Before booking my trip to Amsterdam, I read all the reviews of Swissotel here on this site and must admit I was a bit worried by some of the negativity. However, the establishment is usually highly recommended and, after e-mailing the hotel to confirm the building works have now been completed, I had no hesitation in booking my stay at the Swissotel.

One of the greatest advantages of the hotel is its location on Dam Square. It is literally a 5 minute walk from Centraal Station, which has frequent trains to and from the airport (about one every 10 minutes). You just head out the main exit of the station and walk straight down the Damrak - a busy, vibrant street full of shops and restaurants. The hotel itself doesn't have a restaurant, but this is not a problem with so many other establishments nearby. As well as the Damrak, behind the hotel is a fabulous network of shopping streets, with restaraunts ranging from the usual McDonalds and Burger King to chinese, indonesian and dutch cafes and restaurants.

The hotel itself is quite modern, with a welcoming reception desk, a small lobby and elevators that service all floors. We elected to stay in a Junior Suite on the 5th floor. We were originally going to book both the flights and hotel through Expedia, but found it was actually cheaper to book the hotel only through this site, and get cheaper flights through Easyjet (as we were flying from Britain). Indeed, for the same price Expedia quoted for a Superior Room plus flights, we found we could actually upgrade to a Junior Suite when we bought the flights separately!

What attracted us to the Junior Suite was not only the larger room size and good location at the front of the building, but also that it was the only type of room that guaranteed a king size bed. It was my first holiday with my boyfriend, and so we decided we should definitely go with the Suite! The bed is huge - it could easily fit four people across. There is also a sofa with a large television, as well as a large desk and chair, spacious wardrobe and in room safe. One side of the room was made up of large floor-to-ceiling windows, which opened up and provided a fantastic view of the streets below. However, the highlight of the room was the huge bathroom that was separated from the rest of the room by glass doors. (Luckily, the toilet was behind a shaded door to maintain privacy!) There was also a bath, sink, and massive shower. Very nice.

On the final day of our stay, we decided to order breakfast. We had gone for the cheap option of buying breakfast from McDonalds and various bakeries on previous mornings, but thought we would splash out on our final morning. At 20 Euros each, it's not cheap. The food provided was adequate, but I'm not sure it is worth 20 Euros. You get to choose from quite an extensive list, however not everything we selected was delivered to us. We ended up with coffee, two cups of juice, two bowls of cereal, two bowls of fresh fruit, one serve of bacon and one serve of eggs (in the hot food section on the menu, you can only choose one item each, which makes it a bit difficult to construct a fry up!) Like I say, it was adequate, but I would urge visitors to fill up at nearby eateries instead.

Also, while staying in our room, the hotel provided bathrobes, which are free of charge for the duration of your stay. However, I was a little surprised when I could only find one bathrobe! And, upon ringing the front desk, I was told this was the standard! Upon my request, the desk kindly sent up a second bathrobe, so no complaints. Although I did find it strange that the standard practice is only one bathrobe is provided per room. The hotel also provided one bottle of water free of charge, rather than two, and when they turned down the beds, they only did one side. Not a real grumble, but it was a little confusing when there was clearly a couple sharing the room!

The hotel is 4 stars and it does deserve that rating. It is clean, modern and efficient. European hotel standards are different to those elsewhere in the world, and 4 stars may give some visitors the impression it is going to be something more than it is. However, you just have to go with the flow, enjoy what you are provided with, and, most importantly, don't linger in your hotel room - get out there and enjoy all that this wonderful city has to offer! :-)