First the bad points - our stay was marred by communication problems as the staff did not speak good English. In fact, one staff refused to contact our Tokyo hotel for us (to inform them in Japanese of our late arrival), I suspect because he simply did not understand us or did not want to deal with us. A restaurant reservation got bungled - we got booked into a different restaurant instead. However, and the good points are many, the room was well-furnished and fitted with every modern gadget necessary for the business/family traveller. The room was bright and modern (unlike the rather dated lobby and exterior). And we were thoroughly surprised when, after mentioning the above incidents in our feedback form, the hotel manager himself turned up at 6.30 am on the morning of our check-out, to apologise for his staff and send us off with packed hotel sandwiches ! Location wise, it is within walking distance to lots of department stores, restaurants, and the Odori subway. However, if you are travelling with very young children and plan to use the JR line a lot, be prepared to carry them up and down lots and lots of stairs into the subway (few elevators if at all) ! We just ended up taking taxis to the JR station, which comes to about 800 yen per trip.

We stayed at Hotel Okura Sapporo on August 5-11, 2007. We picked this hotel based on recommendations from the forum, and the reviews. It was also one of the hotel choices from the Cathay Pacific Package.

We are glad we picked this hotel. The location is awesome. The only disadvantage (like others have mentioned) is there is no direct transportation to the hotel. We took the JR, and then took a taxi 600 Y to the hotel. It was very easy.

Upon our arrival, the staff of the hotel, immediately came out to help with our luggage and stroller.

We are a family of 4, with two young children under age of 4.
The room (triple) was very good size. The rooms are nicely decorated, and has all that we needed. There is no safe in the room. Both hotels in Sapporo and Furano were like that, the safes are in the lobby if you need one.

The breakfast was good, although it's the same everyday.
It's a small hotel, but the staff there are excellent, and some of them speaks excellent english.

A few things worth mentioning why Hotel Okura will be now on my preferred list of hotels.

We stayed two nights at first at the hotel and we left out luggage stored at the hotel for 2 nights to Furano. I found out that I have left our portable DVD remote control behind. When I informed the hotel, they said they will look for it for us, and hope we will get it back when we return to re-check in in a couple of days.

They didn't find it when we re-checked in. I asked them to look again under the beds, or drawers of the room we stayed. The manager of housekeeping said he will personally go look for it for me the next day.

Indeed, the next day, they left a message at the reception, and they found it for me. That was really what I call "service".

On a rainy day one afternoon, as we were heading out, in the lobby, one of the managers said, please take 2 umbrellas just in case. We didn't need them after all, but that was very considerate.

We will definitely consider trying other hotels of Okura in other cities when we are in Japan next time.

We stayed at Hotel Okura in May during a holiday in Hokkaido. Hotel Okura, Sapporo is a business hotel. The rooms are average, nothing to rave about. The toilet and facilities are dated but the service is fantastic. The staff are ever so helpful. We were most delighted with the breakfast. Japanese breakfast with little dishes, choice of rice or porridge and so wonderfully laid out. For the service and breakfast, we'd go back to Hotel Okura again. Oh yes, and another thing, internet access is free! A big plus.

We stayed at Okura during the Chinese New Year. We requested an extra bed for our son and the room was spacious to fit three full sized beds. The lobby and hallway decor was a bit outdated but our room was refurbished so it is modern, clean and has extra space to place our three large suitcases. Bottled mineral water (one per guest) is complimentary daily. Breakfast was included and we had the Japanese style which was very nice and elegant. Location is great with walking distance to subway, major shopping area and tons of restaurants. Toyku Hands is just next door. English of the staff is not as proficient as those in Tokyo but good enough. They were also very attentive in helping us with our shopping bags etc and passed us our keys before we reached the lift. I stayed at Keio Plaza last year and I much prefer Okura. My son left behind his googles and gloves and when I contacted the hotel, they were very helpful in arranging to mail back the belongings to us.
The only drawback is lack of direct transport to/from airport. Airport Buses (and other buses to ski resorts) do not stop at this hotel and you have to transfer by taxi from JR Sapporo Train Station (around 5 mins). We ended up hiring a private jumbo taxi for airport transfer as we have 5 persons and 5 suitcases.