We stayed in the Gold appartment and we all thought it was brilliant. It was 5 min walk from the station and 5 min into town so super convenient for heading into the red light district / main squares. A little further to the clubs but still easy walking distance. The apartment was really nice, clean and well furnished with everything that we needed to cook with and a decent TV with English channels (great for hungover mornings). We were on the top floor so there were a few stairs to climb but great views over the roof tops of Amsterdam! There were 4 of us and it was very spacious. The owners were really nice and helpful. I've stayed in Amsterdam a couple of times before in hotels and this was so much better. I think you would struggle to find somewhere better and more central for the same price.

First of all, owner Katie was so friendly and warm. She gave all information when we are entering the our apartment. Apartment was really tidy and so comfortable. It is in five minutes walk to city center. We walked everywhere in 5 minutes. I advice this apartment to everyone, i understood that why this hostel has got a %90 or more rating.
Thank you Katie :)

i"ll start with the compliments: the room we had (apartment Navy) was very clean and tidy, beds were fine, a good gas-cooker, microwave, tea\coffee and a small but good sized fridge, good tv and dvd.

for the smoking traveler, this place has some extra goodies to offer: 1) they have a PS3 on demand which they don't advertise enough, in my opinion. the TV is small but very good quality and Full-HD which takes full advantage of the PS3 (and you can also bring a USB stick and watch movies with it). 2) there is smoking paraphernalia in the apartment for your use, and we also got a small treat...

now to the review itself:
they have 2 buildings, my review is only relevant to the apartment we stayed at, which is advertised as located on Prins Hendrikadde 133. turns out that the address is not the address of the apartment but the "office" or something. the apartment is just next to the office, on Schipperstraat.
the location is good but not superb. it's close enough to the central station (10 mins) and a short walk from Nieuwmarket (10 mins) but we found it a bit removed from the center.

katja, the woman with whom i made the reservation was extremely nice and helpful and she responded to my emails and many questions quickly. rose, the apartment manager, was also nice and efficient.
there are very reasonable house-rules but they are phrased in a way that makes you fell like you'll be fined for almost anything. it's just a matter of the way things are presented and we felt to do what we wanted and got no comlpaints.

the only real downside to the apartment was the sofa. we had to turn it around to face the tv, which made the "living room" quite small. but that's really ok. the problem was that it was impossible to lean back because the back-rest (a big long pillow) was too short and fell off. after some elaborate engineering we found a solution: we opened the sofa (its a sofa-bed) half way and got a great sofa with a good back-rest.

one more thing - Navy is located at the very top of the house. there are a gazillion (67 to be exact) steps which start out ok but become very steep in the end. this is common in amsterdam but i think this set of stairs is the steepest i've ever seen. it makes going in and out of the apartment several times a day a bit of a challenge.

to conclude - for anyone who plans a trip to amsterdam and requires a clean, pleasant apartment but also intends to smoke, this is a wonderful place to stay.

The Apartment was just what we expected, nothing more nothing less... We did have a problem with the "noise" and "leaving lights on when gone." Although we were out of the Apartment most of the time Katie the woman who runs the NIEUWE HERENGRACHT 181 location is a bit overbearing about the noise and lights situation... 1st of all we're walking into a place in which we don't know, therefore I would prefer a light or 2 being on when returning to the apartment after a long night of drinking and partying... 2nd the Noise level wasn't all that bad to us... There were times in which we were "whispering" and she found problems with our level.... I understand that she has a business to run and the question is at which will she sacrifice business for what she thinks is a good living quality.... I also understand that their Niche customers are primarily smokers... well me and my friends didn't smoke.. all we were there for was drinking and partying so perhaps we didn't fit their niche customers... Also Be prepared they WILL enter your room/apartment when you're not there which I found was inappropriate, as we paid for this space and it's not their position to enter it without our permission. It was better for us because it was an apartment but beware you Must be Super quite and not leave lights on and deal with her runaway cats.... Again.... If you're a smoker chill type of group then this is the place for you, but if you're vacationing with friends who love to laugh and have fun... then look for somewhere else... Katie is not the most tolerable person!