Hotel Okura Amsterdam - Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Overpriced and poor for business trip
Posted: Wed, Jul 02 2008
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.

RR
Posted: Tue, Jun 24 2008
Bell'albergo con tutti i conforts e ad un prezzo più basso degli equivalenti a 5 stelle. camere pulite, abbastanza spaziose, personale disponibile, sala relax con piscina e 3 ristoranti un pò cari. Il centro di Amsterdam è facilmente raggiungibile con un solo tram.

The only thing 5 star about the Okura are prices
Posted: Tue, Jun 10 2008
First of all this is an ordinary hotel pretending to be a 5 star establishment - it is far from it except for exorbitant prices. It also extremely unhygienic - two observations during my stay: 1) I was coming back to my room and found it was being serviced – the maid was in the bathroom, she was wearing rubber gloves and had just finished cleaning the bath/shower and toilet. Then, while still wearing those same rubber gloves, she took the used drinking glasses, rinsed them out in the sink and then took the used, dirty towels to dry the glasses. Not only is this unsanitary and poses a health risk, it is disgusting, That also means when you arrive at the hotel, your drinking glasses were wiped dry by the used dirty towels of the previous occupant. When I tried to discuss this with hotel management, they were more concerned that I found out what they do, but other than apologizing they did nothing to provide clean sanitized glasses. 2) During a conference break the waiters were setting up for lunch, one of them was arranging the cutlery using their bare unwashed hands touching the food end of each utensil as they arranged it in neat patterns. Stay away, it is unhygienic, lousy service and way overpriced.

Good Visit, Well appointed suites
Posted: Sat, May 24 2008
I stayed at the Okura in March of 2007 and booked a junior suite. I was part of a conference staying at the hotel. The suite was well appointed. The service was fantastic. The hotel wasn't in the city center, however, a short cab ride or nice walk and you are right in the middle the city. I was very impressed wtih the level of service provided. The only downside was the glass shower door leaked water onto the floor in the bathroom. Maintenance couldn't get it fixed during my stay without taking the entire panel off, and they indicated it needed replacing. dso I lived with it.