NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky - Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Just returned from the Krasnapolsky following a weekend away in Dam. 6 thirty-somethings and the location was perfect, central, right on Dam Sq with coffee shops, bars and restaurants all in proximity. Again, as other reviewers have noted this is not what we would regard 5*, more a 4*. Reception and concierge were all very helpful and polite. The rooms were large with really comfy huge beds (we did upgrade the rooms!), but the bathroom looked a bit worn and could've been cleaner. The free toiletries although they looked great were not the nicest smelling. View from rooms were over neighbouring dwellings. Beware the cakes and pastries....they were left uncovered all the time the restaurant was open and were not swapped out for the 3 days we were there!

We were two couples staying in the Superior Deluxe 2-bedroom apartment at the Krasnapolsky for 5 nights. The apartment is on the floor above the ground floor, overlooking the canal, on the "back" side of the block the hotel occupies. It has two spacious bedrooms with king beds, two bathrooms, an office, fully equipped kitchen, laundry room with washer and dryer, and a large living/dining room area with couch, comfy chairs, dining table, tv with the same programming they have in the hotel, and beautiful large picture windows overlooking the canal and the local scene. The apartment has nice dark hardwood floors and is all around just lovely. It and 3 or so other apartments are in a building that has its own entrance. You check in at the hotel front desk and they give you a building key and an apartment key (which is just like the hotel room keys). In case you don't know, this is a very nice hotel, located as centrally as possible, right on Dam Square. The hotel even provides room service to the apartment if you're into paying those prices. Maid service in the apartment is weekly, not daily. We were also able to use the hotel's fitness center free of charge. This was a great experience. As two couples traveling together we spent less than we would have for two hotel rooms and we got much larger, much better accomodations. Normally they have a 7-day minimum stay, but in this case (confirmed by phone after initially booking on their web site) they had a shorter window available that happened to fit with our travel plans. All 4 of us loved the experience and would gladly stay there again. Wireless Internet access was available using the same system as in the hotel, which is wildly expensive (EUR22 for 24-hours). On those few occasions we interacted with hotel staff, they were always very friendly and courteous, and generally speak very good English, like most professionals in Amsterdam. Both when we checked in and when we checked out we got a hotel bellman to help with our bags. This was crucial as the internal stairway in the building is very narrow, steep, and twisty. Worth a few euros to not have to navigate them with luggage.