The Dylan Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

When Anouska Hempel (aka Lady Weinberg) opened Blakes Amsterdam in 1999, overnight it was hailed the best Amsterdam boutique hotel for visiting celebrities, dignitaries and fashionistas. Since then the hotel has changed its name to the Dylan Amsterdam, but it's still considered one of the most lavish, and well-located, luxury hotels in Amsterdam.

Lady Weinberg's signature East-meets-West interiors combined sumptuous fabrics, slick laquerware and stacks of colour-co-ordinated cushions, with accents of Dutch Delftware and references to the country’s colonial heritage in the East Indies. Beautiful, black-clad staff and the stunning Golden Age building, a 17th-century merchant’s house on one of Amsterdam's most famous canals, the Keizersgracht, also ensured that the Dylan Amsterdam has featured in glossy magazines and coffee-table tomes dedicated to boutique design hotels across the globe.

The facilities

The restaurant's original Italian-Thai fusion food has been replaced by an excellent menu that is decidedly modern French. Private dinners and parties can be arranged by the concierge, as can private cruises through the canals on a traditional canal boat. The boutique hotel has a fleet of typical Amsterdam bicycles (or Oma fiets) that can be rented for €25 a day and for guests who want to stay in shape, there's a small gym that's open till 11 p.m. The rooms

Local interior design firm F G Stijl, who was also responsible for the College Hotel, has given the iconic interiors a highly practical make-over. The decadent bedrooms still have most of their charm and seductive aesthetic – the slatted mahogany screens, rattan and bamboo furniture, lacquered trunks and cascades of silks and linens. But now the boutique hotel has been furnished with bigger desks, new side tables, better lighting, more storage, Bose sound systems, hair dryers and full-length mirrors.