Netherlands Amsterdam Nh Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky City Center

[Sciamano]

We stayed three nights in this hotel in August 2008.

The location of this hotel is excellent, right in front of the Royal Palace. But that's basically it.

First of all I have to say that we "won" this hotel with Priceline at around $160/night (not exactly cheap, considering we won much better hotels in Germany for less than half that price)

This is important because it seems that they have very different room "levels". I'm aware that when I book with Priceline I might receive the worse rooms of the hotels I win. The problem is that this facility is listed as a 5-star rating hotel, but the rooms they give to Priceline users are much worse than what you'd expect in a 3 star hotel. But if I wanted a 3* hotel, I would have bid for a 3* in the first place (and I would have saved a lot of money, too)!

Anyway, even though the first room they gave us was officially a non-smoking room, it smelled like a cigar lounge. I complained to the concierge and was given another room, just a few doors down. This time it did not smell, but -as the first one- it was simply ugly: small, dirty, rundown and with a horrible bathroom. Suffice it to say that it does not even have a real door, just a couple of saloon-like shutters. Not only it looked old and dirty, it was also one of the smallest bathrooms I've ever seen. It was simply horrible.

When you check-in, be aware that if you are given a room in the back of the hotel, reachable through elevator #5, you are going to have a terrible experience. (By the way, did I mention that the bathroom was horrible?)

On the other hand, the public spaces of the hotel are very nice, although they too look pretty old, and would need a renovation.

The Winter Garden where the breakfast buffet is prepared is very nice, although I'm not sure the buffet itself is worth the high price. If you don't want to spend that much, there are a few places that sell bread, croissants and rolls just a few meters from the hotel (especially on Damrak). Otherwise the department store that is just outside the hotel (on the right, looking at the Royal Palace) has a nice cafeteria.

Also, if you arrive in Amsterdam by car, be prepared to spend an arm and a leg for parking: we parked at the Krasnapolsky's garage and we paid EUR 47.50 (~$75) per night!

It's like this hotel really is two hotels: one for the full-price paying customers (which probably is a 'real' 5* hotel) and one for Priceline (and/or any other discount travel 'systems') users, which really is not worth even 3*.

I DEFINITELY would not stay here again.

[arolaser]

I stayed at this hotel from Friday 10/31/08 to Sunday 11/02/08, with a winning Priceline bid of $105p/n.

Location

The location of the hotel is excellent. It is right in front of the Royal Palace in Dam Square. The hotel is extremely easy to reach and is about a 500 metre walk from Centraal Station.

Rooms

We were given a room in the main part of the hotel on the 1st floor (room 1019) through Elevator #2. It was facing the wrong side of the hotel so didn't have any view, which was disappointing but expected. Not such an issue since we weren't in Amsterdam to stare out our hotel window anyway.

The room was quite large and extremely nice. We had a lovely king size bed that was probably the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in. The heater in the room worked wonders (there's a heater that comes out of the bath as well, heating the bathroom up). There was a big screen TV in the room that had plenty of channels in English, Dutch, Italian and French.

The bathroom was the only thing that let this room down. It was a bit old and in need of an upgrade. It was quite large with a bath/shower, a toilet (behind the wooden shutters), and a standalone shower (behind another wooden shutter).

Service

We had absolutely no problems at check in or check out. I enquired about the Sunday late check (5pm) out and was told that it had been added to my account.

I was a bit shocked at the rudeness of the receptionist when we arrived home at around 2am on Saturday morning. We had just stepped into the lobby and she was yelling at us to show her our room key. This was the same girl that had checked us in less than 24 hours before. I understand if that's hotel policy but there's a right way to ask and this wasn't it. A minor inconvenience.

Food

We didn't eat any food at the hotel. It is extremely expensive (I'm pretty sure the breakfast buffet has gone up to 33 euro).

I would definitely stay at the NH Grand Hotel again

[hohogap]

We also received a smaller, "lower class" room when checking in through Priceline (we won with a bid of $111/night). Despite the small room and lack of amenities, the location is absolutely fabulous and we'd definitely stay there again. You can roam until you're tired and get back and forth to the hotel without any problem. Lots of places to eat and drink in the area just beyond the Dam.