We would admit to some nervousness booking the Haarlem Hotelsuites because, honestly, it looked too good to be true on their website. We really did our homework though and it paid off. We booked the Suite de Gravin over the Internet and emailed back and forth a few times with questions and details, and always found their communication to be excellent and their replies reasonably prompt.

We arrived early on a Sunday. Check-in is at the nearby Boulangerie run by Chantal & Norman and we were greeted by Chantal who took us to our suite. Our jaws dropped when she took us inside because not only was it not too good to be true, it was even better than promised. The apartment was huge, comfortable, clean and full of atmosphere.

Anyone who has traveled the Netherlands (especially Amsterdam) knows you can get a very small space for a lot of money if you're not careful but this was more like a place to live than a place to sleep - and all at a very reasonable price.

On the HUGE main floor there was a large, nicely decorated living room area joined to a wonderful kitchen. Around the corner from the kitchen was a bright foyer with laundry facilities and that led into a nice bathroom and a large, bright master bedroom. In the middle of the apartment was a spiral staircase to lead you to the upper floor, a large, long room with two single beds at one end, a large dresser about halfway, and a desk at the far end.

It was uncharacteristically warm for Holland the week we were there but our apartment always remained cool and comfortable. Beneath the apartment is a restaurant but we never noticed more than very minimal noise and really none at all at night.

Our suite was about a one-minute walk from the Boulangerie and about 3 or 4 minutes from the Grote Markt with the magnificent Sint Bavo's Cathedral. The market square area had many fine shops, great little places to eat and our host Chantal was very friendly and very helpful with recommendations throughout our stay. Because of the kitchen in our apartment we actually shopped frequently at a nearby Albert Heijn and cooked for ourselves but, when we ate out, the food in the area was excellent. There was even a very close by stand with excellent kroketten and patates frites if you're as addicted to Dutch fast food as we are.

I really can't say a negative thing about our stay at the Haarlem Hotelsuites and, in fact, we will be staying there again in 2011. This was a wonderful find. Every time we returned from a long day it felt like coming home, and it really made our stay in beautiful Haarlem so much more enjoyable.