Damrak Short Stay Amsterdam

Amelia apartment: 7 nights with another couple. Accessed with key fobs at outside door & 2 flights of steep stairs. Quiet at night. Very well located within easy walk to train station & trams. Downstairs bedroom: double bed, 2 night tables, pole for 6 hangers, built-in, narrow shelves, no luggage racks, closet, or chairs. Acceptable lighting & Wifi. No shower gel; 2 shampoos & 1 conditioner. Thin towels. Good washer/dryer. 1 blow dryer for 2 couples. Common area in narrow space with small sofa, chair, low cabinet, hassock, dining table, 4 four chairs & modular kitchen. Convenient half bath in hall. Kitchen: fridge, small freezer, convection stove & microwave, small counter, panini grill, 2 dishtowels, 2 fry pans, almost no serving dishes or utensils. Provisions: salt, extra toilet paper, 2 paper towel rolls, 5 coffee pods, 1 sponge, dish soap and garbage bags. No DW or washing machine pellets. Never found iron, board, dustpan or broom. Vacuum cleaner unreachable behind washer/dryer. Good grocery stores several blocks away. Management clearly does not like its clients & acts as if guests are a bother. No response to emails prior to arrival so we finally telephoned from USA to get questions answered about kitchen provisions. We had to ask for more forks, the “included” bottle of wine (not there as stated), and a top a fry pan which were brought on 4th day along with a large saucepan and lid. Asked for and were told someone would meet us at 8:00 am on our departure to assist with luggage down very steep stairs; waited until 8:15 and left since no one showed. In general, we would not recommend Damrak Short Stay, especially if you want a well furnished and less expensive place, intend to cook, want more than bare minumum furnishings & kirchen for the price, and need a modicum of owner attention to questions and help. Stairs are very steep and not for infirmed.

We travel a lot internationally and have been to Amsterdam many times before, but I doubt that we have ever been this disappointed by a property! Our group of 4 stayed here for 9 days recently - we reserved the "Alexander Penthouse" with high hopes and expectations, however the accommodation did not even closely live up to these expectations. Good: * Location - easy walk to most of Amsterdam. Bad: * Classification: the apartment is advertised as a "penthouse", so we expected 'a flat on the top floor of a tall building, typically one that is luxuriously fitted'. This flat was neither on the top floor of the building, nor was it luxuriously fitted. * Access: the apartment is accessed via a very dirty flight of about 40 steps, half of which is outside the building and exposed to the weather. One has to negotiate a slippery steel staircase, past rubbish and dirt to get to the apartment. * Attention from owner/host: our interaction with the owner/host was extremely frustrating - he was away on a cruise somewhere so we never got to meet him; however he advised via email that the manager in the restaurant downstairs would attend to us. The restaurant staff were clearly not too bothered with the apartment - they seemed rightfully more focussed on their work in the restaurant. It is difficult to understand how such a 'laissez faire' attitude can survive in a vibrant and competitive hospitality industry. Examples: *-* Our safe was not re-set before we moved in, so when we entered our code the first time to store our passports and computer, the safe locked and we needed the host to override it with the master key before we could access our stuff. It took us three whole days and numerous reminders and visits to the restaurant downstairs before someone would take the 5 minutes to come up to the apartment to attend to this matter. *-* The apartment brochures mention that bedding and linen are refreshed (free) once per week. When I tried to coordinate the day for this with the owner/host, he advised that it would cost an additional €150, but when I pointed out the free rule in his brochures, he responded that he "needed to get closer to his brochures again, ... but OK, they will change it for free". As it turned out, a cleaning staff member arrived at our apartment only at night on the agreed day (we were leaving for dinner), wanting to refresh the bed linen. P.S. These brochures also mention the complimentary wine in the fridge, however there was no wine (only a few packets of M&M sweets!). * Utensils: we missed a few basic utensils, e.g. a toaster; there was only one teaspoon in the cutlery, two wine glasses (for a 2-room apartment), etc. We ended up leaving a day earlier - the owner/host politely declined our request for a partial refund...