a flight, allow PLENTY of time. Overall, the hotel is pricey for an average experience overall. Taxis are a nightmare in the weekday!

I stay at a lot of 5* hotels. This one has all the pretention with none of the service. Concierge is a dud and the owner/manager just rambles around the hotel, like hotel royalty viewing the guests as commoners only just tolerated in his kingdom. The hotel really cators to a middle east client who has more money than sense, like the guy buzzing my hotel door at 3AM looking for Ahmed. The only thing going for this place is that it is a Starwood hotel, so you can at least put the outrageous prices to work for you should you need to find a place to recover from your visit.