Found this Hotel/Apartment through an online reservation agency and the price was so much less than many other places. Besides we got a living room, loft, bedroom and a kitchen so we didn't have to eat out every meal to help with the travel budget.

I must say at first I was a little nervous, I had never booked with a hotel through an agency before I have always booked direct. I contacted the hotel directly after booking and they confirmed my reservations.

They had a baggage handler escort us to the apartments and carry our bags which was great considering our apartment was on the third floor and there were 2 sets of spiral stairs leading up to the floor. We stayed in apartment 7329 which is directly across the canal from the red light district.

The room was fabulous. We had French doors that opened up to a garden below, a sofa, chair, T.V. with VCR in the living room along with a dining table and kitchenette with dishwasher. There was a separate laundry room inside the apartment with iron and ironing board. The bedroom was pretty spacious and the bed would be the equivalent to king size bed with night stands, dresser, T.V. and wardrobe. The bathroom was good size with tub and shower (and had great water pressure and the water never turned cold). There was a spiral staircase that led up to a loft which had a desk and a twin bed. Both the loft and the vaulted ceiling area over the living room had skylights which opened and enabled cross ventilation of the apartment.

The hotel supplied us with a basket filled with dish soap, sponge, dishwasher detergent, coffee, tea and laundry soap. In the bathroom they also supplied shampoo, nice soaps, lotion, toothbrush, razor, shaving cream, brush, combs, loufa sponges . . . you name it they had it. They also brought up a gift wrapped package and inside was a tote with the hotel's insignia.

The location was perfect. Some may argue that having the red light district right across the canal is a bad thing but the police presence was huge, probably safer than a lot of other areas. We walked around comfortably at night with our son with absolutely no problems. Right around the corner from the apartment is a small store that sells snacks and drinks and they are open pretty late. The grocery stores all close around 7pm so if you forget something or if you are out seeing the sites you may come back a little too late. Also around the corner is a bakery that also sells soft ice cream and they are open both early and late, a pizza by the slice place, a huge cheese store that has the friendliest staff and more restaurants and pubs that you can count. Across from the Hotel portion and behind the palace is a grocery store and next to it a liquor store which closes at 6. Depending on how fast you walk Central Station is only 5 minutes away and there is a tram stop right out front of the square.

I definitely will go back to Holland again and I can't think of any other place I would rather stay. I highly recommend the apartments for individuals or families.

I stay in one the Krasnapolsky Junior apartments the majority of the time when I'm in Amsterdam. They are quite spacious. The bedroom is seperated from the living room. There is also a kitchen with refrigerator. Guests can use all the facilities of the hotel. Room service is available for delivery to the apartments. These apartments are a great deal in comparison to a hotel room. The living space is what does it for me. They are located at the edge of the Red Light District behind the main building of the Krasnapolsky at Dam Square.

This hotel offers apartments at half the cost of a hotel room with ability to still use the hotel facilities. I believe this is because maid service more than once a week is extra. For the week we were there it was fine. This was a wonderful find -- we had LOTS of room; living room, bedroom, little kitchen & laundry facilities. While the front of this hotel is on "Dam Square" and overlooks the Palace across the way, the back side overlooks a canal. The apartments are located in buildings on this side of the hotel, just very short distance from the hotel itself. A grocery store behind the Palace and a bakery on street beside the hotel meant we could have breakfast and late night snacks overlooking the canal from our room. Great area for walking to everything.
We cannot say enough about the concierge...when our prepaid "official" airport car did not show up to take us to the airport, this could have been a BIG problem as it was the morning of the "Queen's Birthday"celebration and all traffic in the palace area was to be closed down early so we had arranged for an early pick up. With the no show, the concierge contacted the car service who said they didn't plan on coming; he then arranged for a taxi and, most impressively he wrote a letter for us to take to the airport to see that we got an immediate on-the-spot refund of our prepaid amount.

My wife and I took a first-time trip to Amsterdam from the U.S. for a 7-night stay during the week leading up to Christmas, 2004, and through Christmas Eve. We settled on taking a Junior Apartment at the Krasnapolsky, with a great off-season price of 89 Euros per night (not including a 5% city tax). This is TOTAL, not per person. All in all we were thrilled with it, and it met our needs perfectly. It was very much what we had anticipated, both as to the main hotel itself and the actual apartment. I had researched Amsterdam in general and the apartments at the Kras quite a bit online before we went, including some experiences by a few that had stayed at one of these units, so there were no bad surprises, only good ones. Do NOT book one of these if you're expecting old-world furniture and the look of the apartment interior. Our unit was pretty much mid-scale motel/hotel type furniture. And yes, there were a few cigarette burns on some of the tables, etc., since I'm sure this is party central for the younger crowd during warm months. It was larger than I expected for a "Junior" unit, and included a sizable sitting area (with a cool canal view), small kitchen area with microwave, stove top, and small refrigerator, toilet, separate room off the bedroom with small shower, lavatory, and washer/dryer, and the bedroom. Amenities included all basic plates, dishes, glasses, and eating/cooking utensils, an iron and ironing board, TV with VCR in the sittting area, TV in the bedroom, small stereo unit with CD, hair dryer, and the small washer/dryer. Both TV's included an info menu that allowed several in-house features like viewing the bill, checking for messages, and wake-up calls via the music channels. Nice beamed ceilings in sitting area and bedroom, with at least 12-foot ceilings in the bedroom. We had the first floor unit up the usual Amsterdam small, winding steps, and there were two more units up the stairs above us. I would strongly suggest to anyone that they ask for a lower level unit if choosing one of these (or any unit in the city) to avoid the treacherous climb. A very nice security feature was having a door key to access the building door (separate, private entrance from the main hotel) and an electronic card lock on the unit door. The building door opened onto an alley, with a few steps out the back side leading right onto the canal street, and the other way leading into the hotel walkway, with the room door card needed to access the main hotel at night. A wonderful setup. Two minutes out the door and you're standing in the middle of Dam Square. All the windows were very large, and opened for fresh air. Although ours was a "first-floor" unit, it was actually what I would consider the second floor, another security concern alleviated since no one could access the unit via the windows. As to cleanliness, the entire apartment was squeaky clean.

The main hotel lobby area was duly impressive, and the staff perfection. We called housekeeping once to have some lamp bulbs replaced when we first arrived, and again when we discovered the electrical outlet for the bedroom TV had been damaged by someone probably shoving the additional roll-away bed into its nook. Both times a maintenance guy responded within ten minutes, and did the job quickly and courteously. Note that room service and all main hotel amenities are available with the apartments, at the usual high hotel prices.

From the moment we arrived, we did not have to touch our baggage from the time it went on a Connexxion shuttle van from the airport until it was in our apartment. A formally-dressed doorman at the hotel assisted the shuttle driver with getting it into the hotel lobby, and a porter loaded it onto a cart and wheeled it out to our unit off the alley and carried it up. I'm sure they provide the same service when leaving if asked, but we chose to do it ourselves when checking out, only a short walk to the lobby. A quick call to reception the night before leaving had a Connexxion airport shuttle waiting at exactly the agreed-upon time when we checked out. I would strongly suggest to anyone traveling to the city center hotels from Schiphol Airport to use the Connexxion shuttle service. You can buy a one-way ticket, or round trip for your return (good for one year), at stand A4 when you exit the airport at ground transportation. Only 36 Euros total for round trip. Comfortable, clean minivan type units with professional drivers and a 25-minute or so ride to Dam Square. We were the only passengers going in, with only one other fellow going back. We felt sorry for all the people we saw dragging luggage down the streets everywhere we went.

The neatest thing about the apartment was that after two days my wife and I both agreed we felt like we lived there instead of "staying" there, and that's a huge difference. Plus feeling as safe and secure in our unit as one can while being in a city 4000 miles from home. I probably would NOT book one of these if looking for total peace and quiet. There was a fair amount of noise, mainly people talking in the streets, until the wee hours on weekend nights, but that was part of the charm for us. I would imagine it's quite a riot in the summer. Note that some of the units are probably much quieter, since they appeared to be located at all angles and positions in the buildings, with different building entrances. Apparently the Kras folks bought up the canal houses, apartments, or whatever they were adjoining the hotel at some point in the past, and converted to 36 apartments total. Info on these units is a little hard to find, since I did not see them listed on the main hotel info Websites. Go here to check it out: ------------------------------------------

If you want to be right on Dam Square, with close proximity by foot to shops, restaurants, coffeeshops, bars, the Royal Palace, New and Old Churches, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, the Magna Plaza shopping "mall", an Albert Heijn supermarket for munchies and other needs, and tram line access, this is a great location for it. Highly, highly recommended. It made our first visit to this amazing city all the more enjoyable.