Hotel Okura Amsterdam

We were excited to stay in a premier 5 star hotel with 2 restaurants earning Michelin stars. When we arrived around 3:15pm, our room was not ready (3:00 check-in) as it was still being cleaned. No big deal, they offered us drinks in their lounge on the house. We get to check in, and ask about the restaurants. One is closed seasonally, the other is closed Monday and Tuesday nights. OK, mildly disappointing, and being that it was a last minute reservation, I wasn't really expecting availability to such highly acclaimed restaurants anyway. We got to the room and the smell of cigarette smoke(or what we thought was cigarette smoke) took over. I was initially far more concerned with the staff thinking we were the culprits and being charged a cleaning fee so we made them aware of the problem. We were told the hotel was fully booked, so the only thing they could offer us was their smallest room with twin beds. I figured we could make it through two nights with the smoke, but I woke up around 2am Tuesday morning barely able to breathe because whatever was in the air was aggravating my sinuses. Should've taken the twin beds. The rest of the hotel was well taken care of - didn't notice any smoky smell in the lobby, bar, restaurant, hallway, etc. Oh and they enforce a dress code(no shorts) to the rooftop bar on a warm Tuesday evening but allow little kids to run around the breakfast buffet unaccompanied, screaming and carrying on. Far better "5 star" hotels to spend your money on.

One of the best hotels in Europe. European hotels are generally less know for hospitality and more about churning tourists. This hotel is an exception to the rule. They went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable and had a good time. Only suggestion I have to the hotel is having restaurants with an A la Carte menu, every meal does not have to be a 200 euro/ person affair and a pre set menu. Everyone doesn’t eat everything on the preset menu just because they are Micheline star chefs. Every family may not want to spend 800 euro dinner night when you don’t eat half the courses on the menu due to dietary restrictions.