Our first hotel was the 5 star Milestone in London's Kensington district. This is b/c John's company paid for it. Rooms were approximately $330/night. Service was top notch. They always called us by our names - even the maids and bellhops. The concierge was friendly and helpful. High tea was available every afternoon in their lounge, furnished to feel like a nice English living room/parlor. Very classy. The room was very elegant and comfortable. The walls were covered with padded silk fabric. 
There was a bidet. They had a nightly turn down service and they always lit a floating candle in the bathroom. They also gave us new loofahs everyday. There was fresh fruit available in the lobby daily and free bottle water in the spa (also free). My only complaint...it was dinky. The room was 14 sq. meters. That translates into roughly 150 sq ft. and that includes the bathroom. That's about the size of our dining room.
Our last night in London before taking the chunnel to Paris we decided to move to a hotel that was closer to the Waterloo Station where we were to catch the chunnel. I found one that was a 5 minute walk to the station at the Premier Travel Inn.
For the low price of $150/night, we got a basic room that looked very much like a dorm room with a private bath. A sign on the bathroom door warned us to keep the door shut at all times so that steam from the shower would not set off the hotel's extremely "sensitive" alarm. There was no concierge. When I asked the front desk to borrow a pair of scissors, they couldn't produce one. The towels were thin and there were no wash cloths.In Paris, we stayed at Le Meridien Montparnasse. I had gotten our reservation on Priceline. That was quite a disturbing experience in itself. I had read lots of reviews from Tripadvisor about people getting a great deal on Priceline for hotels in Paris, so I decided to go for it. We ended up getting this 4 Star hotel that was way out of the main city center.
I looked it up and found out that they put the Priceline people on the 23rd floor where it's moldy and old. I was dreading this place. When we checked in, we were put into a room on....you guessed it....the 23rd floor. It was old and dreary with 2 twin beds (which reminded me of our honeymoon on the cruise), a dirty orange bathroom and a view of a cemetery out the window.
We went down to the front desk and requested a room change to a double room. The staff were surprisingly accommodating and moved us immediately to a room on the 24th floor. Much nicer. Granite counter and bidet in the bathroom, very clean and nicely updated. The bed was reeaalllllyy comfortable. 
The concierge was helpful, although they always seemed a bit perturbed at having to answer our questions. We ended up really liking the area we stayed in. There was a main train and metro station right across the street. Every morning we got a baguet at this little shop down the street. And every evening, we got a banana nutella crepe from the same little shop. Even nutella tastes better in Paris. And they put lots of it!
I had yet another Priceline fiasco when booking our 4-star hotel in Amsterdam. (I don't learn very quickly or easily, do I?) The SAME thing happened. Saw good ratings on Tripadvisor for Priceline. Most people got the Marriott right in the central Liedesplein Square area. We got Le Meridien Apollo which was WAAAYYY far away from the city center. 
And this time, we had to take a tram, get off and then walk about 10 minutes with our luggage to the hotel. 10 minutes might not sound like a lot, but with luggage, it's no fun. We checked in and got another twin room. But this time they couldn't change it. Since we were only staying 1 night, we decided to just let it go. The room was comfortable. 
Nothing majorly bad or great to remember it by except the terrible view outside our window overlooking a patch of dead grass and the beautiful view from the hotel's dining room looking out over a canal.Finally, as we headed back to London for our last night before flying home, we stayed at a little place called the London Elizabeth Hotel a few steps from the Lancaster Gate tube station. The elevator in the hotel was about 2 feet by 2 feet. So I got in with our bags, while John had to take the stairs.
For about $165/night, we got a small but cute double room facing the busy street. Unfortunately, it was also a smoking room, but as we had reservations to tour Buckingham Palace right after we checked in, we didn't have time to request a room change. We didn't get back to the hotel that night until about 11:30pm. The smoke was terrible, even with the windows opened all day. I tried my hardest to be a trooper, but when I climbed into bed and got a nose full of smoke, I couldn't stay. I felt really bad for calling the front desk at 2:30am to request a room change, but the girl at the desk was super sweet and said she totally understood and that the same thing happened to her and she had to change rooms as well once. She immediately got us a new room that was a bit nicer and larger too. And it was in the back of the hotel so it was much quieter. 
After all the hotels, from no star to 5-star, my favorite would have to be the pampering we received flying business class to London and back. Ahhh.... stretching out to almost 180 degrees, adjustable headrests, personal video consoles, tea service, warm towel service, filet mignon (decent for airplane food), cheese and crackers, being able to wait for our flight in the executive lounge with it's buffet of drinks and snacks, and being able to plug in the laptop. That beat all the hotels in Europe and then some. I think I've been spoiled.
